This is my healthy zucchini slice with a twist, which comes in the form of extra green vegetables like spinach and broccoli and high-protein cottage cheese and peas, making this a satiating and nutritious frittata-like dish that you can enjoy for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as a quick snack.
Jump to: ℹ️ Overview | 🛒 Ingredients | 📹 Watch The Video | 📷 How To Make | 📝 Full Recipe | 🥗 Serving Suggestions | 🫙Storing Tips | 👩🍳 Similar Recipes
If you’re not familiar with a zucchini slice, it’s an iconic Australian recipe akin to crustless quiche or frittata. It’s made with shredded zucchini, eggs, flour, some kind of fat like oil or butter and cheese. There are many variations including zucchini slice with bacon or vegetables, keto, gluten-free and so on. It’s a quintessential lunchbox item enjoyed both by kids and grownups alike.
My recipe is for a high-protein zucchini slice (9 grams per individual square slice), which I achieve by adding cottage cheese and peas (eggs and cheese provide a hefty dose as well). Then there are the green veggies like broccoli, spinach and the zucchini itself, giving this slice plenty of fibre. Protein and fibre together give you a powerful combo of creating a satiating, healthy zucchini slice!
👉 For more zucchini recipes, check out this lemon garlic shrimp zucchini pasta, baked turkey zucchini meatballs, or my healthy chocolate zucchini cake
What You’ll Need
Here is what you will need for this zucchini slice. Find the full measurements in the recipe card below.
- Zucchini – one medium to large green zucchini is ideal.
- Other vegetables – broccoli, diced and raw, no need to cook it as it will be just right after baking in the zucchini slice; baby spinach, also raw, as it will cook during baking; frozen baby peas – for extra protein and fibre, no need to defrost. This is what I love about this recipe, there is no need to pre-cook all the veggies. Plus, a bit of onion and garlic for flavour; I pre-cook the onion as it becomes extra sweet.
- Eggs – large, free-range eggs; this is what binds the slice and gives it body.
- Dairy – low-fat cottage cheese (or high-protein cottage cheese) and Cheddar cheese (or Tasty cheese in Australia); feel free to use other types of cheese in this dish.
- Flour – you can use self-raising flour or plain flour and a teaspoon of baking powder to help the slice rise; gluten-free flour with baking powder can be used instead.
- Other bits: mustard, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
Watch The Video
How To Make Zucchini Slice
Jump to the full recipe card below for more detailed instructions, ingredients list and nutrition info.
- Preheat oven to 180 C (355 F). Grease and line a 19 cm x 29 cm (7”x12”) slice pan.
- In a frying pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook onion until soft (5-6 minutes), then set aside.
- Grate zucchini, and squeeze out juice in batches to reduce moisture. Chop broccoli, spinach, and garlic; set aside.
- Whisk eggs, salt, pepper, and mustard. Add flour and whisk until smooth.
- Mix in cottage cheese, grated cheese, cooked onion, garlic, zucchini, broccoli, peas, and spinach. Fold in olive oil.
- Pour mixture into pan, and smooth the surface.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden. For a crispier top, broil for a few minutes.
- Let cool slightly, then cut and serve warm or at room temperature.
Serving Suggestions
- Zucchini slice can be eaten on its own as you would with a piece of frittata or quiche. It’s great for breakfast, as a quick snack, or to share around at a picnic, BBQ or another gathering. It makes for a great finger food and kids lunchbox item.
- I like it with a side of chunky salsa or aioli and some sauerkraut and will often have a side salad if serving this for lunch.
- You can serve it as a protein-rich side dish with soup or roast vegetables and it can be sliced and served on sourdough toast for extra carbs.
Storing Tips
- Storing a zucchini slice is similar to any vegetable frittata. Allow the slice to cool to room temperature before storing to prevent moisture buildup inside the container, which could make it soggy.
- Store in an airtight container, you can place a piece of paper towel on the bottom of the container.
- Eat the refrigerated slice within 3 to 4 days. It’s great cold, so no need to reheat if you don’t want to. If you do like it warm, I recommend reheating in the oven or a frying pan, on both sides, to give it that crispy edge again.
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Ingredients
- 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 medium zucchini about 220 grams / 7-8 oz, grated and squeezed
- 2 cups chopped broccoli about 150-180 grams / 5-6 oz of broccoli florets
- 2 cups baby spinach leaves about 50 grams / 2 oz, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- 5 large eggs lightly whisked
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 5 oz self-raising flour about 1 cup + 2 tablespoon or 150 grams, if using plain flour, add 1 teaspoon of baking powder)
- 7 oz low-fat cottage cheese about 1 cup, 200 grams, I used high-protein cottage cheese brand
- 4 oz grated Cheddar about 1.5 cups or 115 grams, you can also use Tasty cheese if in Australia
- ½ cup frozen baby peas about 50-60 grams / 2 oz
- 30 ml olive oil 2 tablespoons, to go in the batter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 C / 355 F. Grease and line a slice pan with baking paper. You will need a pan the size of around 19 cm x 29 cm or 7”x12”, or similar. Some pans are smaller but deeper, in which case the thickness of the slice might require a little longer cooking time.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring for 5-6 minutes or until it softens. Set aside.
