Asian Zucchini Salad with Green Mango

This Asian Zucchini Salad will impress your guests with its wonderfully refreshing summer flavours. It will also use up your summer zucchini all in one fell swoop! We have partnered this salad with tart green mangoes, zucchini flowers and coconut flakes - divine!

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Asian zucchini salad on a blue plate with zucchini flowers and coconut flakes on the side.

The raw zucchini strips have melded and marinated in our zingy lime and coconut dressing to produce this shredded zucchini salad - the perfect summertime dish!

Add some sharp-tasting, slightly sweet green mangoes and earthy zucchini flowers, and you'll have a mouthwatering salad that's perfect for outdoor entertaining. It's a recipe that's sure to be a hit with family and friends!

If you have scored a bumper crop of zucchini or pumpkin flowers, why not try using them in our Middle Eastern Zucchini Flower Salad or in our Arugula Squash Flower Salad?

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What Are Raw or Green Mangoes?
Ingredients and Substitutions
Variations and Additions
You Will Need
💡Tips & Meal Prep💡
How to Make It
🍽 Serving Suggestions
People Also Ask
More Zucchini Salad Recipes
Recipe Card

What Are Raw or Green Mangoes?

Raw mangoes picked when just mature are known as "green mangoes!" These little gems are firm, with a shape similar to ripe yellow mango - oval or slightly kidney bean-shaped.

What makes them special is their small seeds, crispy flesh, and a not-too-sour, not-too-sweet taste.

Head to your local Asian Greengrocer to pick up some of these delicious treats. Or, if you can't find them, a regular mango should make a wonderful substitute.

Just be sure to use them up quickly, and store them in the fridge, so they don't ripen too fast!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Dark Green Zucchini – we use the dark green “black beauty” zucchini because it is a lot sturdier than other zucchini and holds up well, also for a strong colour contrast with the other ingredients.
Cucurbit Flowers (either pumpkin, squash or zucchini/courgette) – we had them, and we used them! They add a pop of sunny colour to this salad, and I love them raw.
Green Mango – added for some sweet, nutty flavour and a touch of sourness. You can use a regular mango, but you will need to cut it by hand as it will be too soft to use a mandoline or v-slicer.
Herbs – we have used a bunch of coriander/cilantro and a bunch of Asian mint. If you find that fresh coriander tastes soapy, you can swap it for some Thai basil instead. Asian mint is the mint with the long thin leaves, and you can use regular mint instead.
Coconut Flakes – added for their wonderful aroma and slight crunch. Swap with some toasted sesame seeds.
The Dressing – we have kept it super easy and light by making a coconut and lime dressing here; a great alternative would be our sesame vinaigrette (swap the coconut flakes for black and white sesame seeds). Or, for some complex flavour, our Thai vinaigrette would also be an excellent alternative.

Variations and Additions

If you don't like the idea of raw zucchini, you can swap for some seedless cucumbers instead - try Lebanese/Persian cucumbers, English or Kirby.
Instead of zucchini strips, you can make spiralized zucchini noodles instead. Our zoodles post explains how to spiralize zucchini and how to make zucchini noodles by hand.
For a spicy kick, add some sliced fresh chillies or some red pepper flakes or drizzle with hot chilli oil.
For a pop of colour, add some strips of red bell pepper/capsicum, some sliced cherry tomatoes, or some julienne carrot strips.
Make it extra crunchy by adding some crushed toasted peanuts or roasted cashews.
Add grilled chicken or shrimp to make it a meal.

You Will Need

Labelled ingredients needed to make an Asian Zucchini salad.

💡Tips & Meal Prep💡

Make this salad an hour or two in advance and keep it chilled in your fridge; this will allow the zucchini strips and mango to marinate in the incredible zingy coconut lime dressing and absorb the aromatic flavours from the herbs.
It is fantastic the next day, and you could try adding some vermicelli noodles or flaked salmon to make it go further.
Also great for meal prep as it tastes better and better with time; for some added protein, try grilled chicken or some deep-fried tofu for vegetarians.

How to Make It

Step 1 - Prepare Your Ingredients.

Wash the dark green zucchini, cut off the tops and bottoms, and then peel the green mango.

Cut the zucchini and green mango into julienne using a sharp knife, a julienne peeler, or with the julienne attachment on your mandoline slicer.

Gently cut your flowers into strips with a small sharp knife; our zucchini flower post gives you step-by-step instructions.

Wash your mint and coriander (cilantro) under cold running water, shake to remove excess water, and then strip the mint leaves from the stems. Cut off the coriander stems, and chop roughly.

Transfer everything to a large mixing bowl along with your coconut flakes. Taste your salad before adding the dressing; then, if your mango tastes too tart, add the sweetener to your dressing.

Cutting zucchini flowers into strips with a knife.

^{CUT ZUCCHINI FLOWERS INTO STRIPS}

Using a mandoline to cut a dark green zucchini into julienne strips on a wooden board.

^{CUT ZUCCHINI INTO JULIENNE}

Hands peeling a green mango on a wooden board with a peeler.

^{PEEL GREEN MANGO}

Using a mandoline to cut a green mango into julienne strips on a wooden board.

^{CUT GREEN MANGO INTO JULIENNE}

Chopped coriander, cilantro, on a wooden board with a knife.

^{CHOP CORIANDER/CILANTRO}

Close up of stripped mint leaves on a wooden board.

^{PICK THE MINT LEAVES FROM THE STEMS}

Step 2 - Shake-up the Salad Dressing.

Add all the dressing ingredients to a small glass jar, season with salt and pepper and shake until emulsified.

Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.

Coconut dressing ingredients in a glass jar.

^{ADD DRESSING INGREDIENTS TO JAR}

Shaken coconut dressing in a glass jar with ingredients scattered around it.

^{SHAKE UNTIL EMULSIFIED}

Step 3 - Assemble Your Asian Zucchini Salad.

Season your salad with salt and pepper, then give your vinaigrette one more shake and pour over your salad.

Toss your salad until well combined, taste and adjust seasonings according to your taste.

Arrange in a salad bowl and keep chilled in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Prepared Asian salad ingredients in a white bowl with coconut dressing on the side.

^{PLACE INGREDIENTS IN A BOWL}

Pour dressing over Asian zucchini salad in a white bowl.

^{POUR OVER DRESSING}

Mixing Asian zucchini salad in a white bowl with tongs.

^{TOSS WELL TO COMBINE}

^{ARRANGE IN A SALAD PLATTER}

🍽 Serving Suggestions

A perfect summer salad that I made to get rid of all the zucchini and zucchini flowers that we managed to collect from our generous neighbour. But also because it was just too darn hot to think of cooking anything in the kitchen!

We served it with some fresh prawns and barbecued sweet chilli octopus for a delicious al fresco dinner.

If you are looking for something a bit more traditional to serve with this salad, try juicy barbecued chicken breasts, sticky honey soy chicken wings or some grilled white fish fillets such as barramundi or snapper.

More Zucchini Salad Recipes

An aerial view of fried zucchini flowers on labneh and zucchini ribbons on the side.

FRIED ZUCCHINI FLOWER SALAD

ARUGULA SQUASH FLOWER SALAD

FENNEL & ZUCCHINI RIBBON SALAD