Keto zucchini and walnut salad

Keto zucchini and walnut salad

Meet your new favorite low carb meal! This salad is crunchy and nutty, and filled with the gorgeous flavor of sautéed zucchini. It’s perfect for a barbecue, or a Wednesday night!

Keto zucchini and walnut salad

Meet your new favorite low carb meal! This salad is crunchy and nutty, and filled with the gorgeous flavor of sautéed zucchini. It’s perfect for a barbecue, or a Wednesday night!
USMetric
4 servingservings

Ingredients

Dressing
  • 2 tbsp 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ¾ cup 180 ml mayonnaise or vegan mayonnaise
  • 2 tsp 2 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 1 garlic clove, finely mincedgarlic cloves, finely minced
  • ½ tsp ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ tsp ¼ tsp chili powder
Salad
  • 1 lb (923 cups) 450 g (2.3 liters) Romaine lettuce
  • 4 oz. (523 cups) 110 g (1.3 liters) arugula lettuce
  • ¼ cup (25 oz.) 60 ml (12 g) finely chopped fresh chives or scallionscallions
  • 2 (14 oz.) 2 (400 g) zucchini
  • 1 tbsp 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup (3½ oz.) 240 ml (100 g) chopped walnuts or pecans
This recipe has been added to the shopping list.

Instructions

Instructions are for 4 servings. Please modify as needed.

  1. In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the dressing. Reserve the dressing to develop flavor while you make the salad.
  2. Trim and cut the salad. Place the Romaine, arugula and chives in a large bowl.
  3. Split the zucchini length-wise and scoop out the seeds. Cut the zucchini halves crosswise into half-inch pieces.
  4. Heat olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add zucchini to the pan, and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until lightly browned but still firm.
  5. Add the cooked zucchini to the salad, and mix together.
  6. Roast the nuts briefly in the same pan as the zucchini. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon nuts onto salad, and drizzle with salad dressing.

Tip!

Let your imagination soar! This dressing pairs beautifully with other salads – or even as a refreshingly cool sauce for meat or fish. Make up extra dressing to keep on hand. The zucchini salad is super flexible too! Try it as the perfect base for hearty grilled beef, chicken or fish. It stores well for at least 5 days in the refrigerator.

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💬 Have you tried this recipe?

What did you think? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below!

32 comments

  1. Carole
    I paired this with a succulent ribeye steak and the salad was a perfect complement. The smoked chili powder gave the salad a heft that really stood up well to the steak. Thanks for yet another fantastic recipe.
  2. carol
    Just made this and it was lovely, a nice alternative to veg.
  3. Peggy
    Another great recipe. Hubby said this was flat ass delicious.
  4. Nikki
    A very fresh and nice salad. I really like salads that have cooked/fried ingredients thrown in with the fresh salad leaves and vegetables. The dressing was really nice and gave me an opportunity to make some homemade mayo, which I love but don't eat too often as it goes off so quickly compared to store bought.
  5. Tracy
    This is sooo delicious, we top it with chicken. Wondering why it's Moderate and not Keto @ 2g Carbs? Still trying to understand how this is determined. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if I could shop the menus and customize my own. Pick and choose a week's worth of meals and then collect the shopping list. Is that in the future, possibly?
  6. Bridgette
    How many grams of fat, protein, and carbs does this recipe contain?
  7. Peter Biörck Team Diet Doctor
    Hi Bridgette

    Sorry but we don't want to promote to much "counting" that's why we only have the carbs in gram.

    But If you feel that this is important to you then use the formula below to calculate, a bit complicated though. ;-)

    (%PROTEIN / %CARB) * gram_CARB = gram_PROTEIN
    (%FAT / %CARB) * 4/9 * gram_CARB = gram_FAT

    You find the nutritional info by holding your mouse pointer at "Nutrition" at the end of the recipe.

