This zucchini relish recipe is a favorite around here. It’s good on burgers, but excellent for mixing into potato salad or egg salad for an extra burst of flavor, too.
Got more zucchini than you know what to do with? Try our favorite chocolate zucchini bread, too!
When zucchini season is upon us, it’s often a challenge to figure out just what to do with all of that abundance. Zucchini — otherwise known as summer squash — is a crop that just keeps on giving.
When you’ve exhausted your repertoire of ways to eat it as part of your daily menu plan, consider preserving some of it for the winter with this easy zucchini relish.
Related: Easy Canning Recipes for the Novice Home Canner
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Nostalgic zucchini relish recipe
Remember Del Monte hamburger relish? Talk about a blast from the past. This relish recipe, made from zucchini, tastes just like the Del Monte version. It’s sweet and somewhat tangy, but uses only wholesome ingredients that may very well have come out of your garden.
It’s great on burgers, of course, but I use it to add extra flavor to things like egg salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, and even mixed into meatloaf.
We’re not the only ones who love this zucchini relish recipe, though. Sarah over at Horseradish and Honey gave it a solid thumbs up over on Instagram.
Home Canning with Confidence
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In it, Melissa covers everything from basic canning safety to pressure canning your own meat. (Yes, you can do that!) Head over to Home Canning with Confidence to learn how to embrace this method of food preservation and keep your pantry stocked with homegrown produce!
Making this recipe
You’ll make this recipe in two stages. First, chop the zucchini, onions, and peppers and allow them to sit overnight with salt. This causes the vegetables to release some of their natural juices.
The next day, drain the vegetables then cook with the remaining ingredients.
To preserve as a shelf stable pantry item, you’ll need to process the relish in a water bath canner. This isn’t difficult to do, but you will need some specialized canning equipment.
Ladle the hot relish into jars, wipe the jar rim, place the lid in place, and screw on the bands. Place the jars into boiling water and process for ten minutes.
Remove the jars from the canner and cool; you’ll hear a little “tink!” as each seals. The lids should feel taut and somewhat concave. These are safe to store at room temperature. Any that don’t seal should be refrigerated and used first.
Canning Safety
Canning is an excellent way to preserve food for the pantry, but there are some important safety considerations to keep in mind.
- Know the difference between water bath canning and pressure canning. Low acid items must be pressure canned for safety.
- Altering ingredients may change the recipe’s pH, posing a safety issue.
- Use the proper jars and lids. Never reuse lids, with the exception of the Tattler lids that are intended for such a purpose.
- For more on canning equipment, please go here.
- This recipe has been made following safe canning procedures.
Related: Canning Recipes to Preserve the Summertime Garden Abundance
★ Did you make this zucchini relish? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! ★
Zucchini Relish Recipe
This zucchini relish recipe is a favorite around here. It's good on burgers, but excellent for mixing into potato salad or egg salad, too.
Ingredients
- 4 cups zucchini, chopped
- 2 cups onion, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1 1/2 cups granulated organic cane sugar
- 1 1/2 cups vinegar
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
- 2 tsp. mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- Pinch nutmeg
Instructions
- A shortcut to start you off: If you have a food processor you can just toss roughly chopped zucchini, onions, and peppers into the bowl of the processor and pulse until they’re a good size. I like mine in about 1/8 – 1/4″ pieces. If you don’t have a food processor, just chop them finely by hand.
- Combine zucchini, onion, peppers, and salt in a large bowl, stirring well. Chill overnight.
- Place in a colander to drain; rinse thoroughly and drain again.
- Transfer to a large stock pot and add remaining ingredients.
- Bring just to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes. At this point, the relish is done. You can just put it in jars and then in the refrigerator to use right away or give as gifts.
- If you’d like your finished zucchini relish recipe to be shelf stable, you’ll need to process it. Ladle hot relish into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch head space.
- Wipe rims with a damp cloth (to assure a good seal), screw sterilized lids on, and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
- Remove jars to the countertop and allow to cool naturally.
- Wipe jars and store without the rings.
Notes
Important: This is not scary. It takes about an hour to make 3 pints of relish. If you know how to operate a stove and chop veggies, you’re good to go.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 195Unsaturated Fat: 0gSodium: 367mgCarbohydrates: 45gFiber: 2gSugar: 41gProtein: 1g
Aloha! I’m Kris Bordessa, 
I’ve never heard of the Del Monte relish! This sounds good though. Definitely an idea for using up zucchini!
Why can’t you grow zucchini?
Maybe I should say: I haven’t yet figured out how to successfully grow zucchini! Cucurbits have so far eluded me, due to something called a pickleworm. Photographic evidence: https://on.fb.me/1eiqINU.
If you live in New England you are the only per who can’t grow zucchini. Lol That, or the critters love your garden! I made this relish with adjustments since I didn’t have turmeric, I used an Orange and Turmeric tea granulated I was gifted that was too strong to drink and no mustard seeds, so I used the some of my homemade mustard. It tastes delicious and I too remember Del Monte’s Hamburger Relish. It was the only one I would touch as a child. I only got 4 jelly jars although I followed the veggie directions. Perhaps I should measure after “fine” chopping?
