My Cucumber Salad recipe is cool and refreshing with a nice, spicy bite from the vinegar, radishes, and red onions. The Salad is as bright and pretty as it is healthy and delicious, a perfect side salad with grilled chicken or fish, and best of all it’s quick and easy to make.
I need this Cucumber Salad right now, it only the beginning of June and it’s over 100F (38C) so I’m not turning on the oven for any reason. Last night when we fired up the charcoal grill and grilled some Skewered Argentinian Spiced Chicken with a Chimichurri Sauce, this light, cool and refreshing Cucumber Salad recipe was the perfect accompaniment.
Vinegar vs Creamy Cucumber Salad
I like both versions the creaminess that mayo adds to the dressing is a nice touch. However, when making a creamy Cucumber Salad, it is necessary to ‘sweat’ the cucumbers first, it is not necessary to sweat them with a vinegar dressing.
When sliced, the cucumber will begin to release their moisture, sweating is the process of salting then draining the cucumbers in a colander for around 1-hour, then patting them dry, etc.etc. If you don’t sweat cucumbers and use a creamy dressing, the excess moisture from the cucumbers can be unappealing and ruin the dressing. With a vinegar dressing, there is no need to sweat the cucumbers, the excess moisture doesn’t cause any harm.
If your goal is a really quick and easy Cucumber Salad, then I would go with the vinegar dressing and skip the mayo.
Cucumber Salad Ingredients
- Cucumbers: The seedless English cucumbers are nice, however, I have used all varieties of cucumber in this salad and they all work wonderfully. Sliced or diced is up to you, I usually dice mine out of habit.
- Onions: Red onions cut into thin strips are my reference. In strips they are easy to pick out if you have picky eaters in your home. The red onions turn a really pretty color when mixed with vinegar and lemon juice, so they add great visual appeal as well.
- Radishes: They can be sliced thin for great visual appeal, or diced for a nice crunch
- Herbs: I like both parsley and/or dill in my Cucumber Salad so it’s entirely up to you, I suppose dill is the more traditional way to go
- Vinegar: I list white wine vinegar in the recipe, however, most kinds of vinegar will work. Apple cider vinegar or red wine would be my next two favorites. I’m not so sure about Balsalmic or Malt vinegar though, they may be a little overpowering for this salad.
Here’s my Cucumber Salad recipe:
Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Cucumbers 1/2-inch dice
- 1/2 cup Red Onion Thinly sliced
- 3 Radishes Thinly sliced
- 1 Lemon Zest and juice
- 1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar
- 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley or Dill Chopped
- 2 teaspoons Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Remove the zest from one lemon, then juice lemon
- Place vinegar, lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and salt in a bowl, stir to dissolve salt and sugar
- Slice onion into thin pieces
- Cut cucumbers into quarters, lengthways, dice into ½ inch pieces
- Chop dill (or parsley) and add ¼ cup to cucumbers and mix, if you want more you can always add it after.
- Refrigerate for around 30 minutes, serve cool.
Nutrition