  8. Allison
    Is the garlic minced/sliced/whole? The prep method isn't mentioned in the recipe.
  9. Tracy
    Has the nutritional information been changed on this recipe? I had it written down in my book as 2 carbs/serving. I feel 100% sure that is what I read. Am I crazy or has this been changed/corrected?
  10. Sarah
    Paired this with the garlic chicken and pecan crusted chicken recipes from this site. Both were great accompaniments! Also added some green beans to the salad since I had them on hand. So good!
  11. 1 comment removed
  12. Rebecca
    For anyone else that doesn't understand measuring solids as volumes (and so I remember this later) 3/4 cup/180ml chopped nuts is 110g. No idea about the chives.
  13. Lisa
    15 Tablespoons, almost a full cup, of Mayonnaise....That sounds like a lot. Is that correct?
  14. Scott
    Arugula lettuce is Rocket for those of you in the UK (or anywhere else that uses the term)
  15. Elizabeth
    Do you do a shopping list
  16. 1 comment removed
  17. Olivia
    This salad was absolutely wonderful!!!!! I added a grilled chicken breast on top with homemade ranch dressing and I was in heaven. This my go to salad now. The paring of the seared zucchini with a hint of salt and pepper made this a winner for me :)b
  18. Penny
    Is balsamic vinegar allowed on this diet?
    Reply: #19
  19. Kristin Parker Team Diet Doctor
    Yes, just read the label as it is higher carb than other vinegars.
  20. Angela Powers
    My dressing turned out horrible. It tasted like straight up olive oil. YUCK! Yes, I followed the directions exactly.
  21. Sue
    This was a huge disappointment. The zucchini got lost in the lettuce and the dressing tasted very dilute. I might try this with raw spiralized zucchini and a keto ranch, but overall this recipe is a thumbs down.
  22. Daphnie
    I don’t like mayonnaise, what can I substitute it with?
    Thank you.
    Reply: #23
  23. Kristin Parker Team Diet Doctor

    I don’t like mayonnaise, what can I substitute it with?
    Thank you.

    In some recipes you can use sour cream, but they have different flavors and sour cream adds carbohydrates. You may prefer to find a recipe that doesn't call for mayo in the first place.

  24. Monika
    This recipe is delish!!!!! deff for keeps :-) Thank you so much for sharing :-)
  25. Whayles
    Fantastic and easy. Thank you DD.
  26. rachesharp
    Soooo delicious! I didn’t want meat for lunch or eggs. This is my favourite meal so far! So filling. A must have!
  27. Luz
    A very good recipe. Delicious ingredients: my version was with walnuts, having run out of pecans, and they paired well with the courgettes, salad, and oven-heated ready-prepared hot-smoked mackerel.
  28. Lucio
    Great feature having a toggle switch for US or Metric measures, I will definitely try this recipe, it sound delicious
  29. Maimuna
    Tried this last night for dinner...absolutely delicious and will be our go to salad!!
  30. Anastasia
    Sadly I have IBS so a Low Fodmap diet website would help me better.
  31. jmahar9
    This is a wonderful salad and was the perfect recipe I was looking for since the two zucchinis I had were going bad. I just love how fast, easy and delicious the recipes are and I always look forward to the leftovers the next day. You can bet I'll be making this salad throughout the upcoming summer months.
  32. Sara Norton
    How is this 6 g of carbs?! When I put this recipe into my fitness app, it recorded a whopping 16 g of carbs per serving--72 g of fat and 16 g of protein. What am I missing?!
    Reply: #34
  33. Donna
    Just love this salad!! Especially great with summer barbecue meals! Non-keto husband and family love it too!
    Thanks for another delicious recipe!!
  34. Kerry Merritt Team Diet Doctor

    How is this 6 g of carbs?! When I put this recipe into my fitness app, it recorded a whopping 16 g of carbs per serving--72 g of fat and 16 g of protein. What am I missing?!

    Keep in mind that the 6 carbs are net carbs. The total carbs per serving are 12.

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