Recipe: Zucchini Sweet Relish
Published: October 9, 2026
For some reason I struggle to grow zucchinis. Every summer I see the memes about gardeners giving away zucchinis because they have so many while I was lucky to get one before it rotted on the vine. My 91 year old grandmother continues to grow zucchinis every season because they’re “easy” LOL. I’m pretty sure the issue is my soil so I’ve been working at improving the nutrition and compost.
This year I finally found them a spot where they did well. I still didn’t have a meme worthy excess but I did get enough to make a batch of Zucchini Sweet Relish.
This recipe is from The Canning Kitchen by Any Bronee which I think I found at Lee Valley Tools one day. There’s zucchini relish recipes floating around my family but I decided for the plot of this summer I’d continue to dig through my vast collection of recipe books.
Zucchini Sweet Relish Recipe
Makes four 500ml jars
3lbs zucchini
2 1/2 cups yellow onions, finely diced
1 cup red bell peppers, finely diced
3/4 cup green bell peppers, finely diced
1/4 cup pickling salt
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 1/2 cups white vinegar
1 tbsp celery seed
1 tbsp yellow mustard seed
Rinse the zucchini under cool running water. Trim off and discard the tips. Coarsly shred the zucchini on a box grater or finely shop in a food processor.
In a large bowl, stir together the zucchini, onion, peppers and salt. Let stand for 1 hour to allow the salt to draw excess moisture from the vegetables.
Drain and rinse the vegetables in a fine mesh sieve or collander lined with a large double layer of cheesecloth. Firmly squeeze out the excess liquid.
Transfer the vegetables to a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Stir in the sugar, vinegar and seeds. Bring to a bubble on high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Ladle into 4 sterilized 500ml mason jars, leaving a 1/2” headspace. Poke a non-metallic utensil inside each jar a few times to remove any air bubbles, topping up with relish if necessary.
Process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.
Modifications
I had no mustard seed so I used mustard powder.
I only had green peppers so my batch consisted of 2 3/4 cups finely diced green peppers
I forgot to check for air bubbles before sealing my jars (though they appear fine)
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While I found myself a little sad this recipe didn’t taste like the zucchini relish I grew up with ( I don’t know what I was expecting considering it wasn’t a family recipe… But whatever) this recipe turned out great and makes an awesome addition to any meal.
