Zucchini Crusted Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
This Zucchini Sandwich recipe is a delicious way to enjoy grilled cheese without as many carbs. The zucchini bread is made with fresh zucchini, almond flour, and cheese and then grilled with cheese.
These grilled cheese sandwiches have less carbs and are healthier than traditional grilled cheese sandwiches, by using a zucchini “bread” similar to zucchini pizza crust.
I am totally in love with zucchini crust. I think I may actually like it even more than cauliflower crust. It’s also easier and faster to make because you don’t need to dry out the zucchini quite as much as you do for cauliflower.
Last year, I shared my cauliflower grilled cheese sandwiches. While they were good, the cauliflower crust was a little delicate to work with. The zucchini crust has a little bit of flour added to it and it makes for a much sturdier bread that holds together very well.
When I made the zucchini crust for pizza, I kept it ultra thin. For these sandwiches, I made the crust thicker so that they can substitute for sandwich bread.
Once the breads were done, it was time to assemble my sandwiches. It took a lot of willpower not to just gobble up the zucchini crust straight out of the oven. They smelled great and looked so crispy and warm. To keep things healthier, rather than slather the breads with butter and/or mayonnaise, I simply added the cheese and then broiled these to melt the cheese.
I usually stick to cheddar cheese for my grilled cheese sandwiches but lately I’ve been obsessed with fresh mozzarella, so I used that instead. Look at the stretch of the cheese!
The end result is a crispy, fluffy low-carb crust bread and melted cheese. I really loved how these turned out! I’ll definitely be making them again soon.
More Ways to Use Zucchini
- Zucchini “Crab” Cakes
- Classic Zucchini Bread
- Parmesan Zucchini Stacks
- More Creative Zucchini Recipes
Zucchini Crusted Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 4 cups packed freshly shredded raw zucchini , not yet drained (about 2 medium zucchini)
- 2 large eggs
- 10 tbsp superfine almond flour, you can substitute with all purpose if not following a strict low carb diet
- 1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 thick slices of cheese of your choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add shredded zucchini to a large bowl and let sit 10-15 minutes. Drain excess water from zucchini bowl. Using a tea towel or several sturdy paper towels, add in 1/2 cup of zucchini into a towel and wring dry. Repeat with remaining zucchini. When you are finished, you should have about 2 packed cups of zucchini remaining. It is okay that the zucchini is still slightly damp. If you've made cauliflower crust before, you do not need to wring zucchini as dry as the cauliflower.
- Add in eggs, flour, shredded Parmesan cheese, and pepper. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
- Divide zucchini batter evenly into four servings and place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a spatula, thin and spread out the divided batters to form four bread squares 1/4 inch thick.
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the surface starts to turn a light brown. Gently, using a spatula, flip the breads over and cook an additional 10 minutes or until the tops of the breads are a light brown.
- Remove from oven and flip breads again. The side on top should now be crispy. The underside will be slightly softer but this will be the inner bread sections where you will place the cheese.
- Place one thick cheese slice in between two zucchini breads. You can then cook these the traditional way, spreading some butter or mayonnaise on the outer bread surfaces and heating them on a skillet until cheese is melted, or you for a healthier version, place the sandwiches into your oven and broil for 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted (this is the method I used).
Notes
- Nutrition estimate uses almond flour and does not include the cheese you choose to add to the middle of your sandwich.
Hi! Did you shred the zucchini yourself? And if yes, did you keep the skin in your bread and after peeled (shredded) did you chop it so it was finer? Making this for a dinner party tomorrow 🙂
Yes i shred the zucchini myself. I use a boxed cheese grater and use the smallest holes. And yes you can leave the skin on
Do you think if i cooked this in a muffin top pan it would make more servings of bread?
I believe muffin top pan would only be slightly smaller than these breads so you won’t get that much more bread out of a muffin pan. Maybe 1-2 more additional slices?
Great recipe! I found that if you cute the zucchini in chunks and put in a bag in fridge overnight, it does a good job drying it out enough.
