Lemon-Parmesan Zucchini Salad
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Easy and delicious, fresh raw zucchini makes a light and refreshing salad when you toss them with fresh-squeezed lemon, toasted walnuts, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. You can grate, shred, or slice them into matchsticks or noodle shapes to make this all-vegetable version of Italian pasta salad.
Most summer squash like zucchini are tender and mild and when really fresh they don’t even need to be cooked — unless you happen to be craving delicious fried zucchini. This fresh zucchini salad recipe is as minimalistic as it gets.
To make it, raw zucchini noodles are combined with olive oil, lemon, Parmesan cheese and chopped walnuts, which add a toasty crunch.
Slicing zucchini for salad
Zucchini and summer squash can be can be prepared in various ways
- Shaved on a mandoline or with a vegetable peeler.
- Shredded, using the large holes of a grater.
- Thinly sliced with a chef’s knife.
The prepped zucchini can be combined with whatever sauce or salad dressing you like. Instead of using pasta, serve zucchini noodles with homemade summer basil pesto sauce. Zucchini noodles (“zoodles”) substitute for pasta in gluten-free recipes. They have a mild taste and naturally firm texture, especially when they’re raw.
There’s a no shortage of tools and gadgets out there that will make zucchini into spaghetti-like strands, matchsticks or otherwise noodle-shaped cuts that you’ll want for this recipe.
- Spiralizer: Using this tool definitely produces the best noodle shapes and it does the job quickly – just position the zucchini on the holder (or other firm vegetable) and spin the handle. I like this one — it’s folds away for storage and has suction cups to hold it securely on a work surface.
- Mandoline: The interchangeable blades on a mandoline allow you to not only make noodles, but wide ribbons as thin or thick as you prefer.
- Julienne peeler: A julienne vegetable peeler is the most inexpensive and surprisingly effective tool on the list — a serrated, handheld peeler easily turns a zucchini into matchsticks, but requires just a little more time than the tools listed above.
Make zucchini matchsticks
While they’re not long and curly like noodles, zucchini cut into matchsticks are a perfect shape to use in this recipe.
A basic vegetable peeler and a sharp chef’s knife do the job — it’s an old-school technique to make zucchini matchsticks. Just peel thick slices, stack them and slice with the knife into matchsticks.
Lemon-Parmesan Zucchini Salad
Ingredients
- 4 medium zucchini, about 8 ounces each
- ¼ cup (60 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- Flaky sea salt or kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon grated or finely chopped garlic
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon zest
- ⅓ cup (35 g) walnuts, toasted* and roughly chopped
- ½-1 teaspoon red chili flakes, to taste
- ½ cup fresh herb leaves, such as Italian parsley and basil, torn into pieces
- ½ cup shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Trim the ends of the zucchini and cut into noodles, ribbons or matchsticks using a knife, spiralizer or vegetable peeler.
- Put the zucchini in a large bowl and pour the olive oil over. Toss gently to coat the strands, then season with salt to taste (I usually add ½-1 teaspoon).
- Add the garlic, lemon juice, zest, walnuts, and chili flakes and toss again.
- Top the bowl with the herbs and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top.
Karen’s Notes and Tips
- To toast walnuts: Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, or in a heavy skillet over medium-low heat until lightly golden.
- Keep in mind that if you are using a spiralizer to make zucchini noodles, the strands will be very long. Trim them into manageable lengths with kitchen scissors before serving.
- Zucchini starts releasing water (and gets soggy) as soon as you add salt and acid, so toss the noodles just before serving.
- Zucchini noodles keep fresh for days (without sauce or seasoning). A great make-ahead tip is to form the noodles and keep them in a covered container until you need them.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts are calculated by third-party software. If you have specific dietary needs, please refer to your favorite calculator.
Hey, I’m Karen
Creator of Familystyle Food
I’m a food obsessed super-taster and professionally trained cook ALL about creating elevated dinners with everyday ingredients. Find simplified recipes made from scratch and enjoy incredibly tasty food! Read more about me here.