Zucchini Salad with Lemon & Feta
This Zucchini Salad with Lemon & Feta is one of our favorite summer side dishes. With fresh lemon, crisp zucchini, and ripe tomatoes it is summertime in a bite. Just 5 ingredients and less than 10 minutes to a delicious warm-weather side dish.
I’ve made it countless times over the last few years since purchasing a spiralizer. My kids love stretching the pieces of zucchini to see how long they are. It looks a little silly when you try to serve it and encounter a five-foot-long zoodle.
As far as zucchini recipes go this one never gets old. It is a great alternative to pasta salad on a hot summer day. I could eat this cool summer salad for lunch any and every day in hot weather.
This easy fresh zucchini salad recipe is low carb, keto, gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and Trim Healthy Mama friendly.
Ingredients
You only need 5 simple ingredients plus a little salt to make this great raw zucchini salad. It really is a perfect summer side dish.
Zucchini – Two large zucchini or four small zucchini. (By large I mean grocery store large. Not I found a monster zucchini in the garden large).
Tomatoes – I like to use halved cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes but a large chopped tomato works too!
Lemon Juice – I recommend using freshly squeezed lemon juice but bottled can be used in a pinch. For extra lemon flavor add some lemon zest.
Olive Oil – Extra virgin olive oil is what you want. Avocado oil is a good sub.
Feta Cheese – Buy the crumbled or buy a chunk and crumble your own.
Fresh Oregano – Or another fresh herb of your choice, optional
Kosher Salt & Black Pepper – To taste.
I keep the fresh oregano optional but I do recommend it. You can sub in fresh basil if you prefer!
How to Make Zucchini Salad
To make my zucchini noodle salad all you have to do is spiralize some zucchini and toss it in a homemade vinaigrette with tomatoes and feta. It is such an easy recipe!
Step One: Prep the zucchini. You can make zoodles with a spiralizer or ribbons with a mandolin slicer.
Step Two: Make the dressing. I blend all the ingredients in a small blender.
Step Three: Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and serve immediately. If you want to prep this ahead of time don’t add the dressing and cheese until you are ready to serve it.
Zucchini Salad Dressing
The dressing for this zucchini salad is just olive oil, fresh lemon juice, and salt. I like to emulsify this simple lemon vinaigrette in a rocket blender so it is smooth and creamy. Blending these ingredients together only takes a minute and really increases the flavor and texture.
If you prefer you can add all of the dressing ingredients to a mason jar and shake vigorously for a couple of minutes.
Feel free to make the dressing ahead and store in an airtight container. If the oil solidifies just leave it at room temperature until it is a liquid again.
Options for the dressing are endless. You can swap the lemon juice for red wine vinegar or white balsamic vinegar. Swap the olive oil for avocado oil. Add seasonings and herbs. Just taste as you go.
Variations
Protein – If you want to add protein to the zucchini salad recipe I recommend a lighter protein like grilled chicken or shrimp. If you want something heartier like steaks you can serve those on the side.
Grilled – Swap in grilled zucchini that has been cut into bite-sized pieces.
Spices – I love letting the flavor of the lemon and feta stand out but you can add some garlic powder, onion powder, or black pepper if you’d like.
Fresh Herbs – Other good choices besides oregano are fresh basil, parsley, chives, dill, fresh thyme, finely chopped fresh rosemary, or even a bit of fresh mint.
Other Vegetables – Try adding thinly sliced red onion, a chopped red pepper, fresh corn, or even very thin slices of celery or shaved fennel. Greens like arugula or chopped spinach mix in well. Kalamata olives are a fun addition as well.
Nuts – Pine nuts add a delicious crunch to zucchini salad. Toasted chopped walnuts are a good addition as well.
Pesto – Love pesto? Add in a bit of nutty flavor with almond pesto. Or mix in some Feta Pesto to boost the feta flavor.
Cheese – Goat cheese crumbles are a delicious choice in place of the feta. Another option is small balls of fresh mozzarella or freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Common Questions
Do I need a spiralizer?
Many grocery stores sell zucchini noodles in their produce sections but it is much cheaper to make your own.
This is the spiralizer I have and I do highly recommend it. It was one of the first spiralizers to be readily available. But really, any spiralizer will work. Even one of the little hand spiralizers. I have one of those also for when I only need to spiralize a small zucchini and don’t feel like bringing out the big one.
I use it mostly for zucchini but have also done sweet potatoes and apples. Roasted spiralized sweet potatoes are amazing. And my kids think apple spaghetti is really cool.
If you are new to making zucchini noodles my friend Maya over at Wholesome Yum has a great tutorial you should check out: How to Make Zucchini Noodles
Can I just use a vegetable peeler?
Yes, if you prefer you can just cut the zucchini into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler or mandolin. Zucchini ribbons are larger that the pieces I use so you may want to let them marinate a bit to soften in the dressing before adding the feta and serving.
Can I use yellow summer squash?
Yes, yellow squash and zucchini are pretty much interchangeable. Feel free to use yellow summer squash in this recipe.
Love this recipe? Try this Easy Greek Zoodle Salad next.
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Zucchini Salad with Lemon and Feta
Ingredients
Instructions
- Put the zucchini, tomatoes, feta, and oregano in a medium bowl.
- Stir together the olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.
- Pour the dressing over the zucchini salad and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally Published on June 12, 2017. Revised and Republished on July 19, 2024.
Looking for other low carb side dishes for the warm weather? Try these:
I love this way to use all of the zucchini my garden produces late summer. It is nice to have a cool and refreshing salad. My family doesn’t all like tomatoes so I will make one batch with tomatoes and feta and another batch with red bell peppers and feta.
This was a light, refreshing and delicious lunch for me, today! That zippy lemon vinaigrette adds so much flavor to the zoodles and was a great counterbalance to the rich feta.
Yum, I love zucchini!
This salad is my new Fav! It is delish! My second night in a row having it! Thank you for posting.
Great recipe for summer! Love pairing it with barbecue meals! Yum!
I made this for my husband and he absolutely loved it! I will be making this again!
Why did I never think of this before?! I love zucchini noodles and tossing them in a lemon vinaigrette and adding tomatoes and cheese was pure inspiration! I will be making this often during the hot summer and it’s perfect for bringing to family and neighborhood barbecues too.
We love this meal so much. I’m going to make it again for dinner tonight!
Loved this recipe. I used fresh basil instead because I didn’t have oregano but it was fantastic! Thanks!
I loved the recipe!
I didn’t add tomatoes and cut it into cubes instead of spiralizing. I ate it with pita, marinated chicken, and taziki and it was a great easy meal!
This is delicious, Taryn! And perfect timing because my wife has instructed me to prepare more salads b/c she’s swung too much into unhealthy carb heavy foods lately. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Hope you enjoy it 🙂
If you cut slits lengthwise along the zucchini, then it will have smaller strands of zoodles. Don’t cut too deep!