What to do when you Have Too Many Yellow Squash

One squash plant will outproduce your whole family without breaking a sweat. You turn your back for two days and there’s a zucchini-shaped monster hiding under a leaf, plus three more behind it you somehow missed. Now there’s a pile on the counter and dinner tonight can’t possibly use it all.

Let’s start will a full-on confession. I don’t plant yellow squash or zucchini. You know why? Because I could ask a number of friends or neighbors for their extra summer squash. ANYONE who plants it has extra. People are ALWAYS trying to offload theirs.

But, if you planted some yellow squash because you didn’t know it was going to produce an insane amount of vegetables don’t despair.

Here’s what to actually do with it.

Grate it and freeze it

Skip peeling. Just grate the whole squash on a box grater, squeeze out some of the water in a clean towel, and pack it into freezer bags in two-cup portions. Frozen shredded squash drops straight into muffins, fritters, or soup all winter. This alone can absorb a shocking amount of your harvest.

Make a big batch of soup

Squash breaks down fast, which makes it a good base for soup rather than a star ingredient. Sauté onion and garlic, add chopped squash and broth, simmer until soft, then blend. A little curry powder or smoked paprika goes a long way. Soup freezes well too, so this is another good outlet for volume.

Bread it and fry it

Thin coins of squash, dredged in flour and egg, then pressed into panko or cornmeal, fry up crisp in a few minutes. This works in the air fryer as well. Serve with a squeeze of lemon or a spicy dip. This is one of the few methods that actually makes people ask for more squash, which solves the surplus problem in the most enjoyable way possible.

Spiralize it for noodles

If you’ve got a spiralizer or a julienne peeler, squash makes a decent stand-in for pasta. It won’t taste like noodles, but tossed with olive oil, garlic, and parmesan, or a quick marinara, it holds its own. Cook it briefly, since it turns mushy fast if you walk away.

Bake it into bread or muffins

Zucchini bread recipes work just as well with yellow squash. Grate it, squeeze out excess moisture, and swap it in for zucchini one-to-one. The squash disappears into the crumb and leaves behind moisture and a faint sweetness. Freeze a loaf or two for later.

Give it away

Neighbors, coworkers, the person at the front desk who always compliments your garden. Squash is easy to give away because everyone understands the problem. A bag left on a porch rarely gets turned down in July or August. And hey, if you just leave it on their porch, what are they going to do – give it back? Unlikely.

Pickle a jar

Quick pickled squash keeps in the fridge for weeks and adds crunch to sandwiches and salads. Slice thin, pack into a jar with vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and whatever spices you like, and let it sit overnight. No canning equipment required.

Roast a whole sheet pan

Cubed squash roasted at high heat with olive oil, salt, and pepper turns sweet and caramelized in twenty minutes. Toss it with other summer vegetables, add it to grain bowls (rice, quinoa or pasta), or eat it straight off the pan as a side.

The real trick with squash isn’t finding one perfect recipe. It’s having a few different outlets so you’re not eating the same dish five nights in a row. Freeze some, cook some, give some away, and the pile on your counter will shrink faster than you’d expect.