A salsa made with the best flavors of summer - bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumber, chilies, zucchini and corn - nicely seasoned and tossed with a quality creamy Italian dressing.
Summer Vegetable Salsa
Okay. Question.
Is this a salsa? You know, like meant to be eaten with chips? Or as a condiment for grilled or pan seared proteins?
Or, is it a dip, solely meant to be scooped up on a chip?
Or, is it a salad? Meant to be eaten on its own?
I say it's all of the above, but however you refer to it, it's a delicious mix of the best of the veggies flavors that we love during the summer months (yeah, even if they're conveniently canned) in a fun and delicious salsa.
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Here's what you'll need to make my Summer Vegetable Salsa:
- 1 large tomato, seeded and diced
- 1 can mild or original diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel), drained (I used original no salt added)
- 1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, drained
- 1 (11 ounce) can Mexicorn, drained
- 1 (4 ounce) jar chopped pimento peppers, drained
- 1 large cucumber, diced
- 1 large zucchini, diced
- 1/2 cup diced red onion
- 1 diced bell pepper, any color
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Creole or Cajun seasoning, to taste, optional
- 2 teaspoons dried parsley, or sub in fresh if you have it!
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup creamy Italian dressing, or to taste
- Corn chips or tortilla chips
Here's how to make it!
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First things first, clean your veggies and considering the level of recalls on produce here lately, I highly recommend using a fruit and vegetable wash over just a rinse with plain tap water. I use this Clean Boss branded version (#ad) but there are several others out there to choose from.
Prep all the veggies and you'll want to dice everything for this salsa. String the celery if needed. I went a long time not bothering to string it but I'm finding lately it seems to need it again! You can peel or leave the peeling on the cucumber and zucchini.
Since we want everything universally diced, I highly recommend using a chopper (#ad)! So much easier than hand dicing everything y'all. There are a ton of them available now, so pick one that has the blades and features most useful to you.
Add everything to a lidded storage bowl as you chop.
Isn't this a good looking mix of vegetables?
Add seasonings and toss. Taste and adjust as needed.
Salsas often have a more typical vinaigrette style of dressing, but for this salsa, I'm using a creamy Italian dressing, specifically Imo's House Italian Dressing and Marinade (#ad) - a brand I only recently discovered that comes from a pizzeria restaurant in Missouri!
They lay claim to being the original St. Louis style pizza and I confess that I've never actually had one of those, but I do hope to remedy that one day and soon since you can get them online these days. Their house dressing is an amazing version of Italian dressing and I'm a little bit hooked now, but there are lots of creamy style Italian dressings (#ad) available today, so use your favorite!
Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup to start, or, measure with your heart as they say! Stir in.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.
Y'all. My husband, aka The Cajun, doesn't eat this kind of stuff. Not at all. So when I share favorites like this, it's all on me to finish it off. This makes a hefty batch when it's all said and done and I thought I'd probably end up not finishing it. Boy was I wrong!
It took me a few days, but I ate every, single, drop of it, it's that good!!
Give it a toss when you get it out of the fridge and add more dressing if you like. Serve as a salsa with corn chips or tortilla chips, or use as a condiment or side with meats or fish.
For more of my favorite salsa recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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