I think you could surely use them in a zucchini bread - maybe chop them up first?

Or maybe zucchini pancakes?

Here's a recipe from MarthaStewart.com for some with potato in them:

https://www.marthastewart.com/318892/zucchini-potato-pancakes

And this one has parmesan and matzo meal:

https://www.marthastewart.com/898035/zucchini-parmesan-pancakes

Frozen zoodles? It's food, if weird, and can be used. Zoodles are awful as noodles, but delicious as an interesting way to cut zucchini.

Freezing may have made them wet and mushy. Or not. My first thought is to throw them in a frying pan with some good oil and sear them dry and caramelized. Just let them sit and sit until dark brown on the bottom, flip and do the same. Like hash browns. Season any way you like. S&P, or herbs, or spicy.

My favorite thing to do with fresh zoodles that I cut myself is to use the fattest setting, and toss with fresh squeezed lemon juice and poppy seeds. Really, really good.

As to zucchini bread, why not? If they're wet drain and/or squeeze out excess water and carry on.

Chop them up and put them in soup or mixed veg or omelettes.

You could make an interesting cheese spread with a not to assertive cheese and spices.

It's just weird frozen zucchini. Ignore the noodly aspect. :)

lasagna?

Make a soup - saute onions and zoodles in olive oil and butter until soft, add chicken broth, salt, pepper and thyme. Whiz with an immersion blender. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Dave, for lasagna you have to control the moisture, and they're likely to be pretty darned wet.

Seagrass' soup idea sounds pretty darn yummy to me!

you use lasagna noodles, and then a layer of zoodles and cheese, easy on the sauce. it becomes a veggie lasagna. would be better the next day, slice it thin and use it for a spread on dry krusty bread ...

Oh, I see what I did. I said I thought Zoodles were vile. I should have said I thought zucchini is vile! I love all sorts of squashes, but not zucchini! I will eat it if it is sliced thinly, drizzled with olive oil, and covered in parm, then roasted until almost burnt.

ETA: I tried to give the 2 packages to a neighbor. She said her husband wouldn’t eat it even if she poured bourbon all over it!

LOL!! I dunno. but I don't think zucchini would be good with bourbon even if one likes it.

So can you recognize the "vile" of zucchini when it's a background thing? That is, are you looking for a way to hide it? I'm okay with zucchini, so I can't be sure in which ways you find it vile, but if you cut it small, like ditalini small (I don't recommend FP), and cook it down in spaghetti sauce, it will add a flavor note and pretty much disappear. The question is if you hate the flavor note.

You can similarly hide it with other squash. For instance, you could cut it up with flavorful sausage, onions and peppers, and stuff it into acorn squash, or any other winter squash. The flavor of the winter squash should dominate the zucchini, while using its sweetness to be heard among the other strong savory flavors.

Or call your cookbook club friends and see if anyone has some peas or flour or something to swap, and you can do a hostage exchange, taking turns at a table or wall. :)

I would cut it up into very small pieces sautee it with other veggies and throw it into a sauce.

Another idea is to dry the zoodles off as best you can and dip them into a panko or beer batter and deep fry them. You could use your favourite dipping sauce.

They would be a nice side with a number of things like tacos sandwiches or a homemade burger. I sometimes put deep fried veggies like onions on my burger so that's something you could do as well.

A warm salad.....mix offending veg with a tin of white beans, garlic, vinaigrette, herbs. Nice with a pork filet.

ok,, zucchini bread, steeped in bourbon after ... can't be any worse than fruit cake

\*_*/

*I am groot*

I'd cook them up into a stew, put them in early so they dissolve in there.

In my case I dislike carrots - but if I cook them into a mirepoix, it's all good here. I figure your zukes would be about the same. And I like carrot cake - so a zucchini cake or bread would likely work. (And certainly better than any fruitcake I've ever had.)

I think zucchini bread is going to be the winner. My grandmother used to make it and I didn’t mind it. It reminded me of spice cake. Zucchini bread with a nice sip of bourbon on the side! Dave, I’m with you on fruit cake!

