Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad

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Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad — Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! It’s a healthy, light, NO LETTUCE salad!

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

Sweet and Sour Salad Recipe

Sometimes garbage salads are the best. They’re the salads I make when I have a produce drawer full of stuff and I throw it all together.

And sometimes all that stuff works so amazingly well together. That was this sweet and sour zucchini salad.

It’s naturally vegan, gluten-free, light, fresh, and healthy. Perfect summer food and helps with the abundance of zucchini many people have now. Not me, I have to buy mine.

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

It reminds me of salsa, but I’m calling it salad so there’s no shame in shoveling it down by the fork-full. Although every few bites, I piled it on tortilla chips because everything tastes better on crunchy corn chips. It would also make a great bruschetta topper.

There’s so much flavor, texture, and crunch in every bite and I couldn’t get enough of it.

Sweet-and-tangy, hot-and-sour, juicy, fresh, healthy. Loved it.

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad Ingredients

The salad makes use of just about anything you’d have in your produce drawer. Customize it with your favorites.

I used juicy pineapple and mango, which add a sweet element, lime juice adds sour, zucchini and corn add crunch, edamame adds chewiness and protein, cilantro adds extra flavor, and a jalapeño pepper and hot pepper jelly add heat.

There’s plenty of sneak-up-on you heat from the jalapeño pepper and hot pepper (homemade here or here).

When mixed with lime juice, the hot pepper jelly and lime turn into a great vinaigrette and gives the salad it’s bold, zippy flavor and sweet heat. It tasted better the second day after the flavors married!

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

How to Make Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad

This is such a quick and easy salad to prepare! It’s almost like an Asian chopped salad, but there’s no lettuce involved.

Here’s an overview of how this texture-packed salad is made:

  1. Chop up all the veggies and fruits.
  2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
  3. Toss very well to coat in the lime juice and hot pepper jelly.
  4. Serve immediately. Optionally, refrigerate salad for up to 24 hours before serving.
Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

Make-Ahead Instructions

This is actually a wonderful salad to prepare in advance! The fruits and vegetables will release their juices and salad will be juicier, the flavors will have married, and overall the salad will taste even better on second day!

I recommend eating the Asian-inspired zucchini salad within 48 hours, but it will last up to 4 days in the fridge.

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad - Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! Healthy, light and not just another salad!

What to Serve with Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad

We love eating this salad as is, but we often wind up scooping it up with homemade baked tortilla chips.

Because the salad is vegan, it pairs well with lots of Asian-inspired entrees, such as:

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5 from 1 vote

Sweet and Sour Zucchini Salad

By Averie Sunshine
Packed with big, bold flavors and tons of crunch! It's a healthy, light, NO LETTUCE salad!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2
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Ingredients  

  • 1 small zucchini, diced small (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 average/small de-seeded jalapeño pepper, diced finely (or keep the seeds for extra heat)
  • ¾ cup diced pineapple, fresh, frozen, or canned
  • ¾ cup diced mango, fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup corn, fresh or frozen; I don’t cook or thaw it
  • ½ cup cooked edamame
  • cup hot pepper jelly (homemade here] or [here
  • juice from 1 very juicy lime, 3 to 4 tablespoons
  • cilantro leaves from about 1/2 bunch of cilantro, torn or chopped (I used 1 whole bunch)
  • pinch cayenne pepper, optional and to taste
  • salt and pepper, optional and to taste
  • chips or bread for serving, optional

Instructions 

  • Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, toss very well to coat, and serve immediately.
  • Optionally, refrigerate salad for up to 24 hours before serving. Fruits and vegetables will release their juices and salad will be juicier, but the flavors will have married and salad tastes better on second day.

Notes

Salad will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 4 days, noting it will become juicier as time passes.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 489kcal, Carbohydrates: 100g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g, Sodium: 387mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 64g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

More Zucchini Recipes:

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About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. Haha! I love that you said garbage salad. I made a fresh salsa last week with nectarines, and my husband, shortly after trying, said “This is the best garbage salsa I’ve ever had!” I wasn’t sure whether to take it as a compliment at first. But like you said, sometimes the best recipes are the ones that just come together on the fly.

    And now I have a better idea for the zucchini that needs to be used asap rather than just all on bread!

    Thanks for all the great posts. Been following your blog for quite awhile now, and you really do have a fresh take on a lot of things!

    1. Thanks for the awesome comment, for following my blog for awhile, and so glad you have a new zuke recipe to try! And yes, the things on the flu are usually the winners!

  2. I thought I was the only one crazy enough to make garbage salads… They always turn out 100x better than when I actually try to plan out a salad recipe! And while some people try to stick to all fruit or all veggies in their salads, I never do. Apples taste great with carrots and beets taste delicious with pears. But pineapple, mango & corn? That I need to try!!

  3. I love sweet bites of fruit in summer salads. And yes- EVERYTHING is better on a corn chip :) I have to not buy them often or I would eat everything on a corn chip.

    1. I came across your blog the other day from a Foodgawker post, I think your salad was in the top row, and I pinned it and love your images, recipes, and style!

      And I have to not buy corn chips very often either because I find myself finishing the bag, quickly!