Cucumber Salad is a total classic! It’s light and delicious and tends to be a popular option for summer side dishes and gatherings like backyard barbecues and cookouts. This dish isn’t limited to warm weather though! Because it requires some sitting time before serving, it’s often served for weeknight meals as well as larger meals with numerous dishes. It’s light, refreshing, and easy to make. What’s not to love?
If you love cucumber salad but prefer the creamy variety, we’ve got you covered with our favorite creamy cucumber salad recipe!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- A super simple vinaigrette keeps things easy while still bringing the tangy zip.
- Fresh dill adds to the pickled flavor people love about this dish.
- English cucumbers are used for the best texture.
Cucumber Salad is a family favorite that people have been enjoying for ages. Thinly sliced cucumbers and onion are tossed in a sweet and tangy vinaigrette for a classic side dish.
This dish is heavily rooted in German ancestry where they call it Gurkensalat. It’s a popular side dish that has made its way to America. It’s light, refreshing, and easy to make. While the recipe seems to have originated in Germany, it made its way to the Southern United States via German immigrants. There are slight variations out there, of course, but this version is our absolute favorite.
Ingredient Notes
- English Cucumbers: have more flavor and less seeds than regular seedless cucumbers, but both can be used.
- Red Onion: is perfect for eating raw and provides a nice bite. A white onion can also be used, but avoid yellow onions.
- Fresh Dill: is strongly preferred in this recipe. If you can’t find fresh dill or don’t have access, you can use 2 to 3 teaspoons of dried dill.
- White Vinegar: provides a classic strong vinegar flavor. For a more mild flavor, you can also use apple cider vinegar.
Sweating Cucumbers:
This recipe calls for “sweating” the cucumbers. When sweating a vegetable you use salt to draw out excess moisture. This is commonly done when working with eggplant. You can certainly skip this step in the recipe, however, you’ll end up with extra liquids from the cucumber, which have a high volume of water content.
Storage Instructions:
Store your cucumber salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
More Simple “No-Lettuce” Salads
Watermelon Feta Salad
10 mins
Healthy Cucumber Tomato Salad
1 hr 15 mins
Balsamic Tomato Salad
10 mins
Caprese Avocado Salad
15 mins
Excellent Salad, easy to make.
This is something I keep in the fridge all season since my daughters arenโt the best veggie eaters. I donโt use sugar but use a sugar substitute since we have diabetics in the family. I skip the boiling part and just mix it in real good.
I made this cucumber salad with radishes and purple onions,oregano,garlic and vinegar and sugar. It is delicious
I grew up on this salad. My grandma made this all the time and Iโve carried this tradition with my kids. I have never sweated the cucumbers though or added water to the vinegar. I will have to try that. The cooking on stove until sugar dissolves is new to me also but makes sense as the sugar takes awhile to completely dissolve.
Fabulous salad, goes with almost anything!
So yummy.
Delicious. Glad I tried this recipe because I have home grown cukes, that I use to make pickles but store was out of mustard seeds so I made this salad instead. My husband liked it too.
Thank you
Excellent and easy.
I remember my grandmother making something similar to this. Decided to try this version. It turns out the wife loved it! Great recipe!
My friend made this salad and I loved it. He gave me your web address. I will make it this week and send my review. ๐
I enjoyed this very much. Easy peasy to make.