Focaccia with zucchini is a great way to enjoy this summer vegetable differently. Our recipe is easy to make, with shredded zucchini and a few other simple ingredients.
Zucchini focaccia is perfect for an original weekend dinner with family and friends. It’s tasty, light, and crunchy; everyone will take seconds.
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We don’t think there’s a better way to eat more veggies than loading them on top of crispy homemade focaccia. We are sure you’ll love this recipe because it’s easy to make and delicious.
First, we make a simple focaccia dough using our well-tested recipe for no-knead focaccia. It’s easy, and you won’t even have to make your hands dirty.
Then we top the focaccia with plenty of grated zucchini. All it takes is to grate the zucchini with the large holes of a box grater right on top of the dough, spread it out, and season it with a bit of salt and oil.
The result is crispy focaccia with almost-melted zucchini on top. Probably one of the best ways of eating zucchini ever. Kids and adults alike will love this recipe and ask for seconds.
If you want to learn more about making the best and easiest focaccia, check out our focaccia recipe.
Ps. This way of making focaccia is popular where we live in Italy. If you ever travel to Todi, try a slice of this zucchini focaccia at this local pizzeria.
Ingredients
For the dough
Flour
We use all-purpose flour for this recipe. You can also use bread flour if you like.
Water
Use lukewarm water to activate the yeast. Make sure the water is not too hot or too cold.
Yeast
We make focaccia with instant dry yeast, but you can also use fresh or active dry yeast. In all cases, we recommend adding the yeast to lukewarm water and sugar first. You need three times more fresh yeast than instant dry yeast.
Salt
Focaccia needs a bit of salt in the dough to taste good. Sea salt and kosher salt are both great options.
Sugar
Just a tiny bit to help the yeast get ready to go.
For the topping
Zucchini
Fresh green zucchinis are our favorite for this recipe because of their bright green color, but you can use most types of summer squash.
Olive oil + Salt + Pepper
The zucchini needs a simple seasoning of extra virgin olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
Fresh herbs (optional)
Fresh herbs are optional; however, if you want to make this zucchini focaccia a little more aromatic, you can add fresh thyme, oregano, sage, or rosemary.
Note: as usual, use our recipe as a guideline, and feel free to add your favorite ingredients on top of this focaccia. Good options are halved cherry tomatoes, olives, and any melty cheese.
Instructions
Make the dough
To a small container, add the lukewarm water, instant dry yeast, and sugar. Stir and let the yeast activate (bloom) for 2 minutes.
To a large mixing bowl, add the flour and the salt. Next, stir with a wooden spoon and add the yeast mixture.
Mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula until you have a wet and sticky dough. Roughly shape the dough into a ball and lightly drizzle with olive oil before putting it to proof.
Proofing the dough
Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, leaving enough space between the dough and the cloth. Let it proof in a slightly warm oven for two hours. The dough should double in volume.
Fold the dough
Fold the dough on itself with a spatula or spoon from the outside to the center.
There’s no need to touch it with your hands. Fold it 20 times. It will take you about 30 seconds. Folding gives structure to the dough.
Shape and second proofing
Grease your baking tray with a tablespoon of olive oil. Transfer the dough to the center of the baking tray, then with the back of two spoons (or two spatulas), spread the dough out until almost the whole tray is evenly covered.
The dough is elastic at this stage and will pull back, so don’t worry if it doesn’t cover the tray completely.
To prevent the spoons from sticking to the dough, wet them with water.
Note: Focaccia tends to stick to the tray. If you want to reduce the amount of oil, you can line your baking tray with parchment paper.
We make thin, pizza-like focaccia here, using a 16 x 12 inches (40 x 30 cm) baking pan, but you can use a smaller pan to make thicker focaccia.
Put back in the slightly warm oven to proof for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. After this second proofing, remove it from the oven and preheat it to 450°F or 230°C.
Add topping
Grate the zucchini and spread it on top of the focaccia.
Season with a few pinches of salt, black pepper, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Bake
Place the zucchini focaccia on the medium-low oven rack and bake it for about 18 to 25 minutes.
The focaccia is ready when it’s golden brown and crispy on the sides and well-cooked on the bottom.
