Sweet and Sour Zucchini Corn Salad

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 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.

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 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!

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.

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.

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:

• Homemade Hunan Beef
• Chicken Egg Roll Bowls
• Honey Soy Chicken Thighs
• Copycat P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef
• Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps
• Fresh Spring Rolls

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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 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

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Ingredients  

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• ▢ 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
• ▢ ⅓ 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

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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.

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