Zucchini Ikra, A Fabulous Vegetable Spread, Salad, And Dip

Zucchini Ikra is an Eastern European vegetable dish, a delicious relish, salad, spread or dip, made with zucchini and other garden vegetables.

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Zucchini Ikra is an incredibly tasty vegetable spread that you didn’t know you needed in your life! It’s wholesome, healthy, and tastes as delicious as it smells. A medley of fresh garden vegetables are lightly seasoned and simmered for an hour to turn into a spread, relish, sauce, or salad that’s super flavorful and versatile.

This is also really great as a dip and suitable if you want to serve vegetarian or vegan foods. There are many versions of this dish, but I’ll offer my favorite zucchini version here. Get hooked on healthy, homemade food from scratch! Let’s get cooking, shall we?

If you like this vegetable dish, I think you’ll love my delicious fresh, creamy cucumber salad. And I highly recommend some fermented delicacies such as lacto-fermented salsa, famously healthy sauerkraut, flavor-burst fermented cherry tomatoes, and spicy fermented cantaloupe hot sauce. 

Meet Zucchini Ikra!

Apparently in Russia, Squash Ikra (Kabachkovaya Ikra), has been sold in jars since the 1930’s. It was one of the only things that were reliably available in stores during the Perestroika era, when shelves were often mostly empty and people had to stand in line to get basic necessities as they became available.

But I know Ikra from my grandmother, who would make it often to accompany roasts and to use as a spread on bread. She made several different sauces like this and her eggplant ikra and pfeffersoße (red pepper sauce) were my favorites. I love the flavor of the different vegetables all mixed together.

My grandmother, and my mother when she was very young, were part of a group of German immigrants to Bessarabia, (now part Russia and part Ukraine) who were initially invited by Tsar Alexander around 1815 to work the land as farmers. My grandma’s farm was quite large and prospered, until they were driven from the land at the outbreak of World War II and as refugees had to resettle in Poland before they came back to Germany at the end of the war. 

However, during their stay in Bessarabia for several generations, these German families adopted many local recipes from their Romanian, Russian, and Ukrainian neighbors, and alongside old familiar German dishes, these new foods became part of their Bessarabia culture.

Then later, when I was growing up in Germany, my Oma fondly served them to us grandkids as often as she had the chance. 

Ikra, also known as red ikra, is actually a seasoned dish of sturgeon roe and was popular until it became more rare and too expensive for most people. In place of this, people would start using a mix of eggplant, onions and peppers to make a dish that was called ‘poor man’s caviar’, and it is also known as green ikra. It became very popular with common folks and replaced the pricey, hard to get, fish caviar for most. 

Eggplant ikra (Baklazhannaya ikra) has remained very popular in Eastern Europe, however, other versions of it were created, and one of them is zucchini ikra (Kabachkovaya Ikra), which is what we’re cooking up today. 

My History With Zucchini Ikra

While I love the eggplant version, eggplants have always been a challenge to grow for me. And except for one year, when conditions were especially favorable in Washington, I have not been able to grow eggplants successfully. Where I garden now, in Missouri, they get absolutely devastated by the flea beetles which are super abundant here. I think that is because of the many nightshade weeds that grow here and attract them. The weeds provide plenty of food for the critters to multiply. And the only plant the flea beetles seem to love even more than those weeds, are eggplants. 

So for lack of easy access to eggplants (I eat what I grow and skip what I can’t grow in general), I started to mostly make zucchini ikra and I’ve come to love it just as much. However, I do make eggplant ikra for a special treat when I can get unsprayed eggplants at the local farmer’s market.  I’m sharing my favorite zucchini version here, but stay tuned for the eggplant version coming soon too. 

Why You’ll Love Zucchini Ikra

• It tastes fantastic! 

• Zucchini are easy to grow and grow abundantly for most people. Everyone knows some fun zucchini stories regarding the ‘problem’ of too many zucchinis. Well, here is one delicious way to fix that problem! 

• Zucchini Ikra is versatile. It can be a delicious salad, or it can be spread on some crostini or crackers for an appetizer, and it is great as dip for chips either chunky or blended smooth. Besides all that, it makes a super tasty relish for a cold cut spread or charcuterie board.

