How To Make Cucumber Salad

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Directions For How To Make Cucumber Salad

How to Make Easy Cucumber Tomato Salad | The Stay At Home Chef
  • In a large bowl, mix together the sliced cucumber, grape tomatoes, Vidalia onion, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
  • In a separate small bowl, mix together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. Whisk until honey is dissolved.
  • Pour the mixed dressing over the cucumber salad and mix ingredients. Let stand for at least 20 minutes to allow flavors to marinate.
  • How To Make Creamy Cucumber Salad

    This creamy cucumber salad starts with fresh crisp cucumbers.

  • Peel the cucumbers if desired and seed if using field cucumbers.
  • Slice into ¼ inch pieces.
  • Mix together the remaining ingredients and gently stir in the sliced cucumbers.
  • Refrigerate one hour before serving. Garnish with chopped dill.

    TIP: While its optional, scraping out the seeds of the cucumbers will keep the salad from getting watery. If using smaller cucumbers, its not necessary to scrape them.

    How To Determine The Bitterness Of A Cucumber

    Cucumbers can vary in their level of bitterness. Usually the older they are, the more bitter they areand the seeds are often more bitter than the flesh. Once you cut into a cucumber, taste it.

    If bitter, scrape or cut away the seeds. You might also want to soak the chopped cucumber in salt water to help offset the bitterness. The cucumbers we get are usually fine as is, but I have had some bitter ones.

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    Hungarian Cucumber Salad Uborkasalta

    Hungarian cucumber salad is typically eaten with many heavy, meat-centric meals, and we eat it a little differently than other nations typically do. Usually, instead of eating a salad as an appetizer, we eat this right along side our main meal, alternating bites to get something heavy and something light at the same time.

    There are variations on this salad that include raw, minced garlic, and some dont use sour cream. My family makes this salad without sour cream my husbands family always mixes it with sour cream. It is up to you. You can have it both ways. Also, make sure to slice the cucumbers thin enough. To get the thinnest possible see-through slices, use a mandolin slicer.

    The secret is the amount of the salt. You have to add as much salt, that makes the sliced cucumbers super salty, you would say it is not edible. Thats the righ amount. The cucumbers will release about ½+ cup of liquid, you have to squeeze those water out. Take large handfuls of cucumbers and, with your hands clenched, squeeze out as much liquid as you can and place the balls of squeezed cucumbers in a bowl. Discard the liquid, and please, do not drink it!

    To make your cucumber salad pretty, sprinkle it with a little Hungarian sweet paprika powder and ground black pepper.

    Tips For Making Cucumber Salad:

    Cucumber Salad
  • Make sure you use apple cider vinegar with the mother. You can easily find it in most grocery stores, or
  • Adjust the ingredients to your familys taste. You can add more vinegar if you prefer a more tangy salad or add more honey for a sweeter taste.
  • You can also substitute Italian parsley with fresh dill, chives, or any fresh herb you like better.
  • The longer you marinate the salad, the better the flavors will be. I like to make my cucumber salad in the morning, so its ready for lunch.
  • Red onion can be substituted for Vidalia onion.
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    The Best Cucumber Salad Recipe

    Heres what Gaby says about this salad:My mom made this salad just about every night when I was growing up. It was so yummy that Id eat half the bowl before we even sat down for dinner, even though Id get yelled at for not saving any for my dad and sister Now its my go-to side salad, and my husband eats half of it before we sit down for dinner.

    Heres what I have to say about this salad: Ive demolished this cucumber salad all on my own in one sitting. I want to plant Persian cucumbers in my garden so I can eat cucumber salad all summer long. Id grow an avocado tree if I couldwell, Id grow an avocado tree for many reasons. Anyway, its that good.

    What Kind Of Cucumber Should I Use For Cucumber Salad

    English cucumbers have more flavor and less seeds and a perfect match for this recipe. If you dont have access to English cucumbers, you can use regular seedless cucumbers. Since they are smaller, you will need to double the amount that you use.

    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, youll end up with extra liquids from the cucumber, which have a high volume of water content.

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    How Can I Thicken My Cucumber Salad

    You might opt for a thicker yogurt such as Greek yogurt rather than plain yogurt to minimize the amount of liquid needed for your cucumber salad when mixing yogurt-based cucumber salads. In case the yogurt contains whey that is watery, you should pour it out beforehand. Dont think about running your regular yogurt without Greek yogurt if you havent previously. Drain your old yogurt with a towel to remove it.

    What Kind Of Cucumbers Are Best For Cucumber Salad

    How to Make a Cucumber Yogurt Salad – Creamy Cucumber Salad

    You can feel free to use whatever kind of cucumbers you’d like in this recipe. Many people prefer English cucumbers in salads, since they tend to be sweeter and have fewer seeds than regular cucumbers. You can also use Persian cucumbers, which are smaller and tend to be sweeter and crunchier than the regular variety.

