Asian cucumber salad is light, refreshing and full of bright flavors. Cucumber salads make a great summer barbecue side dish and this one features thinly sliced English cucumbers, bell peppers, green onions, and sesame ginger flavors.
If you need more refreshing sides for the summer, try my creamy cucumber tomato salad and corn salad.
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Whether you are barbecuing or not, in the summer we want nice and light dishes, preferably cold too. That’s why we all love cold side dishes like potato salads, pasta salads, corn salads, and cucumber salads next to our juicy grilled steaks and burgers.
Cucumber salad is a must-make summer recipe! It’s a very simple salad recipe but it packs a lot of great flavor. Cucumbers, bell peppers, and green onions are all light, crunchy, and juicy but my favorite part here is the simple sesame ginger dressing they are mixed in.
The dressing here is a flavorful combination of rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, honey, and fresh garlic and ginger. Using fresh garlic and ginger is quite important because they provide a superior taste and aroma to anything bottled.
This easy cucumber salad recipe is a huge hit at picnics, summer parties, and everything in between because of how refreshing and flavorful it is.
Ingredient Notes and Tips
Cucumbers – it’s best to use English cucumbers. They have a thin skin so you don’t need to peel them. This way, you will get the best and strongest flavor with all of the nutrients still present. (Since all the nutrients in the cucumber are stored in the skin and seeds, when you peel the cucumber, you discard most of the nutrients.)
Rice Vinegar – rice vinegar is prefer to use in dishes with Asian flavors but if you must substitute, you can use white wine vinegar.
Sesame Oil – remember that sesame seed oil is very potent! So start with a couple of teaspoons and taste the dressing. If you wish to have a stronger sesame flavor, add another teaspoon or so. (If you love sesame flavors, make my sesame chicken thighs, you won’t regret it!)
Sesame seeds – feel free to use black or white sesame seeds, or a combination of two.
Garlic and ginger – I highly recommend that you use fresh garlic and fresh ginger! It is quite important because they provide a superior taste and aroma to anything bottled.
Crushed red pepper flakes – you can adjust the spiciness of this side dish by adding more or less of the crushed red pepper flakes.
See recipe card for complete information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Asian Cucumber Salad
Prepare the cucumbers: Rinse the cucumber with cold water and gently pat them dry with a paper towel. Slice them thinly – a mandoline slicer works best for this if you have one. (If you don’t have a holder for mandoline slicer, use cut resistant gloves.)
Make the dressing. In a small mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the Asian dressing and mix thoroughly.
Mix it all together. Place the sliced cucumbers, peppers, green onions, and sesame seeds into a large bowl. Pour the mixed dressing on top and toss to combine. Taste to see if you’d like to add any more salt.
Refrigerate. While you can certainly serve this cucumber salad right away, I highly recommend that you chill the salad in the refrigerator for about an hour or two before serving. This will give the ingredients a chance to marinate.
Storing Recommendation
Fresh vegetable salads are usually best to eat the same day you prepare them. Uncooked, freshly cut vegetables don’t have a very long shelf life before they start to wilt.
So with that in mind, store any leftover cucumber salad in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days. After that, the cucumbers will just be too soft and mushy.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, but not too far! I actually encourage making this Asian cucumber salad a couple of hours ahead of time. Letting the cucumbers marinate 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 do NOT recommend you make it ahead any more than a day because the cucumbers will start to wilt. Make sure to mix the salad again well before serving.
Store leftovers in an airtight container with a lid in the refrigerator. Properly stored, cucumber salad should last for 3-4 days in the refrigerator, but the cucumbers will start to get a soft after 2 days.
For a cucumber salad, you want to keep your cucumber slices nice and thin, but also uniform in size. It’s best to use a mandoline slicer. A mandoline slicer works best because you will be done cutting in no time and all the slices will be thin and the same size. (If you don’t have a holder for your mandoline slicer, use cut resistant gloves.)
You can, but when using an English cucumber, you really don’t have to. Skin on the English cucumbers is very thin and easy to eat. It’s also best to leave the skin on since that is where the majority of the nutrients are stored. Another reason to keep cucumber skin on if for stability. If you peel it, the cucumbers will tear faster and you won’t be able to store the salad for long before it bets too soft and mushy.
More Cucumber Recipes To Try
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Asian Cucumber Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large English cucumbers
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped green onion
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Dressing:
- 2 garlic cloves pressed
- 1 tsp fresh grated ginger root
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce*
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes more or less to taste
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Slice cucumbers and bell pepper thinly and chop green onions. Add the veggies to a large mixing bowl. Add the sesame seeds as well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the dressing.
- Pour the dressing into the mixing bowl with the veggies and gently mix everything until evenly combined.
- It's best to let the cucumber salad chill in the refrigerator for about 1-2 hours before serving to let the ingredients marinate.
Notes
- *Gluten free note: to make this cucumber salad gluten free, make sure to use gluten free soy sauce. Remaining ingredients should already be gluten free, but double check the labels to make sure.
- To cut the cucumbers – It’s best to use a mandoline slicer. A mandoline slicer works best because you will be done cutting in no time and all the slices will be thin and the same size. (If you don’t have a holder for your mandoline slicer, use cut resistant gloves.)
- Storing – store any leftover cucumber salad in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator for about 1-2 days. After that, the cucumbers will just be too soft and mushy.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in March 2015.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way says
The salad looks great — it is perfect for balmy Florida weather — unfortunately in three more days we’ll be plunged back into the cold northern clime. 🙁 Well, spring should be just around the corner and your salad recipes will be pinned and waiting. Great photos!!
lyuba says
Great! I hope you will have nice last three day, it’s nothing but rain all week here.
Hope you’ll like the salad, Marisa 🙂
Karen @ The Food Charlatan says
Lyuba this salad looks awesome! Love the bell pepper in there, so pretty. Sesame is such a great subtle flavor. I’m definitely ready for spring!
lyuba says
Thank you, Karen 😀 !