5-Minute Zucchini Salad With Lemon & Mint

This raw zucchini salad with lemon, mint, and olive oil is a perfect side dish and great for using up summer squash bounty. The best part is that it only takes about 5-10 minutes to make. Check out two variations with Parmesan & feta below! It’s paleo, Whole30, keto and vegan-friendly.

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that is more often cooked with than eaten raw. Yet, pair some thinly sliced raw zucchini with fresh lemon juice, velvety olive oil, sea salt and green herbs like mint, basil or parsley and you have a beautiful, raw salad that tastes like spring or summer.

What I Love About This Zucchini Salad

• It’s super simple and showcases the vegetable! Perfect for using up zucchini when it is in season.
• Quick and easy, only takes 5-10 minutes and requires very few ingredients. You can swap out the herbs and try cheese on top if you like.
• It suits so many diets from Paleo and Whole30 to Keto and Vegan – great to prepare for any dinner party!
• It goes with pretty much anything. Enjoy with freshly grilled fish, meat, or plant-based protein.

👩‍🍳 If you like zucchini recipes, try my veggie-loaded zucchini slice, Parmesan crusted zucchini with aioli and tomatoes, turmeric zucchini soup, or my healthy chocolate zucchini cake for dessert. More summer squash recipes here.

What You Need To Make Raw Zucchini Salad

Zucchini: You can use small or medium green zucchini (a part of the summer squash family). I usually calculate 1 medium zucchini per person as a side dish. If you’re doing it as a main dish – with say some protein on top – then you might want 2 zucchinis per serving, depending on their size.

Olive oil: Good olive oil is really important here as it will provide a lot of flavour. I recommend investing in good cold-pressed olive oil to use in raw dishes like this one. You can go fruity or spicy.

Plus: Fresh mint, salt and lemon and you’re ready to go.

Preparing The Zucchini

You have a few options here. You can use a vegetable spiralizer to cut the zucchini into noodles or spirals like in my pictures here. Using a regular carrot peeler will also give you thinly shaved zucchini strips. Alternatively, you can slice it into thin circles.

I recommend making this raw zucchini salad just before serving so that the zucchini retains its crunch and freshness. You can pre-shave the zucchini ahead of time but don’t dress it too soon!

TIP: For a warm dish, grill the zucchini slices first and then dress with lemon, mint and olive oil.

Variations

I think the salad is simple and lovely as is, but it is fabulous with some shaved Parmesan or crumbled feta cheese or goat’s cheese on top. You can swap mint for basil or parsley, or try cilantro/coriander and lime juice for a more Tex-Mex vibe.

More Zucchini Recipes