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    Tasty Additions And Substitutions

    This salad has many variations. Here are some of our favorites:

    • Toss the vegetables with 3/4 cup of 2 percent Greek yogurt. The thick and creamier texture makes this variation ideal to use as a BBQ salad to tone down the spice and smokiness of meats. If you’d prefer a fattier version, use full-fat Greek yogurt. Taste for salt and pepper before serving.
    • Use vinegar instead of lemon juice. Apple cider or white vinegar are great substitutions.
    • Add 1/2 cup of freshly chopped mint alongside the cilantro.
    • Use garam masala instead of cumin.
    • Add spicy chile peppers or a dash of cayenne pepper. Using your favorite hot sauce instead can also be a great addition.

    What Cucumbers Are Best For Salad

    The varieties of cucumbers are almost as endless as the types of cucumber salads. My favorite cucumbers to include in salads are:

    • Garden Cucumbers: Crisp, crunchy, and our favorite when they come fresh from the garden. They lack the wax coating of those purchased at grocery stores. They can be served peeled or unpeeled.
    • English Cucumbers: Also known as European cucumbers. This variety is mild in flavor, almost seedless, and usually 1-2 feet in length. They are typically sold wrapped in plastic to protect their thin skin and there is no need to peel them. These are greenhouse grown and typically more expensive.
    • Cocktail Cucumbers: Deliciously crunchy and much smaller than other varieties of cucumbers. They are also more expensive per pound, but theres no need to peel them.
    • Wax-Coated Cucumbers: Probably the most prevalent cucumbers in North America, found at most grocery stores. They have a wax covering to help preserve the cucumber and will need to be peeled prior to eating.

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    Dressing: Creamy Or Vinaigrette

    Ive always made a creamy dressing for this cucumber salad with sour cream, a dab of mayonnaise and a hint of vinegar for some tang.

    To make it healthier, substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream !

    If you prefer a Cucumber Salad with a Vinegar Style Dressing, you can simply replace the dressing in this recipe with:

    • 1/3 cup white vinegar or cider vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or light olive oil
    • 2 tablespoons water
    • salt & pepper

    How To Make Cucumber Salad With Vinegar

    13 Easy Cucumber Salad Recipes

    This cucumber salad with vinegar is incredibly easy to make: the only hard part is waiting while it marinates in the refrigerator! The trick to mastering this cucumber salad is to slice the onions and cucumbers as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin, it works well for slicing the cucumbers: but its not needed at all a simple knife will do the trick! Slicing the cucumber and onion thinly allows the salt to draw out most of the moisture, and gives this salad the most incredible texture. Here weve used fresh dill to add an herby flair: but its not a requirement: making the salad without it still tastes excellent.

    The other key component of this cucumber salad with vinegar is time. Once the cucumbers and onions are mixed with the vinegar, salt and sugar , they need to marinate in the refrigerator. So just wait 1 hour while time does its magic. Then, you can enjoy your salad anytime over the next 7 days. And the flavor gets better with time!

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    What Youll Need To Make Cucumber Salad With Mint

    I like to use English cucumbers, which are also called seedless, European, burpless, or hothouse cucumbers, as opposed to regular cucumbers. The advantage is that theyre typically wrapped in plastic instead of waxed to protect the skin and keep moisture in, so you dont need to peel them. Theyre also slightly sweeter with fewer seeds.

    Youll notice that I use a combination of olive oil and vegetable oil. Sometimes the flavor of olive oil alone can overpower so I like to cut it with a milder tasting oil.

    How To Make The Best Cucumber Salad

    The secret to this cucumber salad recipe is salting the cucumbers. The salt makes the cucumbers taste better and get rid of excess water, which can dilute the dressing.

    You see, cucumbers are made mostly of water. By salting them, we draw out excess water before tossing with the dressing. Weve done this in other recipes remember our mayonnaise-free coleslaw salad and this creamy cucumber salad made with Greek yogurt?

    Salting the cucumbers makes the dressing tasty, not watered down. It also makes the cucumbers taste more like cucumbers. It intensifies their flavor. The salting process takes about 30 minutes and is well worth it.

    Heres how we do it: Slice cucumbers into thin coins we use our mandoline slicer, but a knife works, too. Toss the cucumber coins with salt then let them sit in a colander we set ours in the sink for 30 minutes.

    After 30 minutes, rinse the cucumbers with cold water. Rinsing gets rid of any excess salt so that the salad wont be too salty. Finally, squeeze them dry by adding them to a clean dishcloth and squeezing.

    When you have salted, rinsed and squeezed cucumbers, its time to make the salad. The dressing is simple and made with vinegar, mustard, and a little bit of sugar for balance. To finish, add a handful of sliced red onion. Easy! You can enjoy the salad straight away, but it does get better after an hour in the fridge.

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    Using Garden Cucumbers With Cucumber Salad

    About this time of year, we start having an easy cucumber salad almost every night with dinner. If you are a gardener, you know how prolific cucumbers are, right? They can easily grow out of control, climbing up the tomato cages and all over other plants we may have in the garden bed.

