How many calories in a courgette (zucchini)
One whole courgette has about 35 kcal and next to no fat.
Portion
To burn it off
A courgette is almost all water, which is why it goes soft so quickly in the pan. One has about 35 kcal, 6 g of carbs and 2 g of protein.
Americans call it zucchini, the French call it courgette, and we borrowed the French word. Same vegetable, same numbers.
Spiralised into courgetti it bulks up a bowl of pasta for very little. Fried in plenty of oil, it soaks that oil right up.
Tips
- 1Swap half your spaghetti for courgetti and keep the sauce you love.
- 2Grill thick slices instead of frying, they hold less oil that way.
- 3Grate one into a bolognese or chilli, it melts in and stretches the pot.
Where it comes from
Squash comes from the Americas and reached Europe by the early 1500s, but the courgette itself is Italian. Farmers around Milan bred the long, dark green squash in the mid 19th century, and the Italian name zucchini means little squash, from zucca. The French word courgette, which Britain borrowed, is a 20th century coinage from courge, the French for gourd.
Where does our food come from? · Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica, zucchini
Just type it
a courgette
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Questions
Is courgette the same as zucchini?
Yes. Courgette is the British name, zucchini the American one.
How many calories in half a courgette?
About 18 kcal, give or take.
Are courgetti lower in calories than pasta?
Much lower. A whole courgette is about 35 kcal, so a bowl of courgetti is a fraction of a bowl of pasta.
Is it safe to eat a bitter courgette?
No. If a courgette tastes really bitter, spit it out and throw the rest away, because that bitterness comes from natural compounds that can make you ill. Ordinary courgettes taste mild.
Is a courgette a fruit or a vegetable?
Botanically it's a fruit, since it grows from the flower and holds the seeds. In the kitchen it's cooked and counted as a vegetable.
