Squash and zucchini casserole is a delicious summer recipe that is a great way to use excellent summer produce. The addition of Ritz crackers, sour cream, cheese, and onions makes this absolutely the best, so if you are looking for a way to change up old fashioned Southern squash casserole, be sure to keep reading.
Squash and Zucchini Casserole Recipe Development
Old Fashioned Recipe
Summer squash casserole is a classic Southern dish. Although many versions exist, almost all of the traditional recipes start by sauteing or lightly steaming the yellow squash, sometimes along with onions. Something creamy and flavorful, usually a can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, sometimes sour cream, is then added. Squash is very watery, so something to soak up the excess liquid such as stuffing, dried cornbread, or Ritz crackers is added, along with cheese for extra flavor. Everything is then poured into a casserole dish and baked.
Even though the old fashioned recipe is delicious, I wanted to try something different: that is how this squash and zucchini casserole recipe was born. Zucchini is delicious and similar to yellow squash, so I thought that it would be a great addition to a summer squash dish; besides, zucchini is more plentiful where I live, so adding it to the casserole just makes sense. In addition to being practical, adding green zucchini also adds a good amount of color.
Onions are a part of most Southern squash casserole recipes, so I knew that I wanted to add them to mine. However, when I thought squash casseroles that I had tried in the past, none of them stood out in my mind as truly remarkable: they were almost all mediocre. I thought about why that was, and I realized that one of the reasons was that in spite of being sauteed, steamed, or boiled before baking, yellow squash seems to never fully break down and mix completely with the onions in a casserole. So, when you eat the casserole, some bites are all squash, some are almost all onion, and other bites are somewhere in between. I knew that if I wanted to make the best zucchini and squash casserole recipe, I had to do something a bit different.
Argentine and YouTube Influences
While brainstorming ideas, the Argentine chef inside me had an idea: why not grate the squash and zucchini on a cheese grater? Argentine chefs love to grate vegetables on cheese graters, so things like carrot salad and apple coleslaw are quick and easy to make. Zucchini and squash are soft, and I had grated zucchini to add to pasta sauce in the past, so I wondering if perhaps I could grate the squash and zucchini for my casserole. By grating them, the squash and zucchini would be in small pieces, perfect for mixing with chopped onion. I gave it a try, and the squash grated without any effort at all: I knew I was on to something.
Another reason why I had not been impressed by old fashioned squash casserole in the past was the lack of flavor. As previously stated, most traditional recipes use a can of cream of chicken or mushroom soup to add most of the flavor and creaminess; canned soup can be good in a pinch, but I wanted to find a better way. While watching my fellow YouTuber AliciaLynn’s channel, she mentioned adding onion soup mix to Greek yogurt to make a great dip. I had heard of other YouTubers like Chriscookforu2 using onion soup mix as well, so I mixed onion soup mix and Greek yogurt together to give it a try. Honestly, I was blown away by how flavorful just those two things were. I knew that some summer squash casserole recipes include sour cream, so I thought that perhaps sour cream and onion soup mix would be a good substitute for canned soup in my squash and zucchini casserole recipe.
Ritz crackers are in most squash casserole recipes, so I knew I would need those. I envisioned my casserole being one of the main parts of a meal, so I knew it would need some kind of protein: sharp cheddar cheese would be perfect, I thought. I was almost positive that a bit of extra spice would be needed, so I brainstormed about that as well: my concept for a squash and zucchini casserole recipe was coming together nicely.
Making the Squash and Zucchini Casserole
After grating the squash and zucchini and chopping the onion, I sauteed them in butter and oil. This took more time, and more fat, than I had originally anticipated, so next time I will likely just microwave everything so as to not have to stand over the stove for so long and to keep the calories a bit lower. I then mixed in the sour cream, Ritz crackers, cheese, onion soup mix, and spices into the sauteed vegetables and poured everything into an 8 x 8 casserole dish. As with most of my other casseroles, I made a topping with cheese and sour cream, along with some crushed Ritz crackers. I then sprinkled some more Ritz crackers on top of everything before putting the casserole in the oven.
Honestly, this squash and zucchini casserole was the best Southern squash casserole recipe that I had ever had. Grating the vegetables was a game-changer: every bite was filled with equal amounts of zucchini, squash, and onion. There was no canned soup aftertaste, the sour cream and onion soup mix adding a ton of flavor and a bit of tangy that combined surprisingly well with the summer squashes. The cheese added flavor and more sharp flavor, and the Ritz crackers not only helped to soak up moisture, helping the casserole to hold its shape when cut, but the crackers on top stayed crunchy and added a nice texture contrast with the soft and creamy casserole. This was amazingly delicious, so if you are looking for the best Southern squash casserole recipe, you definitely need to try this one.
Squash and Zucchini Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds total of squash and zucchini (I used 1.5 pounds yellow squash, 0.5 pounds zucchini)
- 1 pound of onion
- 1 cup sour cream (240 grams)
- 1/4 cup sour cream for topping (60 grams)
- 1 packet of onion soup mix (about 27 grams)
- 1 8 oz block sharp cheddar cheese (225 grams) ***NOTE: reserve 1/2 of block for topping
- 2 sleeves of Ritz crackers (each sleeve was 3.3 ounces, so about 6.5 ounces, just under 200 grams total, of crackers). 1 sleeve will be used inside of the casserole, the other half on top.
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon each of spices
- Black Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Basil
- Oregano
- Parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For Topping:
- For sauteing: 2-3 Tablespoons of butter and 1-2 Tablespoons of oil
Instructions
- Grate squash and zucchini on cheese grater and chop onion
- Saute vegetables in 2 batches, 1 pound of squashes and 1/2 pound of onion, at a time. I added butter and oil as needed.
- Add sauteed vegetables to mixing bowl
- Mix in sour cream, onion soup mix, spices, salt, 1 sleeve of Ritz crackers (3.3 ounces, about 100 grams), 4 ounces of cheese (1/2 of an 8 oz block, about 112 grams), and 1 egg.
- Pour casserole mixture into a buttered 8 x 8 casserole dish.
- Make topping by mixing together 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/2 of second sleeve of crackers (50 grams), and 1/2 of cheese.
- Crumble topping mixture on top of casserole. Crumbling is better than spreading since the casserole is soft at this point.
- Crumble remaining 1/2 sleeve of crackers on top (about 50 grams).
- Bake at 350 F, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
YouTube Video
Be sure to watch the video tutorial for step by step instructions:
