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Zucchini Corn Salad is an easy but so flavorful vegetable side dish made with fresh, roasted corn, zucchini, and onions. A delicious summer salad that will dress up every meal!
Roasted Corn Zucchini Salad is the perfect summer salad and full of flavor! This colorful recipe uses some of my favorite summer vegetables and is quick and easy to make. It tastes great warm or cold and is perfect for a summer BBQ with our Air Fryer Garlic Bread but also makes a delicious and light lunch combined with cooked pasta.
A big, colorful salad is a great way to use all those tasty summer veggies. This recipe will definitely come handy when you have an abundance of late summer produce, or you make a bargain at the grocery store and don’t know what to do with all those zucchinis. You can easily double (or triple) this recipe, and it is perfect for a summer cookout! You could even make the whole dish on your BBQ if you have a cast iron skillet.
If you are looking for more ways to use up all those zucchinis from your garden, you have to try my Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe, Zucchini Pineapple Bread with Coconut, or my Zucchini Chocolate Chip Muffins.
Why our recipe
- Simple salad using lots of summer produce
- Works with fresh corn, but you can also use frozen or canned corn
- Can be made ahead and keeps in the fridge because the onion is fully cooked
Ingredient Notes
- Corn: I like to use fresh corn on the cob in summer and grill it on the grill or in a grill pan. But you can also use frozen corn and cook it in a hot cast iron skillet until nicely charred (no oil/single layer/3-4 min). Or you can use roasted canned corn and just add it to the zucchini. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
- Oil: Use a good quality olive oil. Avocado oil works too.
- Butter: Adding butter adds lots of flavor. I use unsalted butter, but salted butter works too in this recipe.
- Garlic: One clove of garlic adds flavor but doesn’t overwhelm the salad. Fresh garlic works best. Don’t use garlic powder.
- Onion: Red onions add a touch of color, but you can also use sweet onions or yellow onions.
- Zucchini: You need two medium zucchini for this recipe.
- Lime: You need the juice of one lime, about 2 tablespoons. Freshly squeezed lime juice tastes best!
- Basil: Fresh basil is best for this salad! Roughly chop most of it and leave a few nice leaves out for garnishing.
Julia’s Tips and Tricks
- BBQ: Grilling the corn on the cob on a BBQ gives it a charred look that adds a lot of flavor! The grilled corn has lots of flavor and makes this simple salad so delicious.
- Carbs: A great add-in for this salad is cooked pasta, couscous, bulgur, or orzo. Prepare about 1 cup of dried couscous/bulgur/orzo according to package instructions and add to the salad.
- Dressing: This salad doesn’t need an extra dressing. The herbs, lime juice, butter, and oil provide all the flavor you need and make a great vinaigrette. If you want to add a dressing, you could use ranch dressing and serve it on the side.
- Serving: This salad can be served warm or cold!
- Fresh ingredients: For the best taste, use fresh ingredients. Fresh herbs add lots of flavor!
Optional Add-ins
Simple and so delicious, this zucchini corn salad tastes so good as is, but you can always dress it up with a few add-ins, to make it a full lunch or dinner, for example. Here are a few of my favorites:
- Cheese: Half a cup of crumbled feta cheese makes a great addition to this salad. Just sprinkle it over the finished salad and gently combine. Fresh Mozzarella or a whole Burrata also go well with it.
- Herbs: I prefer to use basil, but you could also use fresh parsley or fresh cilantro.
- Carbs: Add pasta, combine the finished salad with 2 cups of cooked pasta and serve it as a pasta salad. Orzo, couscous, or bulgur also make a delicious add-in. Some readers served it with grilled fingerling potatoes, which sounds delicious.
- Vegetables: Adding some chopped tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, or bell peppers
- Protein: Sauté some shrimp in the skillet together with the onion for some added protein, or make my Air Fryer Shrimp to serve on the side. Grilled chicken would also work well.
Serving and Storage
You can serve this summer salad warm, at room temperature, or cold from the fridge, garnished with a few basil leaves.
Refrigerate leftovers for 2–3 days. This salad can also be made ahead.
More summer salads
German Recipes
German Potato Salad
Sides & Salads
Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing
Sides & Salads
German Cucumber Salad Recipe
Sides & Salads
20-minute Greek Couscous Salad
Roasted Corn Zucchini Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 ears of corn, shucked (or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ cup finely diced red onion
- 4 cups small-diced zucchini, (2 medium zucchini)
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 lime, juice
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat a large grill pan or use a grill. Brush the corn with 1 tbsp olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill over moderately high heat, turning, until crisp-tender, about 12 minutes. Let cool.
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic to the skillet, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add onion and cook until translucent, about 3–4 minutes.
- Add zucchini, dried oregano, and thyme. Cook, stirring occasionally, until zucchini is tender and cooked through, about 3–4 minutes.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the juice of one lime. Let sit for a minute.
- Working in a large bowl with an inverted ramekin, use a sharp knife to cut the corn kernels off the cobs in sections. Remove the ramekin and transfer everything from the pan into the bowl. Toss to combine, add basil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with a few basil leaves.
I thought this was easy and lovely. I grilled the corn early in the day and took it off the cob. Sautéed the rest and added later. You could even do the whole thing ahead. I actually tore a burrata ball over and served it with some crostini. Leftovers I added to steamed green beans for a salad next day. Very nice!!
This took a bit longer to make than in the recipe online but it was really great.
I also grilled the zucchini and added some shrimp after sautéing the onions and garlic. It’s a keeper!
Absolutely delicious! I made as instructed except I used thawed frozen corn.
Thank you!
Could you make this ahead if you left the basil leaves off initially?
Yes, you can make it ahead. I do this often and just add the basil later.
Hi Julia, if I make this salad the night before and refrigerate it, do you think it will travel well?
This is a fantastic recipe, so so tasty! I also added a bit of paprika because I put it in everything. I love having a variety of easy but not boring veggie sides in my repertoire and this is definitely one now! Thank you 😊
I made this recipe with a few veggie variations but am such a fan! Specifically the vinaigrette was ridiculously delicious and versatile. I’ve actually used the leftovers as a pasta sauce and it’s worked out really really well. I will continue to make this recipe but make the dressing in bigger quantities to freeze because it’s just too delicious. Thanks for this recipe!
The dressing complemented the zucchini and corn nicely! I used probably 1/3 parsley, 2/3 basil for the herbs, and it turned out very well (though definitely more green in color than the pictures). We ate it with baby kale and half the corn.
I made this last night and it was wonderful! I added purple, red-skin and yukon gold fingerling potatoes (first blanched, then oiled, salted and grilled), as well as grilled red bell pepper. I followed the recipe for the dressing exactly and it was incredible! This is a total keeper to enhance summery garden-fresh produce and herbs.