Zucchini slice

Australian baked savoury zucchini and egg slice with bacon and cheese

Origin: Victoria & South Australia

From the journey of Zucchini.

Zucchini slice is one of the great recipes of the Australian domestic kitchen: a baked savoury tray of grated zucchini, egg, bacon, onion, and self-raising flour that sits somewhere between a frittata and a quiche but is resolutely neither. It emerged from the Italian-Australian market garden communities of Victoria and South Australia in the post-war decades, when the zucchini surplus of a productive garden demanded ingenuity. By the 1980s it had escaped its Italian-Australian origins entirely and entered the mainstream Australian household recipe canon, where it remains a fixture of school lunchboxes, picnics, and bring-a-plate occasions.

Ingredients

  • 3 medium zucchini (about 400g), coarsely grated
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 onion, finely diced
  • 200 g bacon rashers, diced
  • 1 cup self-raising flour
  • 1 cup grated tasty (cheddar) cheese
  • 0.5 cup vegetable oil
  • salt and black pepper
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley or chives, chopped

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 20×30cm baking tray (lamington tin) with baking paper.
  2. Place the grated zucchini in a clean tea towel and squeeze firmly to remove as much moisture as possible. This is the key step; wet zucchini makes a soggy slice.
  3. In a large bowl whisk the eggs and oil together. Add the drained zucchini, bacon, onion, parsley, and cheese. Mix well.
  4. Sift in the self-raising flour, season generously with salt and pepper, and fold until just combined.
  5. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Bake for 35–40 minutes until golden on top and set in the centre; a skewer should come out clean.
The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

Mapping Culinary History

To explore — select an ingredient below.

Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
© 2026 The Gastrographer. All original research, narratives, and illustrations. All rights reserved.