Cheesy Tex-Mex Zucchini Skillet
This cheesy tex-mex zucchini skillet is a fantastic way to use zucchini! Quick and easy, it’s packed with flavor and hearty ingredients. So yummy!
Looking for ways to use up that garden zucchini?
This one-skillet zucchini meal is the perfect solution! It’s hearty and healthful, and it comes together fast! Bonus: all.the.cheese.
Tex-Mex Zucchini Skillet Meal
This simple recipe starts with browning lean ground beef (or ground turkey) with onions and garlic, and then adding:
- corn
- beans
- green chiles
- diced tomatoes
- cumin, chili powder, oregano and paprika
All those ingredients get a good, efficient little stir to mix everything together.
And then the star of the show is added! ZUCCHINI.
And lots of it. Four cups to be exact.
The important part here is to dice the zucchini into small pieces (I use this handy food chopper – aff. link). It allows the zucchini to blend in delightfully well with the other ingredients rather than large chunks of zucchini totally stealing the show.
Not only does this make the overall dish just *work* better, but it’s also easier on the potential squash haters in the bunch. I would know. I have 2 1/2 of them.
Al Dente Zucchini
Can I share a potentially shocking opinion?
I don’t think zucchini needs to be cooked very long (or at all). Mushy zucchini is the literal absolute worst. And I’ve found that in savory dishes, I like zucchini pieces (or zucchini noodles) cooked for just a few minutes so they stay a bit al dente.
Sometimes I even leave zucchini noodles uncooked, and they are delicious.
However, you do you when it comes to the zucchini in this recipe. If you like softer zucchini, that’s totally fine. I’ll never know if you decide to cook the guts out of it.
Just promise me you’ll cover it all in a lot of cheese. A.Lot.Of.Cheese.
You can get all fancy and broil the cheese-covered skillet in the oven.
Or you can be lazy like me and cover the skillet with a lid, keep it over low heat, and let it sit there for a couple minutes until the cheese is melty and perfect.
A Versatile Meal
This cheesy Tex-Mex zucchini skillet meal is so tasty! The flavors are amazing, and you can serve it a million different ways.
Over rice.
Loaded with toppings.
With chips.
I have several kids who give me serious side-eyes when it comes to squash in any form. I about fell over when my oldest child, who is One of Them, devoured this and declared it “crazy amazing” even knowing it was loaded with zucchini.
Of course the hefty helping of cheese and sour cream on his portion didn’t hurt matters, but he even went back for seconds, and that has never happened with any dish that involves the Z-word.
This zucchini skillet recipe is really adaptable. Play around with the ingredients and see what you come up with!
It’s such a great way to use up the humble, beloved, green, garden veggie. I hope you love it!
What to Serve With This
- Fresh fruit
- Cornbread muffins
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Cheesy Tex-Mex Zucchini Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef or ground turkey
- œ cup finely chopped onion
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Πteaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup frozen corn kernels
- 1 can (14.5-ounces) diced tomatoes (don't drain)
- 1 can (15-ounces) black, pinto, or white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (4-ounces) green chiles (mild or spicy), drained
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- œ teaspoons oregano
- Πteaspoon paprika, smoked or sweet
- 4 cups finely chopped zucchini (about 2 medium zucchinis)
- 1 to 2 cups shredded Mexican-blend cheese
Toppings:
- Tortilla or corn chips
- Sour cream
- Fresh, chopped cilantro
- Avocados
- Salsa
- Olives
Instructions
- In a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet (it will be very full by the end, so don't use a smaller size) over medium heat, brown the ground beef, onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Break the meat into small pieces and cook until no longer pink. Drain grease.
- Add corn, tomatoes, beans, chiles, cumin, chili powder, oregano and paprika. Stir to combine.
- Add the zucchini and stir until evenly combined. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the ingredients are heated through and the zucchini is tender (I only cook for a few minutes so the zucchini stays al dente; cook longer if you want the zucchini softer).
- Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Turn the heat to low. Pat the zucchini mixture into a mostly even layer, sprinkle with cheese, cover with a lid or loosely with foil, and let rest on the heat until the cheese is melted, 3-4 minutes.
- Serve warm with toppings of choice: chips, sour cream, cilantro, olives, avocados, salsa, etc.
Yes, it was terrific, a very useful recipe when the zucchini invades!đ Iâm making it for a second time because itâs a âkeeperâ! I used Anaheim peppers from my garden instead of green chilisâŠ.worked well.
Delicious! I used rotisserie chicken instead of ground beef.Â
So good!Â
Insanely Delicious!!!! Make it!!
Yum! Healthy and the kids liked it, thatâs what I call a success! Thanks!
Good morning Mel! Â Well, Mel, we made this the other night for dinner and it was not only delicious but company worthy and will definitely be made again!! Â We only made a few changes: Â used hot Italian sausage, more onion and garlic, accidentally added a can of Northern white beans AND a can of black beans, and a 4 oz. can of black chopped olives. Â Another plus is that it makes a lot so weâll definitely enjoy the leftovers!Â
Many thanks for all of your delicious recipesâWINNERS!!
Hope you have a great weekend!
Susan
Thank you so much, Susan!!
We are being overwhelmed by zucchini and hoped that Mel could come to the rescue. Thank you Mel! This recipe was a big hit in my family! I added some chopped bell peppers, and served it with corn chips and fresh garden tomatoes.
WE LOVED IT.
In fact we loved it so much, I made it again today!
My family loves this recipe! Thanks for helping us use up our zucchini!
