Courgette Salad with Fennel and Citrus

Why You’ll Love Our Courgette Salad 

As you know, we don’t like boring salads. But we also understand that some days, we don’t have time to fuss around with ingredients that fall into the too-hard basket. 

Our refreshing courgette salad has everything we love about a brilliantly easy salad with interesting flavours. 

Simple ingredients. Delicately delicious. Looks amazing. And literally, no cooking involved.

I love the crunchy texture and slightly aniseed flavours of raw shaved fennel combined with fresh courgette ribbons, which contrasts perfectly with the tangy sweetness of citrus fruits and then harmonised with buttery toasted pine nuts. 

It is an explosion of exciting flavours in your mouth.  

This courgette salad recipe is a versatile side salad that goes well with fish, chicken or vegetarian rice dishes. The combination of raw courgette and fennel plus the oranges and tangelo adds such a refreshing flavour and will help cut through heavier meals.

And when your friends return for more? A damn good sign that the combination of flavours has worked.  

What Is the Difference Between A Courgette and Zucchini?

Um.. nothing really. 

They are the same vegetables with different names in different countries. 

Zucchini is commonly used in Australia, the USA and Canada, whilst courgette is used in England, New Zealand and South Africa. 

Zucchini and courgettes are labelled a summer squash, which belongs to the same family as melons and cucumbers. They can grow up to 1 m long but are generally harvested when they are still young, less than 20 cm long. 

There are several varieties of zucchini and courgettes, and the colours vary from light green to dark green, plus also deep yellow or orange. 

Did you know technically, zucchini and courgettes are fruits? I had no idea! We treat it like a vegetable and cook it like one, but its true botanical classification is a fruit! Things we learn every day.

Can You Eat Courgette Raw?

Courgettes are so versatile. You can eat them raw, pickled, grilled, stir fried, cooked, grated, steamed, and battered. 

It is actually one of my favourite vegetables. Saute courgette in garlic for popular Korean banchan or stuffed courgette flowers with ricotta – the thought is heaven! It can bring so many different flavours. I also love hiding it in my spaghetti Bolognese to add extra veggies for my kids. 

I love using raw courgettes in salads. Raw courgette has subtle sweetness, which is perfect to match with zingy dressing or sauce like our pesto zucchini noodle salad.

The texture of raw courgette is firmer than cooked courgette and has less water content than cucumber. Courgettes are perfect for salads. 

Ingredients

These are the main ingredients you need for courgette salad:

Fennel: Choose a medium sized fennel for this recipe. Don’t waste the fronds; you can use them in our scallop sashimi salad. Fennel is one of those vegetables that you can use from top to toe, including the seeds. 

Courgette: As you use raw courgette ribbons in this salad, choose the freshest ones possible. Avoid courgettes that are bruised or have indented soft spots. I prefer smaller, younger courgettes when I make courgette ribbons, so they are not so wide and more tender. 

Citrus fruit: I have chosen to use orange, blood orange and tangelo in the shaved fennel salad because they were in season at the time. Tangelo is sweet like oranges but has a slight tang like grapefruit. I also love using blood oranges because of the juicy sweetness and amazing colour. 

Arugula: To bulk up the salad with extra peppery flavours and greenery, I added arugula leaves (otherwise known as rocket leaves) to the salad.

Pine nuts: You don’t necessarily have to toast the pine nuts, but toasting them first brings out the natural oils and aroma. 

Orange juice: To complement the citrus flavours in the salad, I am also using orange juice in the salad dressing. 

Variations and Substitutions

Citrus fruit variation: Create your own combination of citrus fruit in the salad. You can also substitute with ruby grapefruit, yellow grapefruit or even pomelo.

Arugula substitute: If you don’t like arugula, you can substitute it with spinach leaves.

Nut free option: You can omit the pine nuts if you need a nut free salad.  

Fresh herbs: If you wish to add some extra freshness, you can scatter mint or parsley in the salad. 

Instructions

Step by step instructions for how to make courgette salad:

How To Shave Fennel For Salad

For this salad, I used a mandoline slicer to help shave the fennel as thinly as possible. If you don’t have a mandoline, try a vegetable peeler or just use the knife and thinly slice.

Trim the top of the fennel, removing stalks and fronds, leaving the bulb and core intact. Keep some of the fennel fronds to sprinkle on top at serving. 

Cut fennel in half. Then place cut side down and slide fennel back and forth across the blade. Keep going until the fennel becomes difficult to hold. Repeat with the other half of fennel.

Place shaved fennel into a bowl cold water with a squeeze of lemon to reduce oxidation. Leave until assembly.

How To Make Courgette (Zucchini) Ribbons

Prepping courgette ribbons may sound hard. It is not. 

For this recipe, I wanted courgette ribbons because it creates a lighter texture and combines well with the fennel shavings. Plus, it looks amazing on the plate!

Trim courgette top and bottom and use a vegetable peeler to carefully slice courgette lengthwise into long, thin ribbons. 

Repeat with both courgettes.

How to Prepare The Salad

Peel and slice citrus fruit into approximately ½ cm rounds. Then cut rounds into quarters. 

Give arugula a quick wash.

Over medium-low heat, toast pine nuts in a dry pan until golden brown. Stir and frequently move to avoid burning. Once they are ready, remove quickly from pan. 

How to Make Orange and Seeded Mustard Vinaigrette

Place orange juice, olive oil, seeded mustard, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper in a mason jar and give it a good shake. 

How To Assemble The Salad

Remove fennel from water and give it a good shake to remove any excess water.  

Place arugula leaves, fennel and courgette ribbons in a large mixing bowl and dress with orange and seeded mustard vinaigrette. Mix around so that the salad is well covered with dressing.

Using a large serving plate, tumble arugula leaves, fennel and courgette ribbons on to plate. 

To create depth on the plate, I rolled up a few of the courgette ribbons so that it looked curled up.

Then layer citrus fruit between shaved fennel and courgette ribbons.

To serve, scatter toasted pine nuts and fennel fronds. 

Great Mains for This Salad

What to serve with courgette salad? Try these delicious main dish recipes:

This refreshing courgette salad and it’s citrusy dressing would go so well with smoked whole chicken and BBQ lamb ribs. Cutting through all the strong flavours, making it a more rounded meal.

For our vegan friends, Spanish vegan paella, easily done in one pot, is a great dinner had by all when served with the courgette salad.

Frequently Asked Questions

I love the crunchy texture of shaved fennel and courgette together with the sweetness of the citrus fruits. The zippy orange and seeded mustard vinaigrette dials up the deliciousness and just shouts YUM.

With fennel and citrus fruits growing well in the cooler months, this salad recipe is one for all seasons and all occasions.