Let it cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before removing it from the pan, cutting it, and serving it.
Serving suggestions
Zucchini focaccia is great as a convivial dinner with family and friends served with other types of focaccia and with a big salad. Here are some of the best pizza side dishes:
- Cucumber tomato salad
- Chickpea salad
- Fennel orange salad
- Red cabbage slaw
- Crostini with vegetable toppings
- Roasted broccoli
- Eggplant caponata
Or, if you wanna put more veggies on the table, check out our 25 best vegetable side dishes.
More zucchini recipes
Get more refreshing squash recipes and healthy recipes for your next dinner:
- Fresh zucchini soup served with air fryer croutons
- Easy Risotto with shredded zucchini
- Roasted zucchini with breadcrumbs and herbs
- Grilled zucchini with a herby lemon vinaigrette
- 25-minute zucchini pasta with pine nuts
- Stuffed zucchini boats with lentils and walnuts
- Easy zucchini muffins with shredded zucchini
Or simply check out our selection of best zucchini recipes.
Storage
Zucchini focaccia is best when eaten straight out of the oven, warm and crunchy. If you have leftovers, store them in a food-grade plastic bag at room temperature for 36 to 48 hours max.
Reheat in a preheated oven at 400°F or 200°C for about 5 minutes.
For many more bread ideas, check out our bread category page.
Zucchini Focaccia
Equipment
- Rectangular baking pan 16 x 12 inches ( 40 x 30 cm)
- We like our zucchini focaccia quite thin so we use a large pan. However, you can use any baking pan, keeping in mind that a larger tray will produce thinner and crispier focaccia, and a smaller tray will produce thicker, softer focaccia.
Ingredients
For the dough
- 3½ cups flour all-purpose flour or half all-purpose and half whole wheat flour
- 1½ cups + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon yeast instant dry yeast or active dry yeast. 10 grams if you use fresh yeast.
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
Topping
- 4 medium zucchini
- 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tbsp for the baking tray – 1 to 2 tbsp on top
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 twists black pepper
Instructions
MAKE THE DOUGH
- To a small container, add the lukewarm water, instant dry yeast, and sugar. Stir and let the yeast activate (bloom) for 2 minutes.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the flour and the salt. Stir with a wooden spoon, then add the yeast mixture.
- Mix the ingredients with a wooden spoon or a silicone spatula until you have a wet and sticky dough. Roughly shape the dough into a ball and lightly drizzle with olive oil before putting it to proof.
PROOFING THE DOUGH
- Cover the bowl with a damp cloth, leaving enough space between the dough and the cloth. Let it proof in a slightly warm oven for two hours. The dough should double in volume.
FOLD THE DOUGH
- Fold the dough on itself from the outside to the inside with a spatula or spoon.There's no need to touch it with your hands. Fold it 20 times. This will take about 30 seconds. Folding gives structure to the dough.
SHAPE AND SECOND PROOFING
- Grease your baking tray with a tablespoon of olive oil. Transfer the dough to the center of the baking tray, then with the back of two spoons (or two spatulas), spread the dough out until almost the whole tray is evenly covered. The dough is elastic at this stage and will pull back, so don't worry if it doesn't cover the tray completely.To prevent the spoons from sticking to the dough, wet the spoons with water.
- Note: Focaccia tends to stick to the baking pan. If you want to reduce the amount of oil, you can line your baking pan with parchment paper.We make thin, pizza-like focaccia here, using a 16 x 12 inches (40 x 30 cm) baking pan, but you can use a smaller pan to make thicker focaccia.
- Put back in the slightly warm oven to proof for another 45 minutes to 1 hour. After this second proofing, remove it from the oven and preheat it to 450°F or 230°C.
ADD TOPPING
- Grate the zucchini and spread it on top of the focaccia.
- Season with a few pinches of salt, black pepper, and 1 to 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
BAKE
- Place the zucchini focaccia on the medium-low oven rack and bake it for about 18 to 25 minutes.The focaccia is ready when it's golden brown, crispy on the sides, and well-cooked on the bottom.Let it cool down for 5 to 10 minutes before removing it from the pan, cutting it, and serving it.
Notes
Nutrition
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