This Greek Zucchini Salad with Vegan Feta is a healthy and tasty way to use zucchini. It can be made a day ahead, so it’s perfect for parties!
It’s that time of year when your garden is cranking out zucchini faster than you can use it or sneak it over to the neighbor’s front porch. 😆
And while we’re talking about zucchini…don’t you think it is the sneakiest plant on earth? One day you take a full inventory, looking under every leaf for ready-to-pick sizes and see nothing ready. The next day, you go back and see this….
Yeah, they are sneaky. I think that as soon as you finish looking and start to walk away, the plant sends out a message to one of the blossoms…”It’s GO TIME! GROW AT TOP SPEED!”
I’m serious.
Anyway, let’s get started with this recipe. Gather your ingredients. I used Mexican zucchini, but standard zucchini will be fine.
Making the feta is the first thing you want to do. I suggest making this in the morning if you want to eat the salad this same day. Soaking in the marinade for several hours really brings out the flavor.
Drain and rinse the tofu. Then press it for a bit to get a bit more water out of it. I used this press for about 15 minutes:
Then I wrap the tofu in a towel for a few more minutes or I cut it crosswise and lay it on these awesome sponges:
They are made of plants and soak up 20x their weight in water. I use them instead of a sponge in the kitchen and bathroom.
Once you have the tofu dried a bit, cut it into 1/2″ cubes and put them in a dish where they can fit in a single layer.
Now make the marinade. Add the stuffed olives (or olives and peeled garlic, if not using the stuffed olives) to your food processor or magic bullet or whatever you want to chop with. Chop fine…I did a few pulses in my Magic Bullet and the pieces were about the size of rolled oats if that makes sense? It won’t hurt if you make this into almost a paste, so don’t worry too much about size.
Add the lemon juice, olive juice, nutritional yeast, and seasoning and mix it up a bit. I did it in the bullet, but you can do it in a measuring cup or bowl.
Pour the marinade over the tofu. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours, at least. 7-8 hours is best. Stir it once or twice during that time.
When your marinade is ready, prepare the rest of the salad.
Chop the zucchini into 1/2″ cubes. Dice the onion and chop the kalamata olives and parsley. Add all to a large bowl. Add the chickpeas. Add the tofu (including the marinade!) and reserved chickpea liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired.
This can be served right away, but it gets more flavorful and the zucchini softens a little bit if you let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so. The leftovers were wonderful the next day, so don’t hesitate to make this a day ahead.
This Greek Zucchini Salad with Vegan Feta is a healthy and tasty way to use zucchini. It can be made a day ahead, so it's perfect for parties!
- 1 16oz block of tofu I used firm
- 6 jumbo garlic stuff olives Or 8-10 regular sized green olives and 3-6 peeled garlic cloves
- 5-6 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup juice from olives
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp each oregano, dill, garlic powder
- 1 tsp Greek seasoning in addition to above or instead of the above seasoning. I used it all! Greek seasoning has a little mint in it.
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 4-5 cups diced zucchini about 1.5 lbs
- 1 cup feta cubes
- 15 oz can chickpeas drained, reserve about 1/4 cup liquid (aquafaba)
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/3-1/2 cup chopped Kalamata olives
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley
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Drain the tofu and press it with your preferred method. (See my blog post for how I do it, if you need ideas.)
Slice the tofu crosswise so you have two full-sized thinner slabs. Allow it to drain a bit more on towels or the sponges I describe in the blog post.
Cut into 1/2" squares. Add to a dish that is big enough to allow it to be in one layer.
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For the marinade, you can use a blender, food processor, or chop by hand. I used a Magic Bullet. Add the stuffed olives (or separate olives and peeled garlic) to the bullet and pulse until you have small bits about the size of rolled oats. It's okay if it's smaller too. Add the lemon and olive juices and nutritional yeast and spices. Pulse to mix well.
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Pour the marinade over the tofu cubes, cover, and refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours. More is better. Stir it once or twice during that time.
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Cut the zucchini into 1/2" cubes, add to a large bowl.
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Add Kalamata olives, parsley, red onion, and chickpeas.
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Add feta with marinade. Add reserved chickpea liquid (aquafaba)
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Stir and taste, adjust seasoning as desired.
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This can be served right away, but it gets even better if it sits in the fridge for an hour or so to allow the flavors to meld.
The zucchini I used is Mexican zucchini which is known for its firmness and the fact that it doesn't get mushy when cooked, but I'm sure regular zucchini will be perfect in this also.
Where do you get the press and the sponges?
Hi Joanne, I got both on Amazon. I’ve added the links to the blog post, so you can click and go to Amazon through those links. I will get a few cents if you purchase through my links (at no additional cost to you). I only recommend products that I use and love, so you can be sure that it is not just a sales pitch. Thanks for asking!