Cucumber Salad
Cucumber Salad is a fresh, crisp salad recipe that features sliced cucumbers made flavorful with lemon juice, dill weed and more! This refreshing summer side dish is incredibly easy to make in just a few hassle free steps with minimal ingredients.
Get your cucumber fix this summer when you enjoy Cucumber Tomato Salad and Sesame Cucumber Salad.
Table of Contents
Cucumber salad is a summertime must make recipe! This very simple salad recipe really highlights the natural flavors of cucumbers with minimal ingredients that might already be in your kitchen now. Dill weed and lemon juice/zest are the ingredients that really pop here, lending lots of natural flavors without overpowering the cucumbers.
There’s also some white balsamic vinegar, olive oil and salt in the mix to make this summery salad even more delicious. Other than that, you just need some ripe cucumbers and you’re off to the races! This easy to make cucumber salad recipe is a huge hit at picnics, parties, and everything in between because of how refreshing and flavorful it is.
And when I say this is an easy recipe, I really mean it. The most effort that goes into preparing this salad is slicing the cucumbers. If you have a mandoline slicer, it will take you just about two minutes to slice all of the cucumbers. I highly recommend using the slicer because it’s so fast and all the slices come out even and it’s so quick!
Ingredient Notes
Cucumbers – Choose any cucumbers you like for your cucumber salad. Cucumbers are the star of the dish so make sure you like the taste of each cucumber. Take a slice from each one and taste it before adding to the salad. Yes, there can be 1 bitter cucumber in a batch and it will effect the taste of the salad.
Lemons – Be sure to use ripe, juicy lemons that will give you the best flavor and the most juice. If the lemons are too hard, they’re not ripe yet and will not give you much juice or flavor.
Vinegar – White balsamic vinegar is the best one for this salad because it’s light, crisp, and fruity. White balsamic adds great vinegar flavor without overpowering other ingredients. If you do need to substitute it, use white wine vinegar.
Oil – For the best flavor, I recommend using a good quality extra virgin olive oil that you like the taste of.
Dill Weed – Use fresh dill weed instead of dried. The flavor of fresh dill weed is so much stronger and more aromatic. (Side note – if you like the taste of fresh dill, you’ll love my Parmesan Dill Potato Salad)!
Salt – Don’t be too heavy handed with the salt! It can be very easy to make this cucumber salad too salty.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Cucumber Salad
Prepare the cucumbers. Rinse the cucumber with water and gently pat them dry with a paper towel. Slice them thinly – a mandoline works best for this if you have one (1).
Make the dressing. In a small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the cucumbers until thoroughly mixed.
Toss it all together. Place the sliced cucumbers into a large bowl. Pour the mixed dressing on top (2) and toss to combine the salad ingredients (3). Taste to see if you’d like to add any more salt.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! I actually encourage making this cucumber salad ahead of time, even if it’s just a couple of hours. Letting the cucumbers sit in the dressing mixture will infuse them with lots of flavor.
This cucumber salad can be made ahead as little a 2 hours or as much as 1 day. I wouldn’t make it ahead any more than a day because the cucumbers will start to get softer. Make sure to mix the salad well before serving.
Store leftover cucumber salad in an airtight container with a lid in the refrigerator. Cucumber salad will stay good for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, but the cucumbers will start to get a little softer after 2 days.
You can, but I like to leave the peels on my cucumbers. That’s where the majority of the nutrients are stored. Plus, if you use English cucumbers you really won’t have to worry about peeling them because the skin is more delicate and thin.
More Summer Salad Recipes to Try
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Lemon Dill Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 3 lbs cucumbers
- 2 ripe lemons – zest and juice
- 3 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup fresh dill weed minced
- salt
Instructions
- Make sure to wash cucumbers before making the salad.
- Slice cucumbers thinly. (Best and easiest way to slice cucumbers is to use a mandoline slicer.)
- Place sliced cucumbers into a large mixing bowl.
- In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon zest, vinegar, oil, dill weed, and salt. Whisk it all together and add the mixture to the cucumbers.
- Mix cucumbers with the dressing until all evenly coated. Make sure to taste to see if you need to add more salt.
- Store cucumber salad in refrigerator, in an air-tight container, until ready to use.
Notes
- Cucumber: I highly recommend using an English cucumber because they have nice and thin skin so you don’t need to peel it.
- Make ahead: This cucumber salad can be made ahead as little a 2 hours or as much as 1 day. I wouldn’t make it ahead any more than a day because the cucumbers will start to get softer. Make sure to mix the salad well before serving.
- Storing: Store leftover cucumber salad in an airtight container with a lid in the refrigerator. Cucumber salad will stay good for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, but the cucumbers will start to get a little softer after 2 days.
Nutrition
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Delicious, quick and easy! A hit with the family!
Thank you!!!