This cucumber salad is the perfect addition to any summer meal. It’s fresh and crisp, sweet and tangy, and it comes together in under 30 minutes!
Why You’ll Love This Cucumber Salad
This cucumber salad always finds a spot on my summer menu. It’s easy to prepare, uses the simplest ingredients, and is filled with fresh flavor. In other words, it’s one of those summer salads I can quickly toss together, and it pairs especially well with BBQ meats. Pulled pork and this salad? Summer meal perfection! But beyond that irresistible combo, here’s why you’ll love this cucumber salad recipe:
- It’s simple and budget-friendly. All you need are cucumbers, onions, fresh herbs, and a few pantry staples for the tangy-sweet dressing.
- It’s light and healthy. With fresh greens, herbs, and vinegar, it supports digestion and helps stimulate the body’s natural enzyme production. I consider this a bonus when you’re serving it up alongside harder-to-digest, meaty dishes.
Cucumber Salad Ingredients
- Cucumbers: I recommend English cucumbers as they’re larger, sweeter, have thinner skin, and no seeds. But you can certainly use regular cucumbers as well.
- Red Onion and Scallions: I love using a combination of red and green onions in this salad. They add extra texture and a pop of color to the dish!
- Dill: Fresh dill really makes this salad feel “farmer’s market fresh.”
- Vinegar and Honey: Either champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar works beautifully. And a little honey helps to balance out the vinegar and salt.
Find the printable recipe with measurements below.
How To Make The Best Cucumber Salad
Step one: Place the sliced cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle a little salt over them to help pull the water and moisture out. Cucumbers are moisture-rich, which makes them a great cooling vegetable, but you also don’t want a soggy salad!
Step two: Once your cucumbers have been mixed with the salt for a bit, you should notice some liquid dripping out of the bottom of your colander. Then, wash and drain the cucumbers. This step is key to preventing an overly salty salad.
Step three: Add the sliced ingredients to a large mixing bowl and stir the dressing together in a separate small bowl. Pour the dressing on top of the salad and toss it all together. I also like to add some cracked black pepper on top!
Common Questions
Just add ½ cup of sour cream or yogurt into the mix!
This will stay fresh in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, meaning it can also be made ahead of time. That makes it perfect for summer party prep, like the 4th of July! Just keep in mind that the salad will become a bit watery over time.
You can pair this with almost any meal. But during the summer, it’s always a hit with staple BBQ foods and grilling mains such as grilled chicken, grilled lamb chops, BBQ chicken, grilled skirt steak, or grilled shrimp.
More Summer Salad Recipes
- Greek Salad: The perfect pairing with Greek meals.
- Caprese Salad: The ultimate summer combo.
- Potato Salad: A staple for BBQs and cookouts.
- Mediterranean Chickpea Salad: My favorite meal prep summer salad.
- Or browse through my list of easy and healthy salad recipes!
If you try this cucumber salad recipe, let me know how it turns out in the comments below! Your review will help other readers in the community. And if you’re hungry for more healthy food inspiration and exclusive content, join my free newsletter here.
Description
Video
Equipment
- Mandoline The best tool for thinly sliced cucumbers.
- Zwilling Chef's Knife My favorite chef's knife!
Ingredients
- 2 large English cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- ½ red onion, thinly sliced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Toss cucumbers with salt. Add the sliced cucumber to a colander and toss with the salt.
- Wash and drain the cucumbers. Set the colander in your sink or on top of a plate, as the salt will pull liquid from the cucumbers. Let this sit for 20 minutes, then rinse the cucumber with cold water.
- Add the salad ingredients to a bowl. Add the drained cucumber to a salad bowl along with the red onion, green onion and fresh dill.
- Make the dressing. Stir the vinegar and honey together in a separate small bowl, then pour on top of the salad.
- Garnish with black pepper and additional fresh dill leaves, and serve.
Lisa’s Tips
- Storage tip: This will stay fresh in the fridge for 2 to 3 days, which means it can also be made ahead of time. That makes it perfect for summer party prep, like the 4th of July! Just keep in mind that the salad will become a bit watery over time.
- I use this mandoline for slicing up the cucumbers fast and easy!
Nutrition
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Recipe originally posted May 2017, but updated to include new photos and information for your benefit!
So Good an easy to make! It is a new summer family favorite!!
Happy to hear this has become a new family favorite summer salad, Kellie!
So easy and it tastes like an upgrade from the cucumber onion summer salad we grew up on! I could not find champagne vinegar, so thank you Lisa for providing the appropriate substitute!
I couldn’t find fresh dill (living overseas on a military base), so went lighter using dill weed.
This was so tasty, and the entire bowl was devoured by 4 people in one sitting!
Will definitely be making this again!
Thrilled to hear you’re loving this cucumber salad with ingredients you had on hand, Amber!
Tastiest, easiest cucumber salad ever! So refreshing on a hot summer day and the dill made it even better.
You can’t beat a cucumber salad like this for a hot summer day. Enjoy, Terri!