{"id":27024,"date":"2026-07-16T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T13:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=27024"},"modified":"2026-06-25T12:00:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T16:00:58","slug":"vegan-dishes-featuring-yellow-crookneck-squash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2026\/07\/16\/vegan-dishes-featuring-yellow-crookneck-squash\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Dishes Featuring Yellow Crookneck Squash"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

istockphoto<\/p><\/div>\n

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD<\/p>\n

Summer squash, such as zucchini, crookneck, or patty-pan, were named not for their growing season. Rather, due to thin skin and high-water content, they would not make it through a long winter\u2019s storage, unlike that of thicker-skinned \u201cwinter\u201d squash, such as butternut, acorn, spaghetti, or kabocha.<\/p>\n

The summer squash selected for this blog is the yellow crookneck squash, as there has been a bumper crop this year (2026).<\/p>\n

If you feel like turning on the stove, a very fast, colorful, versatile dish is to heat olive oil\u00a0(or oil of your choice) in a pan, and quickly saut\u00e9 thinly sliced, or small-diced yellow squash with chopped onions, chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned), diced garlic, and salt and pepper, to taste.\u00a0This is so delicious that you may find yourself eating right out of the pan. Serve, warm, over rice or cooked greens, or cold as a wrap filling.<\/p>\n

If you are an early summer riser, you might like to bake summer squash into a casserole, tossing sliced squash with chopped onions, dried vegan bread crumbs, and shredded vegan cheese, to be eaten, cool, later in the day.\u00a0Leftover casserole can be chopped, to fill halved and seeded summer squash \u201cboats.\u201d\u00a0These stuffed squash can be heated in the oven (twice-baked squash!) or eaten cold.<\/p>\n

If you like to use kitchen gadgets, invest in a \u201cspiralizer\u201d to create veggie noodles. We have seen these in the \u201cbargain bins\u201d in markets, and online for about $9. Once you have churned out your squash noodles, you can either quickly steam or microwave them to use in place of pasta, or serve them uncooked, with your favorite salad dressing. In different seasons, the spiralizer can \u201cnoodle-ize\u201d white, yellow, and purple potatoes and sweet potatoes, green tomatoes (ripe, red tomatoes would be too squishy), seeded cucumbers, and carrots.<\/p>\n

If the grill is on, toss large chunks of summer squash with olive oil and a spice blend. Roast them quickly and eat hot, or store in the refrigerator and use as a wrap, burrito, or taco filling.<\/p>\n

Baked summer squash fritters can be made by shredding summer squash and white potatoes, squeezing out and discarding the excess liquid and combining\u00a0with a spice blend of your choice (using Old Bay seasoning\u00a0gives a seaside flavor),\u00a0dry vegan bread crumbs, and vegan mayo.\u00a0If the mixture is too loose to form into patties, add additional breadcrumbs or flour.\u00a0Form into patties and refrigerate for at least an hour. Bake until golden brown, turning once.\u00a0These fritters freeze well, so, since the oven is going to be on, plan to make a double batch for later enjoyment.<\/p>\n

When it is just too hot to cook, use a vegetable peeler to thinly slice the squash, and toss with olive oil, fresh lemon or lime juice, and chopped parsley. Chill until ready to serve. If you are serving a selection of dips, such as tzatziki, hummus, or salsa, cut summer squash into slices or sticks, alongside carrots and celery.<\/p>\n

If you find you have an overload of yellow squash, you can grate, shred, or cube it and freeze for use later in the year in soups, stews, and a vegetable blend (the frozen squash will not be firm enough to use for salads and such).\u00a0If you have the time to dehydrate the squash, slice thinly and allow to dry.\u00a0They will most probably shrink down about sixty per cent, due to a very high-water content.\u00a0Plan to use the dehydrated squash later in the year in broths, soups, and in cooked grains and rice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chef Nancy Berkoff, EdD, RD Summer squash, such as zucchini, crookneck, or patty-pan, were named not for their growing season. Rather, due to thin skin and high-water content, they would not make it through a long winter\u2019s storage, unlike that of thicker-skinned \u201cwinter\u201d squash, such as butternut, acorn, spaghetti, or kabocha. The summer squash […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27026,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27024\/revisions\/27026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}