Shaved Zucchini Salad Recipe

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This shaved zucchini salad recipe combines lemon, goat cheese, microgreens, and toasted pine nuts for an exquisite and luscious side dish. It’s zesty and flavorful while showcasing some of the best summer vegetables.

This ribboned zucchini recipe is a perfect side dish, but it could also be enjoyed as a light and refreshing lunch.

What makes this Ribboned Zucchini Salad Special

This light, summery salad recipe is a beautiful celebration of fresh, crunchy zucchini. When zucchini is shredded like this it retains so much of its light floral flavor that gets lost when it’s cooked.

If you’ve never tried raw zucchini in a dish, you will be pleasantly surprised by the mellow flavor plus the crunch.  

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How to Choose the Best Zucchini

Zucchini is at its best in the late summer months - specifically in July, August, and September. Smaller, younger zucchini have better flavor.

Zucchini can grow to be quite huge if not harvested early - while it might be fun to see gargantuan zucchini they don’t taste nearly as good and are often quite dry and seedy.

The best zucchini will have a dark green color and feel firm to the touch. They should feel heavy for their size (when they feel light its because they’re older and drying out).

Zucchini will usually keep in the fridge for up to one week, but if they start to feel soft or have any mushy sections they are past their prime.

Ingredients for this Salad

For this ribboned zucchini recipe, you’ll need zucchini, a lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper, pine nuts, goat cheese, and microgreens.

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How to Make this Recipe

Making this zucchini salad recipe is a snap - you just need to:

• Ribbon the zucchini. Finely shave the zucchini with either a vegetable peeler or on a mandolin (I set the mandoline to ⅛th inch)
• Marinate the zucchini. Gently combine the zucchini, lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Toss lightly to combine, so the zucchini ribbons don’t break. Marinate for 10 minutes.
• Plate the zucchini. Place the zucchini in a bowl or plate. Twist the strands to create some circular shapes in the salad.
• Toast the pine nuts. Toast the pine nuts over medium heat in a non-stick pan for five minutes or until the nuts are golden brown.
• Add the toppings. Top the zucchini with the toasted pine nuts, goat cheese, and microgreens.

More Summer Side Dish Recipes You’ll Love:

If you love a summer veggie side dish, you’ll enjoy these recipes as well!

• Roasted Zucchini with Yogurt
• Easy Tomato Salad with Tarragon Pesto
• Grilled Baby Bok Choy
• Grilled Corn Salad

Tips for this Making this Recipe

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• I highly recommend this mandoline to shave the zucchini into consistently thin strips. I also recommend these cut protection gloves which will keep your fingers safe!
• If you'd prefer to use a vegetable peeler for this recipe, I have this one from Rosle and it's wonderful!
• It's important to give the zucchini ribbons a few minutes to marinate - it makes them more pliable to roll when you plate the salad.
• This recipe is very flexible - you can substitute other types of cheese if you don't like goat cheese (feta and pecorino would both be great) and you can use other types of nuts (walnuts or another oily nut would be great).