Greek Zucchini Salad
It’s a raw zucchini salad that’s packed full of so much flavor you won’t even realize you’re eating zucchini! Our Greek Zucchini Salad is a fresh, easy-to-make salad that has everything you love about a Greek salad but made with thinly sliced tender fresh zucchini!
Next, try out Caprese Zoodle Salad!
This is a good one, friends! I am so excited about this one because I absolutely love all things Greek salads, and now we’ve taken it to a raw zucchini salad! Our Greek Zucchini Salad is made with tender zucchini ribbons while being packed with everything you love about this classic Mediterranean salad. This is one that’s beautiful and delicious and will be a unique addition to any lunch, dinner, cookout, or BBQ table this summer!
Ingredients Needed
- Fresh Zucchinis – This salad is one for those smaller zucchinis. Save those big fat ones in your garden for our Zucchini Apple Bars!
- Cherry Tomatoes – We love the sweetness and look of these in this salad, but you could absolutely use a grape or another tomato chopped.
- Feta Cheese – Never trust a Greek salad without it!
- Red Onion – Classic to this Mediterranean salad, but also the best raw onion for any salad.
- Kalamative Olives – Not kalamatas? No problem! Black olives are a great substitute!
- Olive Oil – This is when you bust out the good olive oil, not the cooking olive oil!
- Apple Cider Vinegar – To add the right acidity to your dressing.
- Oregano, Salt, and Pepper – The perfect combo of flavors for your dressing.
- Lemon Juice – Just a touch for the right amount of citrus punch.
Zucchini Ribbons
There’s something just so elegant about a zucchini ribbon salad, am I right? And to do this, you really need either a mandoline or a good Y-peeler. For a mandoline, you want to make sure that it’s one that will go at least as low as 1/16 of an inch to be able to get these gorgeous thin ribbons.
Then be sure to sweat your zucchini ribbons! This just means lay them in a colander, sprinkle with some salt and mix and let them sweat out the excess moisture for at least 30 minutes. This will ensure that you don’t add a ton of extra moisture to your salad.
Easy to Make
Once you have your zucchini ribbons ready, then this raw zucchini salad takes no time to come together!
Add it all to a big bowl and mix well. Use your hands and really get in there and mix well. Use an extra large bowl to give yourself plenty of room to mix!
Create the dressing by adding it all to a dish and whisking. We prefer to use a Pyrek with a pour spout to make adding it to the salad nice and easy.
Generously add that dressing and then give a good mix!
Greek Zucchini Salad, done!
My new favorite Greek-inspired salad!
Recipe Tips
You can use either! We always gravitate toward our mandoline, but you can also create gorgeous zucchini ribbons with a Y-peeler, like this one.
No matter what you use, a good mandoline, one that can adjust down in size to be 1/16 of an inch, is a kitchen tool investment that will get a lot of use, because then you’ll be ready to make your own Homemade Potato Chips and our Asian Cucumber Salad!
This is a great salad to prep ahead! You can ribbon the zucchini a few hours in advance, the dressing 2-3 days in advance and store it in the fridge and then have all of your other veggies sliced and diced and ready to go. Assemble up to about an hour before serving and store in the fridge.
For this recipe, you want to use smaller, more tender zucchini like the ones you get in the grocery store or at your local farmer’s market. Those big baseball bat-sized ones you might pull out of your garden, are best saved for our Zucchini Apple Bars!
No, you definitely don’t, but just be aware that moisture that you don’t sweat out will end up in your salad bowl. The salad will still be delicious, especially if eaten immediately, but over time the zucchini will eventually release that moisture into the salad.
Bring on Summer and all the delicious Summer Recipes and Salads!
You Also Might Like
- Greek Orzo Salad
- Savory Cheddar Zucchini Muffins
- Greek Chicken Salad Wraps
- Chicken Bacon Greek Salad
- One Pot 20 Minute Greek Pasta
- Greek-ish Pasta
- Chickpea Kale Greek Salad
- Raw Broccoli Salad
- One Pan Greek Chicken Legs
- Simple Shaved Fennel Salad
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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Greek Zucchini Salad
Equipment
- or Y-peeler
Ingredients
- 4 cups zucchini
- 1/2 cup red onion sliced thinly
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 4 oz feta cheese crumbed
- 1 cup kalamata olives
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to sweat zucchini
Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Sweat Zucchini: Ribbon zucchini with either a mandoline set to 1/16 of an inch or with a Y-peeler. LIne in a colander and sprinkle with a little salt (1/2 tsp), and gently mix. Let sweat over the sink or over a bowl to release excess moisture for at least 30 minutes. Once done, pat dry with paper towels and add to a bowl.
- Prep Vinaigrette: Meanwhile, add all of the vinaigrette ingredients to a Pyrek with a pour spout and whisk until well combined and emulsified.
- Assemble Salad: Add all salad ingredients to a large bowl and mix well. Dress with vinaigrette and then mix again. Finish with fresh parsley.
- Serve and Enjoy!
This is now my go to summer salad for cookouts! Always a hit! Great for lunch as a meal the next day!
I love to hear it, Linda!! Thanks so much for sharing and taking the time to leave a review!
I love how easy, delicious, and healthy this salad recipe is.
I can’t wait to make this for my parents this weekend. I am sure they will love this!
Enjoy, Amy!
A delicious take on traditional Greek salad, perfect for that bumper crop of zucchini in the garden! Zesty, fresh, savory, nummy. Be sure to follow the directions – it’s important to sweat the zucchini before mixing everything together!
Oh my, this salad recipe looks absolutely delicious and it’s very healthy! Cautious people will gonna love this! Loving this already too!
So wonderful to hear, Jamie! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review!
I always end up with so much zucchini in my garden every year, this will be a great recipe to make to with it!
Let me know what you think, Ann!
What a yummy summer salad! I love that the zucchini was cut in ribbons making the salad so pretty. The feta and olives are a must!