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.
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.
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My favorite recipe for preserving the zucchini harvest? This zucchini relish recipe.
Related: Easy Canning Recipes for the Novice Home Canner
Homemade zucchini relish recipe, with nostalgia
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.
Related: Canning Recipes to Preserve the Summertime Garden Abundance
★ Did you make this zucchini relish recipe? 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
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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.
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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.
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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. (Click through for a complete tutorial on water bath canning if you’ve never done it before.)
Recipe Video
Recipe 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.
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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: http://on.fb.me/1eiqINU.
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!