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Roasted Zucchini Salsa

One of our favorite hometown restaurants, Local Lime, has an amazing zucchini salsa that I’ve always wanted to take a stab at. After recently making avocado salsa and smoked salsa, I found myself fully in salsa mode and ready to tackle the project.

What we’re looking at is oven roasted zucchini with a blend of jalapeño and serrano peppers, onion, cilantro, lime juice and apple cider vinegar, and pepitas.

How to Make Zucchini Salsa

The star ingredient is obviously roasted zucchini. It’s a pound and a half of zucchini, so I recommend the oven unless you have a large air fryer. My air fryer veggie enchiladas, for comparison, air fry eight ounces of zucchini with half an onion and two peppers.

It might be a tight squeeze, but you could always do it in batches and still might come out ahead on time.

roasted zucchini on a sheet pan with peppers, onion, cilantro, limes, pepitas, and apple cider vinegar on a cutting board

Once you have roasted zucchini, the rest is a breeze. Just throw it in a food processor with some fresh ingredients and blend until you have your ideal salsa consistency. I like to keep mine slightly chunky for dipping tortilla chips in or very fine for drizzling over tacos and other dishes.

A key tip for making blended salsas is to avoid going above medium speeds. The lower the speed, the better. This prevents too much air from being incorporated into the salsa.

roasted zucchini in a food processor with fresh salsa ingredients

We’re still a couple months out from peak zucchini season, but thanks to modern farming we can get our hands on decent zucchini squash year round. Here are a few tips for picking the best zucchini from The Kitchn:

  • Smaller zucchini tend to have more flavor.
  • Color is flavor. Look for vibrant green zucchini.
  • Don’t store it in plastic bags, as it can make the zucchini slimy.
dipping a tortilla chip in zucchini salsa topped with pepitas

What to Serve with Zucchini Squash Salsa

This salsa is great warm straight out of the food processor or chilled. With the added texture from pepitas, it’s best as a dipping salsa with tortilla chips. Keep it Kinda Healthy with baked tortilla chips.

Here’s a handful of my favorite pairings:

three photos of smoked beef tacos, grilled beef fajitas, and Mexican pulled chicken

You can’t go wrong with any of your Mexican and Tex-Mex favorites.

I can’t wait to hear what your feast looks like. Be sure to let me know about it and how this zucchini salsa turned out in a recipe review on the recipe card below. I hope you love it!

dipping a tortilla chip in zucchini salsa topped with pepitas

Roasted Zucchini Salsa

Yield: 8 Servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour

Oven roasted zucchini with fresh peppers, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and pepitas.

Ingredients

  • 3 large (24 oz) Zucchini, diced medium
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

Fresh Ingredients

  • 5 Green Peppers, seeds and membranes removed
  • 1/4 large White Onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 handfuls Cilantro
  • Juice of 2 small Limes
  • 2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1/2 cup (60g) Pepitas, divided
  • Kosher Salt, to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat an oven to 450ºF while tossing the zucchini in the olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper. Roast on a parchment lined half sheet pan for 35-45 minutes until the zucchini is browning around the edges. You can also air fry at 400ºF for 10-12 minutes if your air fryer has space.
  2. Let the zucchini cool briefly before adding to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients except for half the pepitas. Blend on low to medium speed until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the second half of the pepitas to the blended salsa and salt to taste. Serve warm or chilled.

Notes

*I used 4 serrano peppers and 1 jalapeño peppers for a spicier salsa. Use more jalapeño instead of serrano or milder peppers like poblano or green bell pepper for a milder salsa.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1/4 cup (60g)
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 100Total Fat: 10gCarbohydrates: 6gProtein: 5g

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Michele

Friday 28th of July 2023

No garlic? I’ve been to local lime a few times and enjoyed this salsa as well. Thanks for the post

Mason Woodruff

Monday 7th of August 2023

They don't list garlic as an ingredient in their zucchini salsa. So I left it out. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to add some, but I don't think it needs it.

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