Easy Cucumber Salad

This cucumber salad recipe is unbelievably simple to prepare, yet flavorful and elegant. With a mix of cucumbers and onion, it’s a healthy salad recipe that’s sure to be a hit during the spring and summer months!

What to serve with this cucumber salad? I love my Baked Chicken Thighs, Honey Mustard Chicken, Dijon Baked Salmon and Citrus Ginger Scallops.

The Best Cucumber Salad

If you’ve perused my sweet and smoky beef brisket recipe, you’ve seen a sneak peek of this cucumber salad. Whenever I’m eating a hearty meat dish like that brisket, I always try to balance it with a light salad. And always something green.

In fact, eating this cucumber salad before a big meal will help you to digest that big meal. That’s because greens, herbs and vinegar help stimulate the body’s digestion and natural enzyme production.

It’s the concept of digestive bitters, in whole food format. And it’s why salads (usually ones with bitter greens) have historically been served before a main course. Centuries old wisdom to keep the gut in good working order!

How to Make this Cucumber Salad

The great thing about this salad is that it’s quick and easy – it only takes about 20 minutes to make. So here’s how you make it:

• Slice the cucumber. If you don’t already have a mandoline, I highly recommend one. Not only because it makes this salad easy breezy, but it’s an all-around kitchen time-saver when you need to slice things.
• Sprinkle with salt. After you slice your cucumber, which literally takes one minute, sprinkle on a little salt to help pull the water and moisture out of the cucumber. Cucumbers are moisture-rich, which makes them a great cooling vegetable, but you also don’t want a soggy salad.
• Wash and drain the cucumber. Once your cucumbers have mixed with the salt for a bit, you should notice some liquid dripping out the bottom of your colander. Wash and drain the cucumbers
• Mix the salad together. After your cucumbers have drained, add them to a salad bowl along with some thinly sliced red onion (which takes 10 seconds on the mandoline), sliced scallion and fresh dill.
• Add the dressing. Once everything is in your salad bowl, all that’s left is to add the dressing – which is a simple combinations of vinegar and honey. That’s it.

Which Cucumbers to Use? 

I recommend English cucumbers as they’re larger, sweeter and have slightly thinner skin. But you could certainly use regular cucumbers in this recipe as well.

Cucumber salad is the perfect summer salad recipe and great for all your outdoor barbecues and festivities. You can even make it a few days ahead as it’ll last for 2-3 days in the fridge. Enjoy!

More Healthy Salad Recipes You’ll Love

• Broccoli Salad
• Watermelon, Cucumber and Feta Salad
• Melon Mozzarella Salad
• Grilled Peach and Burrata Salad
• BLT Salad with Avocado and Sprouts
• Lentil Salad with Cucumber

Watch this Quick Video of My Cucumber Salad Recipe

While this recipe is simple to make, it always helps to watch a step-by-step video tutorial. Give it a watch!

5 from 7 votes

Cucumber Salad Recipe

Prep Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 20 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Author: Lisa Bryan

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A classic cucumber salad with cucumber, onions and dill that's simple to prepare and delicious. It's crisp, flavorful and cooling. Watch my quick video above to see how easy it is to make!

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

• 2 large English cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp kosher salt
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 scallion, thinly sliced
• 2-3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• 1 1/2 tbsp champagne vinegar, or white wine vinegar
• 2 tsp honey
• pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Add the sliced cucumber to a colander and toss with the salt. 
• 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 drained cucumber to a salad bowl along with the red onion, scallion and fresh dill. 
• Stir the vinegar and honey together in a separate small bowl, then pour on top of the salad.
• Garnish with pepper and additional fresh dill leaves.

Lisa's Tips

• I use this mandoline for slicing up the cucumbers fast and easy!
• And these glass mixing bowls are my favorite and used in almost all my recipe videos.

Nutrition

Calories: 45.2kcal, Carbohydrates: 10.9g, Protein: 1.3g, Fat: 0.2g, Saturated Fat: 0.1g, Sodium: 5.1mg, Fiber: 2.1g, Sugar: 6.6g

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Cucumber Onion Salad, Cucumber Salad, Cucumber Salad Recipe, Cucumber Salad Vinegar

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Recipe originally posted May 2017, updated May 2018 to include a video and May 2019.