Inspired by the traditional Mexican Guacachile (fake guacamole) – this zucchini salsa recipe is made with blistered jalapeños, sautéed onion, garlic and zucchini blended up with fresh cilantro and lime. It’s vibrant, creamy, spicy and absolutely delicious! Enjoy with chips, tacos, burritos & more!
What is Guacachile?
Guacachile is a guacamole-like, creamy green sauce made without avocado.
Roughly translated, guacachile means ‘chile guac’ which makes sense since chili peppers (and zucchini!) serve as the main ingredient in the absence of avocado.
Traditional guacachile recipes are usually made by blending boiled zucchini with sautéd peppers and aromatics along with fresh herbs and citrus until smooth and creamy.
More Ways To Use Zucchini
Bake it, grill it, shred it and sauté it! Before the season is over, make sure you make the most of these shape-shifting summer squash and check out this collection of mouthwateringly delicious gluten free zucchini recipes.
What’s it Like?
- Texture: Smooth & creamy.
- Flavor: Fresh & savory with a hint of sweetness from the zucchini.
- Spice Level: Mild to moderately spicy. Spice can vary depending on what type of chili you use, how many and how you prepare it.
Jalapeño Zucchini Salsa Ingredients
- Oil – The chilis need to be cooked on a high heat to properly blister. Use a neutral-flavored cooking oil with a high smoke point like avocado oil or vegetable oil.
- Jalapeños (star ingredient) – Use green chiles to maintain the green color. If you’d like a less spicy version, feel free to use serrano, Anaheim or other low-spice green peppers instead.
- Fresh Zucchini – I recommend you peel the zucchini to reduce bitterness. Zucchini peel isn’t always bitter, but can vary depending on freshness and growing conditions.
- Onion & Garlic – No need to neatly mince the onion & garlic since it all goes in the blender at the end. Roughly chop the onion and smash the garlic before sautéing.
- Cilantro – Use fresh herbs. Wash well and use stems and leaves.
- Lemon & Lime Juice – Many guacachile recipes include tomatillo. Since fresh tomatillo is pretty tricky to find here in the UK, I make do by including lemon juice in addition to lime juice in my recipe. Both fruits are quite acidic, but lemon juice is more sweet and lime juice more tangy. Together, they provide a bright, sweet, zesty flavor somewhat reminiscent to what you’d get from tomatillo.
- Salt – Taste, and add additional salt at the end to your preference. An extra pinch can make a huge difference!
Recipe Steps
- Blister the jalapeños.
- Sauté onion, then add garlic & zucchini.
- Combine, blend, taste & season.
Jalapeño Prep
Remove the stems, then cut the jalapeños in half, length-ways. Add them to a hot, oiled pan and cook for about 5-ish minutes until charred and blistered, then flip over and cook the other side the same.
Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside on a plate to cool slightly while you sauté the veg next.
🔥Make it less spicy🔥
Scrape out the seeds and ribs (pith) of the jalapeños before cooking to reduce the spice. The ribs have the highest concentration of capsaicin in peppers, so if you remove the pith you’ll reduce the heat. The seeds actually aren’t that spicy on their own, but leech some of the spice from the ribs due to proximity.
OR use a less spicy pepper like serrano peppers or Anaheim chilis instead of jalapeño.
Onion, Garlic & Zucchini
Sauté onions for about 5 minutes then add the garlic and zucchini. Cook another 5 minutes to soften everything then remove the pan from the heat and let everything cool a bit before adding hot ingredient to your blender.
Blend
Add the jalapeno peppers, onions, garlic and zucchini to a blender or food processor along with the remaining ingredients. Blitz the zucchini mixture on high for about 30 seconds or so or until everything blends together into a smooth, creamy texture.
Taste and season with more salt if needed. Add more lemon or lime juice if you want it to pop a bit more.
Serving Ideas
There are so many different ways to enjoy this Jalapeño Zucchini Salsa! A few ideas to get you started:
- Chips & Dip: I stumbled across the idea for this recipe while eating out at a local Mexican restaurant. The food was great all round, but I could have happily stuck with the tortilla chips & salsa while sipping on my pineapple tepache margarita (working on a recipe for that soon!)
- Tacos, Burritos & Quesadillas: This makes a great homemade salsa topping or dip for tacos, burritos, taquitos and quesadillas.
- Grilled & Sautéd Meats: Add to marinated and grilled meats like this Cilantro Lime Marinated Chicken or Instant Pot Carne Desmechada.
- Roasted Veggies & Salad Bowls: This jalapeño zucchini salsa would be great drizzled over veggies, salads and bowls! Try it over these Portobello Mushroom Fajitas or on this Chipotle Chickpea Burrito Bowls
🌮🌟Make this Next🌟🌮
Learn how to make your own homemade Corn Tortillas! They’re soft, pliable and easy to make with only 3 ingredients needed. Though they do require a little time and patience to pull off, the end result is easily worth the effort!
More Homemade Dips & Sauces
- Roasted Chipotle Salsa
- Roasted Cilantro Pepita Dressing
- Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe (Dairy Free)
- Cilantro Lime Pesto (Coriander Pesto)
- Basil Avocado Dip
- Fresh Tomato Salsa
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this jalapeño zucchini salsa recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Jalapeño Zucchini Salsa Recipe
A simple, creamy green salsa made with fresh ingredients sautéd then blended up into a spicy zucchini salsa.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp neutral flavored cooking oil (avocado, vegetable, etc)
- 2-3 green jalapeños, stems removed and cut in half, length-wise
- 1/2 white onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 zucchini, peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 bunch cilantro, leaves and stems (about 2 cups or 50g)
- 1 tsp salt + more to taste
Instructions
- Heat about 1 tbsp oil in a medium pan over a medium-high heat. when the oil is hot, add the jalapeños, skin side down. Cook for about 5 minutes without moving or until blistered and somewhat charred then flip over and blister the other side, about 5 minutes. After the skin color changes to a lighter-green, remove from the pan and set aside.
- Reduce temperature to a medium heat. Add onions and garlic (more oil if needed). Sauté about 5 minutes, then add the zucchini. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
- Add the blistered jalapeños, onions, garlic and zucchini to a blender along with the salt, cilantro and lime juice too. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Taste and season with more salt if needed and enjoy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make sure to open a window (if possible) and run the extractor fan as you fry the chilis to reduce the intensity of the capsaicin that releases as the cook.
- Make it Less Spicy: Scrape out the seeds and ribs (pith) of the jalapeños before cooking OR use a less spicy pepper like serrano peppers or Anaheim chilis instead of jalapeño.
- Cilantro Substitute: Swap out all or half of the cilantro for fresh basil.
Leave a Review!