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I really enjoy pan frying zucchini in a small amount of olive oil with some salt and pepper.

It always turns out tasting great, but it is often times really soggy.

Is there any way to pan fry the zucchini without making it soggy?

jjnguy
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  • Wow, it is weird being a new member in a community. No creating new tags, and way stricter captchas! I'm gonna have to get my rep up! – jjnguy Aug 28 '10 at 17:13
  • Chances are, if you needed to create a new tag for this, you're doing something wrong. – hobodave Aug 28 '10 at 17:46
  • @hobo, yeah, My guess is `pan-frying` = `frying`. Seems to be fine. – jjnguy Aug 28 '10 at 17:56
  • Depending on how little oil you're using, and how much you're moving the food around, it might be more a sauté than pan-frying. – Joe Aug 29 '10 at 00:19

3 Answers3

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The key to this is really high heat and pan-fry in a single layer, very quickly. The goal is to get that nice brown caramelized surface and barely cook the interior and then get it out of the pan before it starts to seep water. Also, wait to season with salt until it comes out of the pan so it doesn't draw out the water prematurely.

Michael Natkin
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  • Sweet, thanks for the quick response. I will try it next time I cook some zucchini. – jjnguy Aug 28 '10 at 17:57
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    Tossing it in grated parmezan first can give you a little more leeway on the cooking temperature and can give a great crispness when it caramelises, it also brings a little extra flavor into the game... – Tom Boardman Aug 28 '10 at 19:43
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    Zucchini (courgettes) and other summer squash don't hold well; it'll start to get soggy over time, but you're still better off trying to cook in two batches than crowding your pan ... I try to make sure they're the last thing done, and do 'em in my largest saute pan so there's a little space between 'em. – Joe Aug 29 '10 at 00:22
  • I've always salted in advance and left it on a baking rack to drain, dried with paper towels, *then* breaded. It gets nice and crunchy and the zucchini itself maintains a nice texture. I even get pretty good results with this method using "baseball bat" (larger than ideal) zucchini. – Jolenealaska Sep 26 '13 at 06:24
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And for any people that likes the taste of the south. Try cutting them in 1/4" slices. Soak them in milk for half an hour, then in another bowl have yellow corn meal. Dip the zucchini in cornmeal mixture and place in a cast iron skillet with just enough olive oil to coat the pan. Make sure pan is hot, test it by putting a drop of water in pan, if you hear a sizzle sound, it's ready. As the gentleman said in latter post, place them in single layer and salt when ready it comes out of the pan. This works great for yellow squash too.....bon apetit!

Harold Hensley
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I find using a griddle works better than a frying pan, for Zucchini and Egg plant.

Jeremy French
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