Last week I looked in the crisper drawer and found three zucchini I’d forgotten about. That’s how every zucchini season starts in my kitchen — one day there’s nothing, the next day the drawer is just zucchini.
When I worked the line, the fix for ‘too much of one vegetable’ was always the same: high heat and a good sauce. This one is exactly that. Zucchini with garlic sauce, in one pan, about 30 minutes start to finish. It’s the good kind of simple.
Why this works
Two things make this dish. One: searing the zucchini over high heat before it touches the sauce, so it gets real color and sheds its water instead of steaming soggy. Two: a sauce built on oyster sauce and rice vinegar — the salty, sweet, garlicky, slightly tangy balance you get in a good restaurant kitchen.
Pick your zucchini small
If you’re buying zucchini, go for the small to medium ones. The bigger they get, the more seeds and the more water — and water is the enemy of a good sear. I learned the hard way that a small amount of a better product beats a big amount of a worse one.
What you’ll need
- 1/2 cup (120 ml) hot water
- 1 tbsp (15 g) sugar
- 1 tbsp (15 g) cornstarch
- 1.5 tbsp (22 ml) oyster sauce — vegetarian oyster sauce works too
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) Shaoxing wine (or dry cooking sherry)
- 1 tbsp (15 ml) soy sauce
- 1 tsp (5 ml) sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp (2.5 ml) dark soy sauce
- 1/8 tsp white pepper
- 2 tbsp minced garlic (about 6 cloves, divided)
- 1.5 lbs (about 700 g) zucchini, or a mix of zucchini and yellow squash
- 2.5 tbsp (37 ml) neutral oil (vegetable, canola, avocado, or peanut), divided
- 4 oz (110 g) ground meat (pork, chicken, or turkey)
- 2 tsp (10 g) minced ginger
- 5–10 dried red chilies, deseeded and sliced
- 2 scallions, cut at an angle into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces, white and green parts separated
Serves 4. Prep: 20 minutes. Cook: 10 minutes. Total: 30 minutes.
How to make it
- In a small bowl, stir the sugar into the hot water until it dissolves. Add the cornstarch, oyster sauce, rice vinegar, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, dark soy sauce, and white pepper, then stir in half of the minced garlic. Set aside.
- Scrub the zucchini under running water (no need to peel) and trim the ends. Cut on an angle into triangular bite-size chunks, rotating the zucchini with each cut.
- Heat a wok over medium-high until it’s lightly smoking. Add 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the oil around the edge and spread the zucchini in a single layer. Drop the heat to medium and cook for 3–4 minutes, turning occasionally, until lightly browned and just soft. Move to a plate.
- Crank the heat to high. Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp (7.5 ml) of oil, then the ground meat. Cook until opaque, breaking it into small bits.
- Add the ginger and dried chilies and stir for about 10 seconds until fragrant. Add the white scallion parts and the remaining garlic, and stir for another 20 seconds until everything smells like the best thing in the kitchen.
- Tip the zucchini back in and stir-fry to combine. Give the sauce a good stir (the cornstarch settles), then pour it in. Simmer until it’s reduced and just thick enough to coat a spoon. Stir in the green scallion parts until they just start to wilt.
- Serve straight away with a big bowl of steamed rice.
Notes and swaps
Want it vegetarian? Omit the meat and swap in a vegetarian oyster sauce — the sauce does all the heavy lifting anyway. And if you’re short on time, cut the zucchini a little thicker: it takes longer to brown, but you get a chewier, more satisfying bite.
Trade-It Tip: No Shaoxing wine? Dry cooking sherry works in its place — same job, same result.
Nutrition per serving, as a rough guide: 232 kcal, 14 g carbs, 8 g protein, 16 g fat, 404 mg sodium. These are estimates — different brands and squash sizes will shift the numbers, so run your own calculator if you need precision.
This one lives in my rotation every summer. If it doesn’t fit a Tuesday night, it doesn’t get published.