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Quick cucumber salad recipe you would make over and over again! This simple and easy cucumber salad is light, refreshing and healthy. It is a perfect side dish the whole family would love. This easy salad recipe uses a handful of ingredients, it is so simple a child could make it.
Serve it with simple baked chicken drumsticks or stovetop chicken thighs, grilled meat, steamed cod or honey garlic salmon or pork.
This is the best cucumber salad recipe you would make
This classic salad is not for spring or summer alone, it is perfect all year. It is about to become your go-to cucumber salad recipe.
One thing I can assure you with this simple salad is that there won’t be any left! In fact, you might get a few thoughts or comments of “why didn’t you make more”
I try to incorporate salad into our daily meals as much as I can and my older child for some reasons best known to her prefers green vegetables over the likes of mixed vegetable (green peas, sweet corn, green beans).
She also likes to eat her salad without any creamy dressing, and I am super thankful for that. I can’t complain if I am getting a result with feeding them a balanced diet.
I wrote all about the health benefit of cucumber and why it should be part of your diet in my refreshing cucumber juice recipe.
Cucumber salad is her best salad, she would finish one large English cucumber without realising it at times. I guess it is the simple, sweet and delicious salad dressing.
She loves this salad so much she now makes it herself under supervision. That is to show you how easy and quick this cucumber salad recipe is.
Also, it is extremely easy to make and only requires about 5 minutes to come together. This salad is good you can serve it cold or at room temperature.
What is in my quick cucumber salad dressing
I have kept this simple and remember I mentioned it is a quick recipe, so I used what I had at hand. Also, I didn’t use any mayonnaise or sour cream in the dressing and this makes it completely vegan.
Rice wine vinegar: Most vinegar would work with this dressing from red wine vinegar to sherry to white vinegar and apple cider vinegar. I prefer to use rice wine vinegar as it adds to the overall sweetness of the salad.
Dried dill: The original recipe calls for fresh dill but at the time I wrote this recipe, there was no dill in my local store.
Sugar: use caster sugar if you may as it dissolves in the dressing faster than granulated sugar. It can be substituted with honey
Pink Himalayan salt: you can use any type of salt you have at hand, I just found pink Himalayan salt or sea salt works best.
Olive oil: I like to use plain olive oil here and steer clear of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) as the flavour can be overwhelming for the delicate taste of the cucumber. You can also use any other flavourless cooking oil
Onion: I used red onion for this as it adds to the overall aesthetics of the cucumber salad. You may use white onion if you don’t have red one.
Water
Kitchen Tools
Mandoline slicer: use this kitchen tool if you want the cucumber to be thinly sliced and it also makes the job quicker
How to make quick and easy cucumber salad
Seedless English cucumber works best for this salad recipe and you don’t need to peel it too.
Slice the cucumber and onion: wash the cucumber and slice off the two ends. Using a mandoline slicer or kitchen knife, cut the cucumber thinly but not wafer-thin.
Transfer it to a shallow bowl and sprinkle some salt it, then toss to combine. Set aside to make the dressing and slice the onion
To a small bowl, add vinegar, sugar, water, dill and olive oil and mix to combine to dissolve the sugar.
Add the sliced cucumber to a colander to drain the sweated water, then return it to the bowl and add the sliced onions
Pour the dressing over the cucumber and onions and toss to combine. Taste and adjust the salt to suit your taste.
Cover the salad with a cling film and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before serving. This salad can be eaten immediately too if time is of the essence.
How long does cucumber salad last for in the fridge
Salad cucumber is meant to be prepared fresh and eaten same day. Keep this salad in the fridge for 24 hours at most.
The longer the cucumber salad sits, the more it draws out moisture. This shouldn’t affect the taste but the cucumber may be softer and no longer crunchy.
Other variations to this recipe
- Add chopped tomatoes to this recipe to make tomato cucumber salad.
- For creamy cucumber salad, add about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, Greek yogurt or sour cream to this recipe.
- For Asian cucumber salad, use sesame oil instead of olive oil, add some fresh chili or red pepper flakes to make it spicy. Finish it off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
- Make this salad tangy by adding lemon juice and a teeny tiny bit of lemon zest
- Add some chopped green onions or chives for finesse. Chopped parsley can also be added to cucumber salad.
Other quick recipes on the blog you would want to make
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Quick and Easy Cucumber Salad Recipe
Equipment
- colander
- Mandoline slicer or
- Kitchen knife
Ingredients
- 2 large seedless English cucumber
- 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar:
- 2 teaspoon dried dill:
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar:
- 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt or as needed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small red onion sliced
- 4 tablespoons water
Instructions
- wash the cucumber and slice off the two ends. Using a mandolin slicer or kitchen knife, cut the cucumber thinly but not wafer-thin. Transfer it to a shallow bowl and sprinkle some salt it, then toss to combine. Set aside to make the dressing and slice the onion.
- To a small bowl, add vinegar, sugar, water, dill and olive oil and mix to combine to dissolve the sugar.
- Add the sliced cucumber to a colander to drain the sweated water, then return it to the bowl and add the sliced onions
- Pour the dressing over the cucumber and onions and toss to combine. Taste and adjust the salt to suit your taste. Cover the salad with a cling film and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before serving. This salad can be eaten immediately too if time is of the essence.
Notes
- Add chopped tomatoes to this recipe to make tomato cucumber salad.
- For creamy cucumber salad, add about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, Greek yogurt or sour cream to this recipe.
- For Asian cucumber salad, use sesame oil instead of olive oil, add some fresh chilli or red pepper flakes to make it spicy. Finish it off with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
- Make this salad tangy by adding lemon juice and a teeny tiny bit of lemon zest
- Add some chopped green onions or chives for finesse. Chopped parsley can also be added to cucumber salad.
Nutrition
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