Do you think this would work well as an enchilada filling? I have a family of enchilada lovers, but I’m questioning whether they’d love this if I serve it as is. (Maybe hiding it in a tortilla would disguise the zucchini better than served as written.)
I think it might work! The zucchini might make the filling a bit more liquidy/watery so I’d keep an eye on that so the tortillas don’t get too soggy.
Thanks, Mel. I tried it and my family enjoyed it.
LOVE this recipe! I haven’t made it with the ground beef yet, just because I wanted to save time. I just added more beans of different varieties. It’s amazing. Thanks Mel!
LOVE this one! I haven’t made it with the ground beef yet. (Just because it saved time) I’ve just added more beans of different varieties and it’s always delicious. Thanks Mel!
This is absolutely delicious!! Easy to make and a great new way to use up zucchini. In fact, it’s so yummy I buy zucchini in the winter to make it! đ
So good and so easy. I had frozen shredded zucchini in the freezer and made it with that. Perfect with chips, avocado, and sour cream
Excellent recipe, Mel!
Though I fear that I’m one of those people who made enough changes to the recipe that I might get a side-eye for rating it, I think I stuck close enough to the spirit of the recipe to be an accurate judge.
Changes I made:
– ground turkey breast instead of ground beef or a less lean ground turkey
– added a 4oz can of sliced black olives
– added a generous handful of roughly chopped cilantro (at the same time as the zucchini)
– added an 8oz bag of Frontera red enchilada sauce (it was nearing its expiration date and I had no other plans for it)
– added the cheese at the end on individual portions then just quickly zapped it to melt – I was making it primarily for just my lunches during the week, so I knew I’d have tons of leftovers and I don’t always love how melted cheese tastes when reheated
I added everything else as the recipe stated, and it was absolutely perfect. I think the enchilada sauce was a huge help in countering the bland and lean factor of the turkey breast, so I’d recommend that (or extra spices, at least) for anyone else using ground breast meat instead of a fattier cut.
I did find that I needed to cook the zucchini longer – about six minutes – to get to what I considered a cooked-but-firm-al-dente texture. After a few minutes, it still seemed basically raw.
I think this recipe is VERY open to substitution and interpretation – more beans/legumes instead of meat (green/brown lentils seem like they’d be particularly good here), plain tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes, yellow squash instead of zucchini, other small-diced vegetables added, etc. I even think it would be delicious without the cheese and with some avocados on top should someone need or want to avoid dairy.
Fantastic job on this recipe!
How would this be with frozen, shredded zucchini? If I squeeze all the water out, will it be too mushy? I have several quart bags of shredded, frozen zucchini in my freezer and want to use them for more things than just zucchini bread (frozen zucchini works great in zucchini bread)
I think if you squeeze out the excess water, it should work great!
Made itÂ
Only difference I fried out spices with the ground beef , onion and garlic in first  step
Recipe was a win win
This is sooo good! Because we like things spicy, I added two chopped jalapeños from my garden, I didnât have the diced chilis, and I added the spices, but a lot extra!Â
With sour cream and Fritos, it is delish! I love easy recipes like this!Â
Whereas I usually LOVE Melâs recipes, this one was 3 âïž for me. Itâs chili with corn and zucchini, *which is great in general*, but the seasoning as written didnât do enough for me, when thereâs a pound of meat, plus tomatoes, zucchini, corn, onions, etc, to be seasoned. I added double the cumin and chile powder, an extra 1/2tso salt, and an extra 1/2 tsp pepper. But to each their own 100%! How things turn out completely depends on what brands, ingredients, etc that you use. Not bashing at all. Just saying it didnât wow us. No biggie.Â
This truly was delicious! Too easy to make too! I used turkey, and had a large can of diced tomatoes,still turned out great. Added more salt and slightly increased the spices, just made the measuring spoons heaped a little bit. Will make again for sure
Great flavors! We all loved this dish.
This was delicious!  Because I think there are never enough vegetables, I added a diced yellow squash and two minced jalapeños as well.  And I was a bit heavy handed with the seasoning and the cheese.  I’ve been eating mine wrapped in a burrito size tortilla.  My mouth waters just thinking about it!
This. Was. Excellent! So easy to put together!
Simple and delicious! I ended up having over 5 cups and used it all and it was great. Â Even the kids enjoyed it and I converted a proclaimed zucchini hater. I got the chopper you recommended and wow!! That made really easy all the chopping and I loved how uniform the diced zucchini was. I kept it al dente as you suggested and it was waaay better than the mushy ways itâs often prepared. Thanks for a great recipe!!Â
I have made this at least 3 times since you posted! Such a great way to use up all the summer zucchini. The flavors are amazing! My whole family loves this!
I’ve been a follower of your recipes for 12 years now! And while I don’t often comment, I just wanted to say thank you! You are my GO TO recipe source!
Loved this recipe! Since there are only two of us, I made a half recipe. It made lots, so we have enough for one more meal. My husband also loved it. It was easy and tasted soooooooo good!
This one is a keeper! I made a half recipe, and it still made plenty (for one person). Next time, I will add about 1/8 tsp of baking soda to the ground beef as it will tenderize the beef as it cooks. Also, I will add the cumin, chili powder, oregano and paprika to the drained meat, let it cook a minute to bloom the spices, and then add the beans, etc. I hope this provides a bit more intense flavor or will up the spice quantity a bit if it doesn’t. I found I needed more salt as I went easy on the cheese. Thanks Mel!
So good and so easy. My family loved this. Always looking for new ways to use zucchini and this is a winner!