I’ve tried to figure out what I dislike about zucchini. First, it squeaks when you bite into it. And the flavor is a little too ....I can’t find the right word...vegetal? (Of course, it is vegetal. It is a vegetable!).

Let us know how it turns out, Bbstx. I may be the only person on the planet who hasn't made zucchini bread. My first inclination would be to hide the zoodles in soup.

I have made a zucchini tart.....
make and blind bake a tart shell.
Shred and salt zucchini and drain very well, pressing out as much moisture as you can.
Put about 1 1/2 cups of well drained zucchini into a bowl, add 1 T. grated onion and 4 teaspoons of flour ( a rounded tablespoon full) and toss to mix well.
Add 2 eggs beaten with half a cup of light cream 1 tsp worchestershire and 1/2 cup fresh grated parm. Pour over zucchini and place in tart shell....decorate top with strips of red pepper if desired....or green....or canned jalapeno rounds.....and bake at 375 about 35 minutes until only the very center jiggles.

I could get zucchini into my husband via these. They are really good (savory)- you'd just have to sweat/drain well the (eta: if it's been frozen, I don't sweat fresh)zucchini first:

Feta Zucchini Pancakes - Moosewood/Mollie Katzen

4 eggs, separated
4 packed cups zucchini, or any summer squash
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup minced green onions or shallots
1 tsp dried mint
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1/3 cup flour
oil for frying
sour cream or plain yogurt for topping

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form - if you run your finger
through it, the trail doesn't collapse. Combine zucchini, feta, egg
yolks (optional), onions, flour and seasonings. Mix well, then gently
fold in the egg whites to make a smooth batter.
Heat oil in a large skillet, and when it is very hot, drop in spoonfuls
of the batter. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Serve with sour
cream or yogurt.

Well....actually they're fruit. :D

Zucchini bread is good! It's cake, though. :)

CAKE! Even better!

I like zucchini in just about every form. But my favorite is zucchini pancakes. I’d love Olychicik’s pancake fritters and Linda’s tart.

I tried zucchini bread about two years ago. I thought it would be a big hit with my husband because he likes pumpkin bread and apple spice muffins — he likes the mixed sweet spice flavors. But he really detested the zucchini bread. He said it had a “grass” taste to it. Must be the “vegetal” taste BBSTX was describing.

I thought it was OK, but I don’t care for spice cake flavor that much in the first place. So, I never made it again.

I’ve used those frozen zoodles before and pretty much followed Plllog’s earlier suggestion. Sautéed them in olive oil until all the moisture was gone and the squash strings were browned, added garlic and then a heavy sprinkling of freshly ground black pepper and shredded Parmesan. I liked it, but, again, I really like zucchini.

My mom would grate zucchini very finely and make a chocolate cake that was good and moist. Unfortunately the recipe was lost in a move :-( if anyone has a recipe I'd love to have it.

@shambo, your hubby may have nailed it. There is some flavor note that is just too strong or unpleasant for me.

@ediej1209 AL Zn 7, I’ve seen several recipes for chocolate zucchini cake. Maybe the chocolate will hide it enough for me to eat it!

I use raw fresh zucchini in a marinated mixed vegetable ( and fruit if we are being pedantic) salad. It absorbs the dressing and you would never know it was there.

I was being silly. Note the big grin: :D Jokes are hard to make universal, even in person. Really hard in typing. I think Bbstx got it. :)

Yes, I got it and you used it with the magic word CAKE! Making zucchini bread/cake may be my project for today. I like a bite of something sweet with my coffee. If it is filled with zucchini, I can feel righteous because it is full of vegetables and because I didn’t waste said vile vegetables!

P.S. I even use yellow crook-neck squash instead of zucchini in my ratatouille. Regretfully, I don’t make ratatouille very often. DH feels about eggplant the way I feel about zucchini.