    Every other day I bring in a handful, peel them and chop them up for this simple, easy cucumber salad to serve as a side.

    How To Make This Easy Creamy Cucumber Salad:

    How to Make Cucumber Salad | The Stay At Home Chef

    1. Dressing time! Stir together the sour cream, lemon, garlic, and dill in a small bowl to make the scrumptious creamy dressing and set aside. Remember to add salt and pepper to taste.

    2. Thinly slice cucumbers and onions into a large mixing bowl. Remember to peel the cucumber if you are using one that is wax-coated. Just before serving stir in the sauce to evenly coat the onions and cucumbers.

    Pro Tip: Wait until right before serving to add the creamy dressing. After adding sauce, the salad will only stay fresh for about 2-3 hours if refrigerated.

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    Why We Love This Creamy Cucumber Salad

    This cucumber salad has been on the menu for more than 30 years. Seriously. When I was a pre-teen, my family would ask me to make this salad for dinner. It was simple enough for 8-year-old me to make yet it disappeared fast from the dinner table.

    • The combination of crunchy cucumber slices with a creamy dressing is classic.
    • We add a generous helping of black pepper, which makes the salad.
    • No sugar. Adding sweetener to cucumber salad will make it soggy and weirdly sweet.
    • Two options a lighter tangier version with yogurt and a little mayo or a dairy-free choice. Both are delicious!

    Tips From The Pillsbury Kitchens

    • tip 1 Cucumbers will start to water out after standing, so it’s best to assemble your cucumber salad just before serving. If slicing cucumbers ahead of time, liquid may be drained off before assembling.
    • tip 2 Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.
    • tip 3 Want to use cucumbers from your garden? Go for it! Halve them lengthwise and scoop out seeds before cutting into 1/4-inch slices. Use as many as needed to get 3 1/2 cups of sliced cucumber.

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    Where Does Cucumber Salad Come From

    Cucumber salad whether its made with vinegar or with a creamy sour cream dressing comes from Germany, where its called Gurkensalat. This helps to explain why I feel like I grew up on it, as I have strong German heritage on both sides of my family. Mom made it regularly during the summer, and it could often be found at potlucks and family gatherings.

    And speaking of German recipes, have you tried my German Potato Salad? Its SO GOOD!

    Variations / Options / Add

    Easy Vinegar Cucumber Salad

    You can play around with the ingredients in your Cucumber Salad or follow the ingredients above and leave it as is. This can be a versatile recipe by playing around with the vegetables, vinegar, and seasonings that you choose to mix in.

    Vegetables: Cucumber Salad can be fun to play around with, adding in various ingredients here and there. Some ideas for additions to cucumber salad are bell peppers, avocado, cherry tomatoes or artichokes. You can also remove the onions, if youre not a fan.Vinegar: You could swap out the rice wine vinegar for red or balsamic vinegar. This really depends on your taste preference.

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    Cucumber Salad Recipe Ingredients

    This bright, fresh cucumber salad recipe only calls for 8 ingredients:

    • English cucumber, of course! This salad turns out best when you slice the cucumbers paper-thin. I recommend using a mandoline to get even slices.
    • Red onion. The thinner these guys are, the better, so if you have a mandoline, use it for the onion as well as the cucumber.
    • Rice vinegar, sesame oil, and honey combine to make a nutty, sweet, and tangy dressing for the crisp veggies.
    • Dill and mint. They add delicious freshness to the cool cucumbers and onions.
    • Pickled mustard seeds. I list these as optional, but I highly recommend using them. Their flavor is a great complement to the dill, and they add savory complexity to this simple cucumber onion salad.

    Add a sprinkle of sea salt, and youve got everything you need!

    Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

    Creamy Cucumber Salad Directions:

    Wash, peel, and thinly slice 4 large cucumbers. Score the cucumber with a fork to remove bitterness. Use a mandoline for uniformity. Peel and thinly slice 1 medium sweet onion. Place the sliced cucumbers and onions in a ceramic, glass, or plastic bowl that has a lid.

    In a small bowl combine mayonnaise, sugar, and vinegar. Mix until smooth. Turn the mayonnaise mixture into the cucumber and onion mixture, combine well. Salt and pepper to taste.

    Cover with a lid, shake lightly. Allow the cucumber salad to marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 6 hours .

    Refrigerate leftovers.

    Cuisine:Category:

    If you would like to try more refreshing summer salads, you may like these:

    Cucumber Caprese Salad Hubby came up with this cucumber Caprese salad recipe years ago. It is fresh, easy to make, and totally delicious. It is one of the most popular recipes on my blog.

    Cantaloupe Prosciutto Mozzarella Salad Recipe Just 15 minutes from refrigerator to table for this refreshing and tasty Cantaloupe Prosciutto Mozzarella Salad recipe! Excellent as a dish dish or lunch time meal.

    Four Color Caprese Salad Recipe a riff off Hubbys cucumber caprese salad recipe.

    First Published: July 21, 2014

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