This does sound good, but I wouldn’t dare tell my family what is in it.. When I had a garden the zucchini was so prolific that my sons won’t even look at the stuff any more.
Thank you for the “this is not scary” line. I often look at recipes and photos and my eyes sort of glaze over. But this one does indeed look easy and delicious. If I could send you some of our zucchini, I would totally do it.
I don’t remember Del Monte hamburger relish but this is a great use for zucchini. They are usually so prolific.
Both the zucchini and watermelon rind relishes sound great. I never would have thought of using either in a relish. I don’t eat hamburgers but I’d like to try ’em on a turkey or veggie burger.
OK< am I that old? I DO remember Del Monte relish!!!
I thought it was still around, but then, I don’t shop the regular isles, and I don’t buy commercial stuff anymore.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. I’m going to have to try it out it looks great.
I have never made any relish of any kind before, so when I was gifted some large zucchinis both yellow and green. I needed to do something besides shred and freeze for cakes. Since I have never eaten or used the yellow ones before and found the skins rather tough I made the relish. It is wonderful, thank you so much for sharing your recipe.
Yay, I’m glad you liked it!
I absolutely love the zucchini relish! It tastes amazing with Raclette. And with a lot of other things. Because of this recipe I started getting into hot water bath canning and I am totally addicted to it by now. Anyways, I learned that relishes should be canned for 30 minutes for them to have a really long shelf life.
I’m glad you like it!
Actually, zucchini is the long green squash; what is referred to as summer squash is the yellow one. Often with a ‘crooked’ neck, which is why those shapes are called crooked neck squash, but the straight yellow ones are called summer squash.
Actually Yellow Zucchini are a real thing…..not the same animal as Yellow Straight and Crooked Squash…..
Zucchini is my fav summer veg. Loved the relish as I realized I hadn’t seen burger relish in a store in quite a while. The smaller zucchini also make great pickles. I did dill as slices and spears. Hard water helps for crisp pickles. (reallly good as fried pickles too) thanks for the nostalgia factor, as a teen worked at drive in where we mixed bgr relish with mayo. Go Pats Drive in!! (sorry long gone via dozer)
Just wondering if this recipe would work with monk fruit sweetener or erythritol sweetener. Looks sooo delicious
I don’t suggest making changes to canning recipes as it can alter the pH. You could certainly do it for fresh consumption, though.
Can this be made with less sugar?
I don’t suggest making changes to canning recipes, as it can alter the pH.
Could you tell me how many pints of relish this recipe makes please. My kitchen space is very small and before I start any new recipes I like to know how much of everything I should get ready. It just makes things so much easier as I only have about 2 feet of counter space. I would like to can some to give away but I don’t want to set it all up 3 or 4 times if it only makes a couple of pints. Also can the recipe be doubled? thank you in advance
About 3 pints, and yes, it can be doubled!
Hello, Kris. I’m going to be making this relish today. I wonder why you say to store the shelf stable version without rings? I’m going to be shipping a couple of the jars to family, and will need to put the rings on those jars.
Yes, definitely ship them with rings. If you keep the rings on, it’s harder to discern if the seal has been compromised.
Can I mix yellow squash with the zucchini?
Yes.
Are you using apple cider vinegar or white vinegar?
You can use either, the flavor will vary slightly.
Love this recipe. This was my first adventure into canning. I’ve made two batches of the recipe, both with golden griller squash and green pepper. One batch was hand cut, small dice. The other I used a food processor on. Both turned out beautiful. The relish tastes delicious. The recipe was easy to understand for this canning newbie. Thank you for sharing!!
For canning what is the shelf life?
12-18 months.
OMG this is so good! I made a single batch last week and processed most of it and we had a little left over and we ate it up!
I just made a double batch! Thank you! This is so yummy!
I’m glad you love it!
This is so good on hotdogs and hamburgers, also good on brown beans. I have made three runs this summer.
I’m making this tonight and I tripled it because I have so much zucchini… literally did everything exactly tripled, no mistakes (other than the fact that my food processor is so powerful it really pulverized the veggies into very tiny pieces, rather than chunks), and somehow now being at the “final stage” (boiling it) I’ve only ended up with 10 cups (5 pints) of relish mixture and Im super worried now that it’s going to be way too sweet and completely messed up. Any advice? I realize you wouldn’t see this right now, but I’d love to hear your feedback. I’m so baffled. Thanks!
That is so odd. I’m probably too late, but I’d definitely taste it before canning it. If you find it too sweet, you could add more veggies to counter the sweetness BUT at that point you’re so far away from the original recipe that I wouldn’t be comfortable suggesting that you can it. (Canning recipes really shouldn’t be fiddled with.)
Have you ever made it without sugar?
I have not.
Excellent recipe and fantastic way to use up zucchini, especially when cucumbers are done for the year. I followed your recipe exactly and actually doubled it. I’ll definitely make it again! Thank you for such a beautiful recipe!!
Glad you like it!
What is the refrigerated self life?
It will last for several months in the fridge.
If the exact amount of ingredients is so important, could you provide grams rather than cups? I am certain that my 4 cups zucchini does not equal someone else’s 4 cups of zucchini.
I’ll add that to my list of things to do!