- Grate the zucchini. Using your hands and in batches, squeeze some of the juice from the zucchini over the sink. This will remove some of the moisture that might otherwise result in a soggier slice.
- Chop the broccoli, spinach and garlic and set aside.
- Whisk the eggs with salt, pepper and mustard. Add the flour and whisk until smooth and thick.
- Add cottage cheese, grated cheese, cooked onion, garlic, grated zucchini, broccoli, peas and spinach and combine. Add the olive oil and fold through until everything is well incorporated.
- Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
- Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. If you like a slightly crispier top, pop the slice under a grill/broiler for a few minutes at the end.
- Set aside to cool slightly before transferring the slice onto a clean board. Cut into pieces and serve warm or at room temperature.
This is absolutely delicious both hot and cold.
Delicious recipe 🙂
I made this and it is the most delicious slice ever. I added carrots and runner beans because of no broccoli. Also upped the cheddar cheese too! Thank you for the recipe. Looking forward to trying the chicken and potato recipe.
Thanks, Christine! So good to hear that you liked it too.
Irena
I have made a different zucchini slice over the years but this is an even better recipe to my norm. I love the addition of the cottage cheese to up the protein and the greater variety of green vegetables that this one has. I did add a grated carrot and used a smaller quantity of grated parmesan instead of the cheddar but I am very happy with the result. This recipe will be my new go to. Thank you!
Thanks, Melissa! Better than the norm – that’s the most awesome feedback! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it and love that you’re trying your own variations.
What a great recipe! I made this today and after the 1st bite, I know that I will want to make again and again, so printing this out now. I made it exactly as described, except for an ‘extra’ tasty cheese that I added instead of the regular. I love the abundance of green veg & the cottage cheese in there too. Thanks Irena.
Thanks Karen for such a lovely feedback. I am glad you enjoyed it. I love it for the same reasons: it’s tasty and full of wholesome ingredients.
Looks very good but what can be used instead of flour which I don’t eat
Hey Tanya, you can use some almond meal instead.
Delicious and do easy to make, I make this quiche often and my grand daughter loves it.
Thanks Irene
Hi there can you use Greek yoghurt instead of cottage cheese?
Hi Kate,
This recipe is developed with cottage cheese specifically and I honestly don’t know how it would turn out with Greek yoghurt instead. Cottage cheese is thicker in texture and a little higher in protein. With Greek Yoghurt, you would have a more tangy flavour and might need to add more flour to thicken the batter mixture. You could also try using half the amount of cottage cheese in yoghurt and double the grated cheddar/tasty cheese if you want to use the same amount of flour.
Irena
I liked the recipe very much, I think either my cottage cheese or my grated cheese was a little saltier than intended, I will tweak it a bit for next time.
However I am commenting not just to give a thumbs up, but to ask why there is garlic in the ingredient list and it is mentioned in the steps to be chopped, but nowhere is it mentioned to be used. I just chucked it in with the rest of the ingredients in the mixing bowl step, but thought I’d point it out.
Hey Iman, thanks for your feedback. I will check the instructions for garlic, might have been missed but yes, it just goes in with all other ingredients.
I made this today and it turned out great. I made a few adjustments that I guess I should mention. No onions and no peas. I also used fat free cheddar instead of regular. My first piece was actually room temperature and I was WOWed. I may heat my next piece up using your instructions just to see the difference. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I just made this today, however, I sliced the zucchini. It is a very nice tasty and easy recipe. Thank you
Didem
Hi. Can almond flour b substituted for regular flour? Why is the fiber so low and what can b used to boost it. Thanks
Hey Adrienne, you can try with almond flour, the texture will be slightly different. The veggies are cooked, which lowers their fibre content a little bit. The nutrition calculator in my recipe card gives me this number for fibre per slice. I checked by using the same measurements in MyFitnessPal and I got the same calories, 1 gram more in protein and 2 grams of dietary fibre per slice. Let’s say you want to go with MyFitnessPal calculations, you would be getting 6 grams of dietary fibre per serving (3 slices), which is not bad considering daily intake should be around 25 grams. If you want to boost fibre, I suggest adding a small salad alongside the zucchini slice, especially with some carrot and celery in it, or having some berries on the side. I hope that helps.