• This Zucchini Ikra is made of just whole, healthy vegetables, healthy oil and apple vinegar with a bit of salt and pepper. And so it is full of all the nutrients and fiber from the vegetables and makes a highly nutritious snack anytime. 

• Extra Ikra can be frozen for another day. 

• Use it in your cooking. I love putting a big spoonful on beef cuts or pork chops after browning the meat and then I braise it slowly with a lid on. Delicious! 

• Makes a great topping for baked potatoes with some sour cream, and do try it on white fish!

• This is also a fabulous side for your BBQ meats or to top a burger.  

How To Make Zucchini Ikra

The version below is my absolute favorite. I love the chunky texture, the softness of the vegetables is perfect, and the ratio of the vegetables used is just right. I’d make it this way once and then experiment if you want. After making zucchini ikra many times, all kinds of ways, this is the perfect one!

Equipment

10 inch Skillet or 5-7qt Dutch Oven – I love to use my cast iron skillet or cast iron dutch oven for this dish. If you use a skillet, be sure to use a sleeve on the handle as it get’s super hot.

Knife or Food Processor – I have used my food processor for this several times, to speed things up, but honestly, I much prefer hand cutting my foods most of the time, and especially with this recipe. The texture is just so much better. However, if you’re planning to blend this into a sauce later, using a food processor would help to get done much quicker.

Grater – While there are many grater styles out there, I find myself grabbing my box grater 99 percent of the time when I need to grate a few things. It’s quick to use (no assembly or mounting), gets the job done, and cleanup is mostly just a quick rinse.

Cutting Board

Blender or Immersion Blender, optional – You will only need a blender if you’re planning to blend this into a sauce later. An Immersion blender works well too.

Ingredients

I always recommend using organic ingredients for better health! Many conventionally farmed foods tend to be loaded with pesticides and other chemicals, and are often nutrient deficient and genetically modified.

Onions – Any onions are fine. I used blush onions today, you can use what you have.

Bell peppers – I love to use red bells if they are available. They are sweeter and they look fantastic mixed in with the green zucchini. But a mix is fine and even green ones are. Use what you have. I actually used only one green bell pepper today because I have no red ones growing, and then some half red roasting peppers and a couple of bright red paprika peppers.

Jalapenos – In my ikra, this is a must. However, if you’re not a lover of hot food, by all means, leave it out.

Garlic Cloves – Ok, here is another where preferences differ. Some ikras have no garlic in it, some have a lot. I hang out in the latter camp. If a recipe calls for a garlic clove, they really mean a head! Right? Right! Use as much or as little as you like. I used 5 large cloves.

Carrots – Peel or don’t. It’s up to you. I don’t peel mine, and mine were pretty gnarly from hitting hard clay a few inches down and they had some critter chew on them. This does’t lend itself to peeling. I just wash them well and cut out any deep seated dirty spots or blemishes. Looks like I have to keep working on my soil 😜 !

Zucchini – Use any size zucchini that are still soft, however, if they are large, you’ll need to scoop out the spongy seed cavity. Pigs or chickens will love this! If the skin gets tough and the seeds start to swell up, it’s best to use them for other purposes, they won’t soften well enough for this dish.

Tomatoes – Use ripe tomatoes for this. Any work fine, but I prefer to use juicy ones, because I like my ikra to be on the juicy side. This is a bad tomato year. We’ve had rain nearly every day for months, which tomatoes do not take kindly, and they are succumbing early to blight and are full of bugs this year. Not pretty! I had a lot to cut away.

Apple Vinegar – I use homemade apple vinegar, but you can use wine vinegar too.

Black Pepper – Fresh ground is best! Pepper helps absorb the nutrients in all the other ingredients, but it works only when it’s fresh ground. So for the health benefits, it’s best to always grind it as needed.

Salt – My favorites are Redmond’s Real Salt, Himalayan pink salt , or Celtic sea salt. Because all of these contain essential trace minerals that our bodies need, which I prefer as a healthier choice. 