Loved this and will definitely make it again!
great tip! So glad you enjoyed the recipe
Made these with finely ground almond flour and they came out great! I would put it in the actual recipe as an option so that keto and paleo people know it will work.
thanks for sharing your results! I will have to try with almond flour soon
I have been making zucchini EVERYthing lately, also cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes and all the wonderful veggies I find at the farmers market. I’ve also been slowly removing meat from my diet so let me tell you I’m just ecstatic about finding your recipes. They look and sound awesome and I will definitely be making at least one tonight. Thank you so much for your creativity and veggie deliciousness!!!
I hope you enjoy!
Do you know what the carb count is for this??
I do not currently have that information. There are several sites that do allow you to input a recipe and it will calculate the nutritional data.
peut être que si l’on ajoute du sel dans les courgettes , elles vont éliminer l’eau plus vite
merci pour cette recette
the salt may help but it’s not necessary. the water will release on its own as well
is there a paleo way to make this by any chance? like using almond or coconut flour?
I have not tried, but I think it could work with almond or coconut flour.
????? It appears to me that the recipe actually calls for ALMOND FLOUR. Am I mistaken??????
Hi, you are looking at/responding to a comment from 2017. At the time when we published the recipe we made it with all purpose flour and had not yet tested with any flour substitutes which is why we responded that way. I later on did test almond flour version since many people on a low carb diet were asking if it could be done with almond flour. I updated the recipe to be for almond flour or all purpose flour.
Does the zucchini need to be peeled before shredding?
No, I left mine on.
Have you tried a mix of cauliflower bread and zucchini bread? I think I will try it, and add some mozzarella to it, for a little more stability?
I have not. Sounds good though!
can he zucchinii slices be saved for later use as a quick fix if the kids come round.
do you mean the zucchini bread? Yes you can always freeze or refrigerate for later and then re-heat them
I used this recipe to make cheese sticks and it was good. Much easier than coliflower crust.
agreed! I love using them to make breadsticks too
Hi. I wanted to know if you can substitute flour for breadcrumbs. Usually, I’ve noticed breadcrumbs in spinach burgers and some other things.
I haven’t tried, but I think it should be okay
Can I use a food chopper to cut up whole zucchini or does it need to be shredded?
I have not tried it with a food chopper. My only concern is that the zucchini might be really wet because of all the water that gets released and will require a lot more drying
Not sure where you get wheat flour being low carb.
I’ll substute my low carb baking mix.
it’s low carb because it uses far less flour than usual sandwich bread.
She clearly states Almond flour, and says you can SUB reg flour if not following strict diet. That makes it your choice, not hers, if it’s just “lower” in carbs or Low Carb.
Read, before insulting someone kind enough to share recipes for everyone to enjoy.
I made these last night with my boyfriend. They were wonderful! We used fresh mozzarella and pepper jack (strange combo, but it tastes great). We LOVED these. Took a while to strain zucchini… I didn’t have cheese cloth so I used paper towels. But, it was well worth the time and effort. Thanks for the recipe! Will be making these again.
So glad you enjoyed it!! I really love these even though it is a pain to dry the zucchini!
Could these be made in a waffle maker?
Yes, but the texture and timing will vary
Um, yes please! Love the sound of this. Going to give it a try with my cheddar and some feta (my fav cheese combo)
yum, that sounds good!
These look so good. It’s definitely a new one for me. Thanks for sharing
thanks! I really enjoyed them and I hope you do too!
I have Pamela’s gluten free flour. Do you think that would be a workable alternative to make these GF?
You know when I was making this, I was thinking to myself “I bet this would work with gluten free flour.” I haven’t tried it yet, but I think it should work. If you do try it, please let me know!
I was thinking the same thing, I’m going to have my son to pick up the cheese and zucchini today hopefully I’ll be serving these up for lunch com Thursday.. Oh did I mention that I’m gluten intolerant. .grateful for the recipe…
I hope you enjoy. Just to note, this recipe does use AP flour but you can substitute with GF flour or coconut flour or almond flour.