Our raw zucchini salad recipe is one of my favorite summer salads. It’s incredibly simple, fresh, flavorful, and an absolute keeper!
If you are reading this and feeling skeptical about raw zucchini, stick with me! With this zucchini salad, you’ll slice your zucchini into paper-thin coins (or ribbons if you want to be fancy) and then let it marinate for half an hour until it softens and takes on all the lemony flavor from our simple lemon dressing. Once I start eating this salad, I can’t stop. It’s so much better than you’d think! The fresh herbs and toasted buttery pine nuts add a fantastic texture and flavor. It’s one of our favorite zucchini recipes, but for another salad, see our zucchini noodles salad!
Now, this salad is an ideal summer side (or, really, anytime you have access to fresh zucchini) and doesn’t need much more than what’s already listed in the recipe. That said, I recently served it on top of a bed of homemade tzatziki and scattered crumbled feta over the top, and was genuinely blown away. It’s also excellent with simple proteins like poached salmon, grilled chicken breasts, or marinated steak! I can’t wait for you to try this one!
Key Ingredients
- Zucchini: We will use raw zucchini for this salad, so you’ll want some good-looking zucchini. I look for zucchini that feels heavy for its size, firm, with smooth skin. I used green zucchini in our photos, but yellow or a combination of green and yellow is great!
- Lemon: Fresh lemon juice is best here. I suggest 2 tablespoons in the recipe below, but you can always serve your salad with an extra lemon wedge to add more of a lemony kick. Lime would be a really fun substitute for this salad!
- Dijon Mustard: I use Dijon mustard in many of my salad recipes on Inspired Taste, and I almost always have it in my fridge. It makes our dressing a little more creamy and much more flavorful.
- Honey: This balances the mustard and tangy lemon. If you’d prefer something else, use agave nectar or maple syrup.
- Olive Oil: This is the base for our lemon dressing. I love a fruity extra-virgin olive oil, but if you need to, you can substitute avocado oil, you will just lose a little flavor.
- Herbs: This salad is all about freshness, so I love adding chopped fresh mint, basil, and green onion (or chives). Mint is the star of this salad. If you only use one herb, make it mint.
- Pine Nuts: Pine nuts are classic served on top of zucchini salads, but you can always substitute them for something else. I love them for their buttery flavor, but blanched and toasted sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, or even pistachios are all great options! For a nut-free salad, I love sunflower seeds.
How to Make Zucchini Salad
This is a marinated zucchini salad, but I didn’t want to make you wait too long, so the trick is to slice your zucchini really thin. I use a mandoline slicer. If you do not have a mandoline, you can use a knife. If you have a vegetable peeler, you can also turn this into a zucchini ribbon salad. Just use your peeler to peel wide strips of zucchini for your ribbons. I find the coins are a little easier to eat and prep, but either works!
Once you have your thin sliced zucchini, you want to make sure it will taste great in the salad, so toss it with some salt and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. We use the same strategy when making cucumber salad and find it’s so worth it! The salt makes our zucchini taste better and slightly changes the texture, making it more silky and less crunchy, like al dente pasta.
Rinse the extra salt off the zucchini then pat it dry using paper towels before adding it to our lemon dressing, which you will make directly in the bottom of your salad bowl. Then, let the zucchini marinate for 15 to 30 minutes (or longer if you’d prefer it). When you are ready to serve, toss in chopped fresh herbs and the pine nuts. I also love a pinch of gochugaru (Korean chili pepper flakes) or Aleppo pepper flakes. It is so good!
Lemon Herb Zucchini Salad
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I have convinced so many of my friends to love raw zucchini with this easy zucchini salad recipe! The trick for the best salad is to salt your zucchini for 15 minutes before rinsing and patting them dry. This makes the zucchini taste better (and less bland) and transforms the texture into a more silky bite that is slightly less crunchy (similar to al dente pasta!). For ease, I use a mandoline slicer to slice my zucchini for this salad, but you can also use a vegetable peeler to make wide ribbons.
You Will Need
2 medium zucchini, about 1 pound
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1 green onion, sliced
1/4 cup (35g) pine nuts
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more as needed
Pinch Gochugaru chili flakes or Aleppo chili flakes, optional
Directions
1Slice the zucchini as thinly as you can into coins (I use a mandoline). Toss with 1/4 teaspoon of fine sea salt and let the zucchini coins sit in a colander for 15 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain on paper towels.
2Whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 1/2 teaspoon honey, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of a salad bowl. Season with a pinch of salt.
3Toss in the zucchini. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4Meanwhile, add 1/4 cup of pine nuts to a dry skillet and toast over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally until the nuts smell nutty and begin to turn light golden brown in spots. Transfer to a small bowl for serving.
5Remove from the refrigerator, and toss with the fresh herbs, pine nuts, and a pinch of chili flakes. Taste, adjust seasoning with more salt or pepper, then serve.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: This salad does well overnight in the fridge, but if it’s longer than that, it will become too watery. Keep it in an airtight container or a covered bowl.
- The nutrition facts below are estimates.
