Cucumber Salad

Frequently Asked Questions

Do You Peel Cucumbers for Cucumber Salad?

We have called for regular cucumbers, which are much cheaper than English (usually seedless) cucumbers. But regular cucumbers have a thicker skin that English ones, which can cause some people gastrointestinal issues.

Peel or Partially Peel: There is no need to peel the cucumbers if you don’t want to. The color of the peel does add a lot to the appearance of this salad, but if you’re not a fan of eating a lot of cucumber peels, consider peeling the cucumbers in stripes with your vegetable peeler. (Take one pass with the peeler down the cucumber, leave about the same width unpeeled, and make another pass next to the unpeeled portion. Continue this method until you go around the entire cucumber.) This striped look not only cuts the amount of peel you are eating in half, but it gives the cucumber salad an attractive look when sliced!

Substitute an English Cucumber: Or substitute 1 English cucumber for both regular ones.

What Are Other Variations of This Recipe?

Cucumber-Onion Salad: For a quick cucumber onion salad, stir in some chopped or slivers of red or white onion with the cucumbers. You can use regular white onions for a more pungent flavor or try sweet onions, such as Walla Walla, Maui, or Texas Sweets for a slightly sweet, mild onion flavor.

Add Even More Color: Throw in some cherry or pear tomato halves with the cucumbers—so pretty and tasty!

Make It Herbal: For a woodsy herbal flavored cucumber salad, you can change up the dill for thin slices of fresh basil and/or oregano leaves.

Create Ribbons: You can change the look of the cucumber salad recipe, simply by changing the shape of the cucumber slices! Using a wide vegetable peeler, strip off the peel from one side of the cucumber, from one end to the other. Then run the peeler over the skinless area, with each pass making a cucumber ribbon.

Make a Main Dish Mediterranean Salad: Create a delicious main dish Mediterranean salad by doubling or tripling the dressing, and adding cherry tomato halves, sliced black and pimiento-stuffed olives, drained garbanzo (chickpeas), chopped, drained marinated artichoke hearts and bell pepper and crumbled feta cheese with the cucumbers. These colorful ingredients add flavor and interesting textures to the dish while giving the typical lunch sandwich the heave-ho!

If you love cucumber salads like we do, try this Dilled Cucumber and Tomato Salad.

How Do You Keep Cucumber Salad from Getting Soggy?

You want the cucumbers to get a little soft, because that means they are soaking up all that wonderful cucumber dressing, for that amazing, slightly puckery flavor. And because they soften sightly, it also means you can get more cucumbers into every bite! For the most flavor, our testing found that 3 hours was the magic amount of time for the cucumbers to take on the maximum flavor before getting too soggy, do not marinate this easy cucumber salad longer than that. See also How to Make Cucumber Salad (above), for more helpful tips. If there are any leftovers, be sure to drain the cucumber salad dressing from the cucumbers before storing it in the refrigerator. Store the remaining salad covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.