How long to roast zucchini in oven at 400 degrees F is here. Baked zucchini with parmesan and olive oil is a cheap, healthy, easy side dish we love. If you loved our Roasted Zucchini and Squash but only want spears this go around this is always a hit.
Roasted whole zucchini or spears is an easy vegetable side dish you can make every single week. With a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, salt and pepper it is so simple baked on a sheet pan you can get as crispy as you like. (affiliate links present)
How Long to Roast Zucchini at 400
That depends on their size. We are focusing on zucchini spears here because I think that turns out best. Dials would be much faster, likely half the time whereas if you make our halved Zucchini Taco Boats Recipe they are much thicker and larger so those take a bit longer. Another factor is how soft you want each bite to be.
Unlike our Air Fryer Zucchini Fries, these aren’t breaded at all, but you could. In that case you would just use a whisked egg instead of oil and press into a mixture of Panko breadcrumbs, seasonings and parmesan. We almost always use some sort of cheese when it comes to meals, it’s just our thing.
Oven Roasted Zucchini Spears
If you decide to cut into dials like we used in our Bisquick Zucchini Quiche that is fine too. I think this veggie softens really quickly so I like it a bit larger to prevent it getting soggy. Seasoning with salt ahead of time will draw some of that moisture out to prevent that but larger is still preferred here.
- Rinse green or yellow squash, then pat dry with paper towels.
- Slice the zucchini lengthwise and then into 6-8 pieces so you have thick spears. Pat dry with paper towels again.
- Place all fresh herbs and/or dry seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Mix.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Place zucchini on a plate and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the top and bottom of each one.
- Put a wire rack on top of your baking sheet and spray lightly so nothing sticks.
- Arrange the zucchini slices or spears on top in a single layer and bake for 15 minutes at 400 F. or until they are as tender and browned as you like.
- If you want it really crispy golden brown on top you can switch to broil for 1 minute at the end. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and pepper again if desired.
Like our Zucchini Corn Fritters I do love to add a lot of seasonings and grated parmesan into the mix. Mix it up and try things like garlic powder, everything bagel seasonings or some chili powder for a bit of spicy heat.
Yes! Salting vegetables draws out excess moisture from them, which can prevent zucchini from becoming soggy while roasting. This is especially beneficial if you’re roasting thicker slices or roasting whole zucchini. It also adds flavor so you could add other seasonings too.
How to Cook Whole Zucchini
So Air Fryer Zucchini Boats are halved, larger than these but what if you wanted to cook a whole zucchini? Totally possible, just takes a bit more time obviously. If you are trying to really pack in more and more vegetables on to your plate in different forms this is a new one to try out. You just;
- Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C. This temperature ensures that the entire thing cooks evenly and develops a nice golden color.
- Rinse under cold water and pat it dry with paper towels. Trim off the stem end, if desired, but leave the skin intact.
- Season with olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning herbs or spices. This step is optional but adds extra flavor to the roasted zucchini recipe.
- Roast vegetables on a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. If you have multiple make sure to space them out evenly on the baking sheet to allow for proper air circulation.
- to make the outside crispier place a cooling wire rack on top of the baking sheet like we did here so the hot air can circulate around the whole thing.
Same method choices go when making Sliced Potatoes in Oven as well. Some prefer more tender as others want crisp.
Baked Zucchini Spears
Cooking time for this is about 20-30 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your pieces of course. Always check after the minimum cook time with a fork to see if they are tender to your liking, then check every minute after that as 1 minute too long may yield an unpleasant result. This is
How Long to Roast Cauliflower at 400 if you want to cook together.
How to Bake Zucchini in Oven
We used a baking sheet for this but I have used a 9×13″ cake pan to make Roasted Carrots at 350 so I’m sure that would work too. A cooling rack isn’t entirely necessary but will give you a crispier result in the end so I would recommend using one. There is no need to turn or toss the zucchini this way either since the high heat can reach each inch.
You may have only used grated before to make desserts like Zucchini Lemon Poppy Seed Bread, this will change your mind I am sure. Jump to recipe and get started.
How Long to Roast Zucchini
Equipment
- 1 baking sheet
- 1 cutting board
- 1 knife
Ingredients
- 3 zucchini, ends cut off, cut into spears
- 1/3 c parmesan cheese
- 1/3 tsp salt and pepper
- 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 lemon, juiced, optional
Instructions
- Roasted zucchini spears – Rinse the zucchini, pat dry with paper towels. Cut lengthwise and then into 6-8 pieces so you have thick spears. Pat dry with paper towels again. Place all dry seasoning ingredients in a bowl. Mix.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place zucchini on a plate and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the top and bottom of each one.
- Put a wire rack on top of your baking sheet and spray lightly so nothing sticks. Place each prepped spear on top and bake for 15 minutes at 400 F. or until they are as tender and browned as you like.
- If you want it really crispy browned on top you can switch to broil for 1 minute at the end. Sprinkle with lemon juice and salt and pepper again if desired.
- Roasted whole zucchini – Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse and dry outsides, cut and discard ends. Continue on with other instructions coating with olive oil and seasonings but bake on rack for 20-25 minutes or until fork tender to your liking.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
