This dish is super easy and super good! No standing over a skillet of hot grease either! So good, it was impossible to refrain from having a second serving! 🙂 This recipe works with yellow squash, green zuccini or the Mexican calaba squash that looks likek lighter green zucchini. Some sall it Mexican zucchini. Calaba has less water content that its darker green “cousin” and is very nice for baking because of this quality.
The squash cooked fully inside in the 20 minutes without par-boiling. The pork rinds make it crunchy on the outside and will satisfy your desire for crunchy, fried food. This dish is Atkins Induction friendly. This coating works nicely on a variety of other vegetables. I’ve even oven-baked okra, onion rings, and eggplant with this coating.
DO NOT USE A SILICONE SHEET to bake this squash or it will not brown properly. Bake them directly on a non-stick or lightly oiled metal pan.
INGREDIENTS:
16 oz. zucchini, calaba (its cousin) or yellow squash
2 oz. pork rinds, plain, finely crushed
1/3 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend
6 T. my Homemade Mayonnaise
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 450º. Crush rinds and add spice blend on a paper plate or saucer and mix well. Dip out mayo onto another paper plate or saucer. Cut stems and bottom tip off squash and cut into ¼” slices lengthwise. Lay the squash slices on paper towels. After 15 minutes or so, blot off all water they bleed with dry paper towels. When they are no longer bleeding their water, holding the very tip of each piece with one hand, with a basting brush in your other hand, baste both sides of the squash slices with a coating of mayo. Set brush down and with your now free hand, sprinkle rinds on both sides of the squash and then place on a non-stick sheet pan. Repeat for each piece. I’ll tell ya up front, if you just dip these babies down into the rinds (more will stick on) you ARE going to run out of rinds before you’ve coated all the squash. Been there; done that; 🙂 So trust me on this one…….just sprinkle it onto each side, letting the excess fall back into the plate and you should have enough for the entire batch. Place each coated piece of squash on a lightly oiled metal pan. Pop into a 450º oven for 20 minutes or until nice and brown. No need to turn during baking as the bottoms get nicely browned where they touch the pan. ENJOY!
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:
245.3 cals, 21.3g fat, 4.18g carbs, 1.25g fiber, 2.93g NET CARBS, 10.8g protein, 250 mg. sodium
Buttoni's Low-Carb Recipes 
This recipe popped up on my Facebook memories page. I didn’t make this yet, but plan on it. I’m going to try this recipe using the french’s French fried onions blended with the pork rinds.
I’m sure that will taste just fine, but do bear in mind yours will be quite a bit higher in carbs than my version. Most low-carbers are purging real flour from their diets as it re-kindles carb cravings. My spice blend effectively and beautifully eliminates the taste of the pork rinds.
What can you substitute for pork skins?
Probably nothing to get the really crunchy results my recipe renders. You really can’t taste them as such in this. Just sayin’. If you use almond meal or fine coconut, you will get a totally different and less crunchy result. Flavor will change, too.
Since I can’t eat pork I think I will try with panko bread crumbs
It will lose it’s low-carb quality. A better choice would be low-carb bake mix with a little almond meal mixed in for crunch.
You might want to add salting to the recipe steps. I know you refer to it but that may be why some don’t get crispy since the moisture hasn’t been drawn out enough.
Mine always come out crispy without that step.
I tried this a few days ago. It never got crispy, stayed kind of soggy but the flavor was great!. I did it with zucchini and I don’t think I let it dry out long enough after slicing. I’ll definitely try it again. Thanks for the great recipe
What kind of pan did you bake it on? If not metal, that can happen. I did caution not to use glass or silicone sheet pans. That seems to prevent crisping up. Also some squash just have more water in them. DO NOT bypass the salting and setting on paper towels step, as that can be what caused it. Some say this does well on parchment, but I haven’t tried that method yet. Glad you liked the taste and hope you’ll give it another try. They always get crisp for me, but I always buy small squash and larger ones really can have a lot more water in them.
I don’t see a salting step in the recipe…you said not to skip it?
I do not salt my squash when I put it on paper towels. I’m too sodium sensitive. Many people do. Either way is fine. Water will bleed out without the salt just fine. Just be sure to blot all the water off before proceeding with the recipe.
I don’t have pork rinds – any substitutes?
You won’t get nearly as good a result subbing in for them, Jane. Won’t be nearly as crunchy. You can try a mix of Parm and almond meal, but browned nuts just won’t have the same crunch.
Do you have lower cal.sodium,sugar recipe. I love to cook that.with squash, succichini.Thank you so much for write.good recipes.
Thank you, Maria. All my recipes are sugar-free and low carb, but they are not always low calorie if they contain cheese or other dairy. You can always lower calories by omitting or reducing the amount of cheese.
What can you substitute for seafood spice blend?
That blend is basically my recipe for Emeril Legasse’s Cajun Spice blend he puts on everything under the sun from shrimp, seafoods, gumbo and vegetable recipes of all kinds (but mine is much less spicy than his). It’s the only spice I’ve ever used on my oven-fried recipes. If you don’t want to make it, use whatever you like. Maybe lemon pepper blend? Or some other spice blend you have on hand you like. I can’t guarantee if what you use will disguise the pork rind flavor as well, or whether you will like the result.
Are these the pork rinds that are packed like chips that people snack on?
Yes, ma’am, the very same thing. 🙂