Easy 5 Ingredient Charred Zucchini And Caramelized Onion Salad
Charred zucchini and caramelized onions add a ton of flavor to this Easy 5 Ingredient Charred Zucchini And Caramelized Onion Salad! It makes a delicious and quick side dish packed with plant protein!
It always blows my mind how, when it comes to recipes, just a small change in technique can have such a different result. For example, flourless chocolate cake is one of my favorite desserts to whip up.
If I make it using whipped egg whites that are gently folded in at the end, the resulting chocolate cake is so light and fluffy.
In comparison, if I add the eggs in and whip them up with all the other ingredients, the resulting chocolate cake is denser, almost fudge-like. Now, they are both delicious, but, it’s hard to imagine that the exact same ingredients went into each!
Last night when I was watching episode 7 of season 2 of The Great British Bake Off, one of the contestants decided to make his own puff pastry using a rather unconventional method.
Instead of layering butter and dough and rolling them out together and folding and chilling and repeating and re-repeating, he decided to roll the dough INTO the butter using a stand mixer. The judges, though skeptical, seemed intrigued.
And I found myself wishing he would pull it off so I didn’t ever have to try to spend hours and hours making pastry dough. Unfortunately, his puff pastry ended up having him sent home as it wasn’t quite as flaky or crisp as the puff pastry just about every one of the other contestants had made.
Which just goes to show, it’s technique, technique, technique – right?!
Which brings me to this Easy 5 Ingredient Charred Zucchini And Caramelized Onion Salad you are looking at.
This Easy 5 Ingredient Charred Zucchini And Caramelized Onion Salad is as quick and easy to make, as it is flavorful.
What are the 5 ingredients needed to make this Easy 5 Ingredient Charred Zucchini And Caramelized Onion Salad?
The five ingredients are:
- Red onion
- Fresh Garlic
- Canned Chickpeas
- Canned Sweet Corn
- Zucchini
Along with some salt and pepper to taste and some oil to char and cook everything up with.
I was challenged to keep the ingredients involved in this to 5 or below. Now, I usually use a ton of turmeric, coriander, and the like, in my recipes. But, with the cap on ingredients, I figured I would have to add flavor into this warm salad in some other way.
And that’s when I thought why not caramelize the onions and char the zucchini!
Y’all – the resulting salad was so good, so flavorful! I actually enjoyed it without feeling the need to douse it with a shaking of coriander or cumin or sriracha!
Now, I added in a little garlic, sweet peas and corn – but, you can easily sub out the corn and peas for black beans and lima beans and serve it for your holiday meal. Or, sub in black eye peas and collard greens are serve it for your New Year’s meal!
As long as you char the zucchini and caramelize the onions, you will have one heck of a delicious warm salad to enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 15 oz can chickpeas drained
- 1 15 oz can sweet corn drained
- 2 Divine Flavor Zucchini
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Dice red onion and place it in a pan with about 2 tbsp of the olive oil and make sure the flame is low. Stir onions often and let them caramelize – this is a long process (about 25–30 minutes) but adds so much flavor to this simple salad.
- Next, dice garlic and toss in with caramelizing onions, and stir well. If needed, use a couple of splashes of water or vegetable stock to deglaze the pan.
- After a couple of minutes, spoon the onion and garlic mixture onto a plate and set aside.
- Next, slice the zucchini and add the rest of the olive oil to the pan. When the oil is warm, add the zucchini and let the slices sit for about a minute or two. Make sure to check and when they have a char on them, flip them and let them char on the other side as well. Charring the already flavorful Divine Flavor Zucchini gives it such a delightful taste.
- When the zucchini are charred, add in the caramelized onion and garlic mixture, toss in the corn and chickpeas, and stir for a minute or so.
- Season with salt and pepper if needed sprinkle with a bit of parsley and enjoy as a holiday side.
Nutrition
I made this yesterday. Followed the recipe closely but omitted the corn. Lacking guidance in the recipe I decided it would be best served at room temperature. Frankly I found it tasteless. Added the juice of a lemon, plus salt and freshly ground back pepper. That did not help much. The dish failed to interest my guests. I notice that most of the reviews above do not indicate they made the dish, just that the recipe looked interesting or good.
What a fun idea! I always think of zucchini in the summer when my garden is literally overrun by it…but it really does make for an excellent winter ingredient, too. And I’ve never thought about charring it before. I love it! This salad sounds like it’s packed with flavor, and it would make an excellent side dish for the holidays and after. It’s the kind of side dish that I always crave in the winter as it’s packed with delicious flavors! 🙂 And too bad the puff pastry experiment didn’t work out…that would’ve been quite handy!
I would be happy to eat this as a meal. It does make a lovely side, too!
I agree – everything is technique — and BTW – I would never consider making my own puff pastry. Ever. Leave it to the professionals. This salad, however, looks like something I could tackle. Healthy and delicious!
What a delicious looking salad! I love the combination of caramelized onions and charred zucchini!
Wow i never seen seen such a lovely recipe before…
Thanks for such a lovely recipe
That salad looks amazing!! Hearty and delicious. Perfect for winter. I pin the recipe for later.
A simple and very delicious side dish.