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This easy summer squash salad takes just minutes to prepare. Toss sliced yellow squash or zucchini with fresh herbs and a simple olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Allow it to marinate before serving for the full blend of fabulous flavors, then top with shaved parmesan cheese!
Why You’ll Love Summer Squash Salad
These are simple ingredients, but don’t let that fool ya….this salad is absolutely SPECTACULAR! All the fresh herbs combined with an hour to marinate really transforms this yellow squash into something special.
- Excellent as a side dish for BBQ night or to bring & share for a potluck-type party.
- That delicious herb and lemon flavor soaks deep into the yellow squash creating a bright lemony explosion in your mouth with every bite!
- Our gardens and farmers’ markets are overflowing with fresh summer squash right now! The trick now is to pick them while they’re young and tender rather than massive and overgrown, which seems to happen within just a day or two 🤣
- Summer squash are readily available year-round thanks to greenhouse growing, but they get their own curtain call and beautiful performance, mid-summer through fall, throughout North America.
- They’re usually quite inexpensive, in fact, growing up in Utah it was pretty normal to find a big bag of zucchini and summer squash sitting on our porch as a gift from a neighbor who just can’t use them fast enough!
Looking for more delicious summer salad recipes? Then you’re going to love this Simple Sweet Potato + Fresh Spinach Salad with Creamy Cashew Dressing, this Healthy Chicken Salad With Tzatziki Dressing, and this Light Cucumber And Watermelon Salad.
6-8 servings
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs tender young summer squash, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 large fresh lemon, juice and zest
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup freshly shaved parmesan cheese
Instructions:
Slice your summer squash into bite-sized pieces and place in a large bowl.
Add in your thinly sliced onion and all of the fresh herbs.
Drizzle with oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest.
Season lightly to your taste with sea salt & pepper then toss well to combine.
Refrigerate your salad for 1 hour prior to serving to allow the squash to marinate in all the flavors.
Before serving, give it another toss then top with freshly grated parmesan.
Enjoy!
💚Rachel
Rachel’s Tips
🍋 ALWAYS use freshly-squeezed lemon juice from an actual fresh lemon. Bottled lemon juice from the store will give your salad a strange metallic or overly acidic taste.
🧅 Consider replacing the red onion with its sweeter cousin the shallot. This will give your salad a lighter, sweeter flavor. Three small shallots equal one large red onion.
Here are a few more summer squash recipes to try out:
Simple Summer Squash Salad
Ingredients
- 2 lbs tender young summer squash, chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1 cup large red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 Tbsps extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil
- 3 Tbsps fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tbsps fresh lemon zest
- 1/2 cup freshly shaved parmesan cheese
- sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Slice your summer squash into bite sized pieces and place in a large bowl.
- Add in your thinly sliced onion and all of the fresh herbs.
- Drizzle with oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest.
- Season lightly to your taste with sea salt & pepper then toss well to combine.
- Refrigerate your salad for 1 hour prior to serving to allow the squash to marinate in all the flavors.
- Before serving, give it another toss then top with freshly grated parmesan.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