PPS re written jokes and sarcasm (which is really harder to “get” if you can’t hear tone of voice or see facial expressions) I read once that someone had done a study that found emails that use emojis are better able to convey emotions and are less likely to give offense. Up until that point, I totally eschewed emojis as the province of pre-teen girls. Now I use them if I think it will help get my point across the way I intend it to be “heard.” 🤪

I agree with you that the zoodles are a complete fail substituting for pasta noodles. But if you have the zoodle maker (or have a good vegetable peeler), try the ribbon setting. While my DH does not care for zoodles, I can put thin zucchini ribbons in a pasta sauce and make a satisfying “pasta” dish he will eat.

I tried making chocolate zucchini bread once. Not even the kids would eat it!

First I have to say that I actually really like zucchini, and Sol's zucchini pancakes are a favorite of mine and Elery's. I pickle them, I saute slices, mix them with onions and garlic, I make a gratin in the summertime with fresh zucchini and tomatoes, I even make zucchini candy. I like zucchini bread and muffins and even the chocolate zucchini bread is OK.

However, I'm not taken with "zoodles", and I particularly dislike them topped with spaghetti or red sauce. I'm not a big fan of red sauce anyway, and I definitely don't want it on "zoodles", it's bad enough on pasta. The frozen ones are terrible, they are watery and soft. And truly, I don't see any difference in the shape of them. Why is a zoodle any different than a julienne or a matchstick or a slice? It's still a piece of zucchini and all the big hooha around "zoodling" different vegetables is completely lost on me.

Cut them up and saute them or sauce them or whatever, but calling it a "zoodle" doesn't make it not a zucchini. And yes, Elery has one of those stupid "zoodle" makers. It's stuck on the back shelf because it's impossible to use on anything firmer than a zucchini and terrible to clean.

Annie

Annie, the ones I cut on my CF approved spiralizer are fat like udon, and it's a very different texture from just julienned, and it makes them wetter, somehow, and they eat better. They seem to take dressing better too. But I use them for salad as I said.

I love spaghetti sauce. I don't need pasta--I can eat it straight. :) I put chopped zucchini in my spaghetti sauce, but that's along with the onions, peppers, etc. One more vegetable/fruit. Spaghetti sauce on zoodles is disgusting.

If you don't remember buying the zoodles or when and why you bought them chances are that they are probably badly freezer burned anyway. I'd open a bag and check before planning a meal around them.

Plllog, the "zoodles" from Elery's device are also fat and kind of like curly fries. I still don't see any difference between that and just chopping them up. They come off the device much like pasta comes off the KitchenAid, and you have to cut them into lengths that you prefer.

I do not eat them raw, the texture is weird, so maybe they are different before they are cooked, but after you cook them, they are all the same. Frozen and uncooked is just terrible, they thaw and become mushy.

Annie

Oh, yeah. Raw all the way. Raw zucchini is often dry and spongy. I think the spiralizer cuts the cell walls more or something, because they're pleasantly moist. As I said, I dress with lemon juice and poppy seeds (or put them in other salads), but I just leave them long and serve a heap on a platter with turned up sides. Everybody loves it--it's fun!--not just the kids (though I thank you for saying curly fries rather than gummy worms!). Cooked past barely warmed up and I'm sure you're right--it's just zucchini.

Oh, I know when I bought them and I know why. What I don’t remember is why I thought I would eat them. I despise zucchini. I only wish they were freezer-burned. I could pitch them without a second thought if they were!

I would give them to someone or just toss anyway. They couldn't of cost that much and you would waste more money on eggs, flour, milk, and chocolate to make chocolate zucchini cake if you ended up not liking it. Surely there is a church or food bank that would love to have them.

I ended up with a can of apricots for some reason. I kept them for years, didn't want to waste them, until they ended up going bad, breaking the can, and leaking all over the pantry.

@Sherry8aNorthAL, your advice is probably exactly what I need to do. I don’t think our Pantry has frozen foods. None of my neighbors will take them; I’ve tried that. DD likes them. I’ll just hang on to them for her, probably.