Crisp Cucumber Salad with a tasty Herb & Garlic Vinaigrette is beautifully refreshing with a boost of flavour from the dressing. A terrifically versatile quick side salad that pairs with literally everything!
Cucumber Salad
Cucumber is probably one of my most consumed vegetables. They make an appearance in many of my salads – from Greek Salad and Ottolenghi’s Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad to epic Asian salads like Thai Beef Salad, exploding with spicy tangy lime flavours.
I serve them the classic South East Asian way – cut into wedges and served plain on the side of foods like Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice) and Thai Fried Rice.
I cut them into sticks to serve with Hummus. And yep, I munch on them whole when I’m on the run!
So, it’s about time I started sharing some salads starring my favourite vegetable. 🙂 And here’s a classic one for you – a refreshing Cucumber Salad with a Herb & Garlic vinaigrette.
Herb & Garlic Dressing for Cucumber Salad
It’s a super simple side salad, as many of my Side Salads are (and should be, in my opinion!). The thing that makes this Cucumber Salad so tasty is a terrific Herb & Garlic Dressing which adds tang and flavour to the juicy, crisp cucumber.
Type of Cucumber to use
This Cucumber Salad works equally well with long cucumbers (Telegraph / English cucumbers) or the more common standard cucumbers (called Lebanese cucumbers in Australia).
The difference between the two is that the long cucumbers are not as watery / juicy inside so they have a slightly more intense cucumber flavour. It’s useful when you don’t want the natural juiciness of cucumbers to water down the flavour in a salad when you munch your way through it.
For this particular Cucumber Salad, either will work. Use 2 long ones, or 3 to 4 standard cucumbers.
How to make it
Nothing complicated on the making part of this Cucumber Salad – shake dressing in a jar (the best way to make dressings, a vigorous shake makes the vinegar and oil emulsify really well which makes the dressing thick and cling to the vegetables).
Slice cucumbers pretty thinly (not too thin, we want crispiness in this salad), then toss it all together.
You will find that the dressing doesn’t cling to cucumber as well as it does leafy greens. That’s just life – cucumbers are naturally slippery!
If you want a dressing to coat cucumber well, try this Creamy Cucumber Salad (with a tangy lemon yogurt dressing) or German Cucumber Salad.
What to serve with Cucumber Salad
Though this is a year round salad in my world, it is in particular a summer staple. It’s made for hot weather!! Think – BBQ’s, picnics and gatherings with friends.
Because it’s so refreshing, it pairs equally well with rich foods like roasts as much as it does lighter food like fish, prawns/shrimp and chicken dishes.
I particularly love serving it with salmon – in fact, after photographing it, I serve it on the side of this Honey Lemon Glazed Salmon! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Cucumber Salad with Herb & Garlic Dressing (Vinaigrette)
Ingredients
- 3 cucumbers , standard (or 2 long Telegraph/English cucumber(Note 1)
- 1/2 red onion , finely diced
Herb & Garlic Dressing:
- 1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar (Note 2)
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 garlic clove , minced
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3/4 tsp mixed dried herbs (Note 3 sub)
- 1/2 tsp white sugar (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt and black pepper , EACH
Instructions
- Shake Dressing in a jar.
- Cucumber: Trim ends then slice about 3 mm/ 1/8" thick.
- Place in bowl with red onion.
- Pour over Dressing, toss gently and serve immediately.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Just another day in Life of Dozer….. (PS He’s leaping to try to catch SAND!!)
For a warm Sydney night – it is the perfect salad. Second time we have made it in two weeks, Hit with the kids too.
It seemed simple, and was concerned it’d have too much of an Asian flavour (as I didn’t really fancy that) but – it was totally awesome!!! I love this. Easy and quick and whilst I did cook it longer (making the sauce thicken – and reduce more) it was soooo lovely. I made some brown rice and did your cucumber salad thing with it – which actually worked really well and I will definitely make this again.
I can see how it’d work well with salmon, but I think that would taste more expected. With chicken, it tasted a bit ‘different’ – which I liked. Thank you.
Hi! Love this! Thank you!
Just wondering what can be a substitute for the mustard if we are not mustard fans? Thanks! 🙂
Morning Nagi, I have been following you for a long time and have never been disappointed in any of your wonderful recipes & hints. Thank you. My husband loves you too! 😋
Thanks you so much Carolyn!!! I really appreciate it! N x
Sounds amazing will make it tomorrow night
Enjoy Jan!! N x
Super yummy! Note: I tasted the recipe as it’s listed before making changes and it was very delicious as-is.
I used two large English cucumbers. I prefer heavier seasoning so I added an extra pinch of thyme, parsley, and oregano. Another sub I made was rice wine vinegar instead of red, as I didn’t have any on hand. It keeps well and remains crunchy day after day. I’m eating the remainder of it on day 3 for lunch with a healthy bit of feta on top.
Yummo! Just made this for lunch. Thank you Nagi. Tomorrow will be green bean and avocado salad with creamy avocado dressing.