I’m a chef, and this is the only way I’ll ever eat zucchini again

It's crisp with a delicate, tender bite.

After a few years working at Purple Carrot, a plant-based meal kit company, and a couple traumatic rotations through zucchini season, I'd seen every possible fate for the vegetable. Roasted spears, sautéed coins, stuffed boats, stewed chunks, fried fritters. All were good, but eventually, I hit zucchini burnout and started dreading the squash entirely.

Then I remembered "zoodles" and the great spiralizer fever dream of 2015—zucchini's most ambitious attempt to become pasta. Beneath all the low-carb chaos was one genuinely good idea: zucchini is delicious when you stop cooking it. All it takes is five minutes and a vegetable peeler to create raw zucchini ribbons.

Why Raw Ribbons Work

Zucchini has a water content of 95%. As cells break down while cooking, they release moisture stored within. The vegetable steams in its own water content—especially in a crowded pan—watering-down its delicate flavor and creating a mushy, waterlogged texture without structural integrity.

Simply chopped into large pieces, raw zucchini has a natural snap which can read as overwhelmingly dry and crunchy. Shaved thin, the raw vegetable keeps its crispness, but with a delicate, tender bite. Think of it as zucchini's crudo moment: the same logic as a carpaccio, where keeping something raw and thinly sliced lets its flavor speak. Without the watery steam-sesh, zucchini's subtly grassy, lightly sweet character gets a word in.

Don't get me wrong, cooked zucchini has its place. Cooked over high heat, in a ripping hot oven or on the grill, zucchini takes on flavorful caramelization and char. The extra step of salting zucchini draws moisture out of the vegetable so it integrates into fritters, gratins, casseroles, and dips without watering the dish down. That moisture is also put to good use in tender muffins and decadent chocolate zucchini bread.

How To: The Zucchini Ribbon Method

The most boring tool in the drawer is finally having its moment. Using a standard vegetable peeler or Y-peeler, shave long ribbons down the length of one side of the zucchini. Work down to the seedy core and stop when you hit the soft center. Then flip and repeat on the other side.

If you're working with an extra-thick squash, turn it 90-degrees when you've reached a width too large for your peeler to glide freely.

The ribbons are a blank canvas but not a boring one, and they don't need much. Take a cue from this zoodle canon and dress them with a bright sesame-cilantro dressing. Toss the ribbons with lemon juice, torn basil, and shaved parmesan for a cool, crisp topper, draped over rich, starchy pesto gnocchi. The ribbons are best enjoyed right after shaving; they will eventually release moisture and weep. Yellow summer squash works just as well in ribbon form, so ribbon-dance your heart out.

Read the original article on Simply Recipes