Olive Oil – I used organic extra virgin olive oil, because that is what I had, but any healthy oil is fine to use here. For healthier cooking, I recommend that you try to avoid the many inflammatory oils and choose alternatives such as organic avocado oil or coconut oil. To learn more, you can check out this article on the subject!

If you use olive oil, be sure not to overheat it. It could produce harmful compounds if heated above the smoking point.

Herbs – You can add herbs too if you like. However, I often prefer the plain vegetable flavor with nothing else getting in the way. If you opt for adding herbs, I’ve used cilantro, parsley, carrot tops, dill, or celery greens. What you add will alter the flavor, but it will be delicious in its own way.

Instructions For Making Zucchini Ikra

Prepare your vegetables

Gently heat the oil in a dutch oven or skillet, do not let it get smoky hot. 

Add the diced onions and cook for about 5 minutes till soft and translucent.

Add the diced red bell peppers, jalapenos, and garlic. Saute for two minutes.

Finally, dump in the carrots, zucchini and tomatoes.

Season with the salt and pepper and stir well.

Add the vinegar.

Bring the contents to a simmer. 

Place a lid on the Dutch oven or pan and simmer for about an hour until all vegetables are very soft and juicy. I often let it simmer for an hour and a half.

Let cool, fill into jars or other dish and refrigerate until use.

Ikra is normally served cold as a salad, relish, spread, salsa, or dip. It can be blended into a smooth sauce too.

This will keep refrigerated for about a week, but it can be frozen too.

Tips For The Best Zucchini Ikra

• Use small to medium zucchini for the best texture.
• Use vine-ripened tomatoes at their peak and I prefer juicy ones for a nice juicy finished ikra.
• Grate the carrots. I’ve tried chopping them, but grated is much better.
• Red peppers add great color and a bit of sweetness.
• Cook till very soft. I allow for up to 90 minutes of soft simmering, but it’s usually good at 60 minutes.

How To Serve

I used to love taking this to work for lunch and eat it as a salad, maybe with some bread and cheese or just by itself. Now I love to eat it for breakfast. Just straight up by itself. You can sprinkle some fresh herbs over it too. I like to use cilantro, dill, and/or parsley.

Zucchini Ikra is so good too as a spread on toasted bread rounds, crackers, or as a dip with chips. 

Try topping your meat with zucchini ikra while its cooking for a great flavor and tasty sauce. I love this!

Blend it to a smooth sauce and use it as a dip, a sauce on rice, stuffed peppers or cabbage.

Top meats, baked potatoes, rice, fish, sandwiches, or burgers with zucchini ikra.

Great as a vegetable side dish for just about any meal.

Serve as a vegetable relish as part of a cold buffet, along with a cheese platter or charcuterie board. 

Your Questions Answered

Enjoy Your Delicious Zucchini Ikra

I hope you fall in love with Ikra as I have. It reminds me of the years I lived with my Oma Klara in Germany and the wonderful scents that wafted through her apartment day after day, as she was cooking up Ikra and other wholesome dishes from scratch. And then as I sat down to a meal with her, I’d be listening to her stories of old, the days on the farm in the Bessarabia prairie, when farming with horses was the norm and when bread and other foods were still made from scratch, with home-grown or local ingredients.

I am thankful for these experiences and think fondly of her when those familiar scents surround me. Then I savor the delicious taste of these old familiar foods she liked to bless us with. This is one of those awesome dishes she made and it never ceases to delight. Join me in keeping old traditions alive and making new ones for our families. I hope you get to try this delicious zucchini ikra and love it too!

And if you do, I’d be thrilled to hear about it. I would love to learn about your favorite food traditions. And please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments if you have any questions!

Join the Food For Life Garden Community for more great recipes and homestead tips and ideas. I’m always adding new content. Don’t miss any new posts and learn more about my off-grid farm life.

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Cast Iron Skillet
Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Lodge Brand 6 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
Pan Handle Silicone Sleeve
Pan Handle Cloth Sleeve
Food Processor
Box Grater
Blender
Immersion blender
Redmond’s Real Salt
Himalayan pink salt
Celtic sea salt