Pepper and thyme beef with zucchini salad

Zucchini salad recipe

Firing up the barbecue and cooking both the protein and the vegetables really is spring/summer dining at its easiest, producing all those beautiful chargrilled flavours without heating up the kitchen and with much less cleaning up.

Zucchini grows in warmer weather and in Australia is available year-round. It is most often found with dark green skin, but there are also varieties with yellow and pale green skins. In some countries, such as the UK, zucchini is called courgette. It’s actually a fruit too, not a vegetable!

If you don’t have a barbecue for this zucchini salad recipe, a chargrill pan or electric grill can be used instead.

Zucchini in a salad

This salad is substantial enough to work as either a lunch or dinner dish, and those beautiful flavours of the chargrilled zucchini, roasted red peppers and blue cheese would pair just as well with lamb. Consider swapping the steak for some lamb cutlets or even a butterflied leg cooked on the barbecue.

If you don’t have a jar of whole roasted peppers, use a fresh one. Halve or quarter the pepper and de-seed. Either roast the pieces in the oven, blacken them under the griller or put that barbecue to use again. Let the blackened red pepper steam in a sealed plastic bag for 10 minutes after roasting. The skin will loosen and it will be easier to peel off.

Zucchini salad ideas

Zucchini salad recipes often use the raw vegetable as an alternative to grilled. For a raw version of this salad, use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to slice the zucchini into fine ribbons before tossing with the other salad items. The red wine vinegar, olive oil and mustard dressing will work just as well in a raw, ribbon zucchini salad. Or try this raw zucchini and asparagus salad with boiled eggs.

For a more substantial grilled zucchini salad, still with those lovely barbecue flavours, check out this grilled chicken and quinoa recipe.

Now get cooking

For more summer salad ideas visit this refreshing summer salads collection. Or check out this collection for summer side dish ideas, including corn, zucchini and tomato bread. This easy lasagne recipe swaps the pasta sheets for sliced zucchini for a lighter, lower-carb dinner option. As does this meatball dish, with zucchini noodles used in place of spaghetti. Cut the zucchini into matchsticks or use a spiralizer.

Zucchini fritters are family-friendly and a quick midweek dinner option. As is zucchini slice. Try this curried zucchini slice recipe or Curtis Stone’s three cheese and tomato version.  Or turn them into cheesy, bacon-y muffins, great for the school lunchbox or breakfast on the go. Zucchini also pairs well with eggs. Get dinner on the table quickly with this zucchini, leek and potato frittata recipe. Or this corn and zucchini frittata.