If you’ve never had Spiced Zucchini Relish, you’re in for a treat!
My mom has been making this crave-able summer condiment since we were little. This is akin to a ‘freezer jam’, so there’s no need for water baths or special canning equipment (but it will last in your freezer for up to a year!).
But let’s get to the taste of it all! Spiced zucchini relish is like pickle relish, but better (in my humble opinion). It’s loaded with flavor from onions, red peppers, celery seed, mustard seed and a light hand of cinnamon.
We love it with hot dogs, as you can see from the photos, but it’s great wherever you might use a regular pickle relish, such as making thousand island dressing, in deviled eggs, egg salad, potato salad, on a cheese board with creamy cheese and a robust salami.
It’s super simple to make as well. On Day 1, you’ll combine the finely chopped zucchini and onions with salt and water and let them hang out in the fridge overnight.
On Day 2, you’ll drain and rinse and then add to a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (or large capacity saucepan). You’ll add in red peppers (or green bell peppers), sugar, vinegar, celery seed, mustard seed and some cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and an hour and a half (ish) later, you’re done!
I love to put it in these cute Weck jars in the photos and give it to friends or stash the rest in the freezer for winter hot dogs!
I hope you love this homemade zucchini relish recipe as much as my entire family does!
My Favorite Pro Tips for Making
The Best Zucchini Relish Out There!
Finely chop up your ingredients.
Using a Cuisinart (or any food processor) makes fast work of chopping up the zucchini, onions and red pepper. If you have one available, use it. Otherwise, it doesn’t take too much to finely chop it all up.
You don’t want the pieces too big in the final relish.
Cook it down until most of the liquid is gone.
You will still see some liquid on the bottom of the pan, but most of it should have evaporated by the end of the cook time. If it’s still a bit soupy, then consider turning up the heat a touch, stirring and checking at 5-minute intervals. That should accelerate the reduction in liquid.
Step-by-Step Instructions & Photos to Make
The Best Homemade Relish Recipe!
More Delicious Summer Recipes
While we’re bottling up summer produce to enjoy all year long, try out my favorite Strawberry Jam (this easy freezer jam is made with dried hibiscus!) and prep these Blueberry Scones completely (minus baking) and store in the freezer for scones on demand (they’re SO GOOD).
If you’re like a zucchini bender like I am, make this Brown Butter Zucchini Bread STAT!
You can find all of the summer recipes here!
Enjoy this crazy delicious zucchini relish recipe!
Mom’s Spiced Zucchini Relish Recipe (You will love!)
Equipment
- 5 qt Coquette (this is the one I have!)
- Weck 5.4 oz Glass Jars (I use six for this recipe)
Ingredients
Day 1: Easy Overnight Soak
- 3 medium (684 g) fresh zucchini finely chopped (about 1 1/2 lbs)
- 2 medium (321 g) onions finely chopped
- 2 ½ tablespoons (45 g) sea salt
Day 2: Assemble & Cook
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp (252 g) white vinegar
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp (124 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (110 g) red bell pepper seeded and finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon celery seed
- 1 teaspoon mustard seed
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Instructions
Day 1: Easy Overnight Soak
- In a large container, combine zucchini, onions and salt and cover with water. Cover and set in the fridge overnight.
Day 2: Assemble & Cook
- When ready to make the zucchini relish, drain the zucchini in a large colander. Rinse well with water and then drain again.
- In a large Dutch oven or large heavy-bottomed saucepan set over high heat, combine the rinsed zucchini, vinegar, sugar, chopped pepper, celery seed, mustard seed, cinnamon, nutmeg and pepper. Stir well to combine. The relish will be quite thick, that's ok.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, stirring periodically, for about 90 to 105 minutes. You'll know when the relish is done when the liquid has reduced and there is only a small bit at the bottom of the pan. If there is a lot of liquid or it's soupy, cook for longer.
- When done, ladle the zucchini relish into sterilized jars (see Note below regarding sterilizing jars and jar sizes). Leave a half inch headspace (1.3 cm) at the top of each jar.Loosely cover the jars with lids* and let them cool completely before stashing them in the fridge or freezer. Tighten once cool if storing in the refrigerator. If storing in the freezer, keep the lids loose until frozen solid and then screw them tight. *Wipe the top of the jars clean before placing the lids over the tops.
Notes
Recipe Yield + Notes on Jars
This relish recipe yields about 2 ½ pints/32 ounces/ 2 lbs/933 grams (roughly). I love to put it in the small Weck jars (linked just above the recipe), because it’s the perfect size to pull out and enjoy for a month, without any going to waste. Feel free to use whatever beautiful jars strike your fancy.A Note on Veggie Weights
Weight for 2 onions and 3 zucchinis will be a wee different for you than it is for me. If you have access to a scale, follow the weight measurements to make the recipe exactly as I do. If you don’t have access to a scale, then use the quantity of veggie provided. The red bell pepper would be about 1/3 of a pepper chopped. If you want to eyeball things.Sterilizing Jars
If I know I’ll be using the relish within a week or two, I just use clean canning jars. If I want it to sit in the fridge for a bit longer, I will sterilize the jars. You can either use the sterilize setting on your dishwasher, or you can submerge them in boiling water for at least 10 minutes and then let them air dry before using. Sterilizing your jars and freezing your relish for long-term storage will inhibit the growth of bacteria.Storing Zucchini Relish
Since we aren’t using a canning process when making this relish, it is not shelf-stable. Meaning, you’ll need to store it in either the refrigerator or freezer. This spiced zucchini relish will last about four weeks in the fridge and up to a year in the freezer.The post Mom’s Spiced Zucchini Relish Recipe appeared first on DisplacedHousewife.
