Made with tangy vinegar, this quick and easy cucumber salad with dill and red onion pairs nicely with all your favorite summer dishes.
Easy Cucumber Salad
In our house, when the question is, “What can we make with a bunch of cucumbers?” the mantra is “the more cucumbers, the better.”
From cucumber martinis to homemade bread and butter pickles and my crunch-a-licious Greek salad with avocado—and cucumbers, of course—these elongated melons are always around.
When it heats up outside, we keep it cool inside thanks to the constant opening of the refrigerator door to dip into our favorite—and insanely easy—vinegar cucumber salad. My husband is a fiend for cucumbers and while he’s known to eat cucumbers sprinkled with salt in the same fashion others eat bananas, this quick cucumber salad has made its way into his heart, and his cuke-obsessed belly.
What’s in This Cucumber Salad?
This cucumber salad is essentially cucumbers and onions in vinegar — three kinds of vinegar, to be precise.
Here’s what you need to make the tangy cucumber salad dressing and the rest of the salad:
- Use a mix of cucumbers, or just one variety if that’s what you have
- Red onion
- Kosher salt
- Granulated sugar
- Red wine vinegar
- White balsamic vinegar
- Cider vinegar
- Water
- Fresh dill
What Type of Cucumber Should I Use?
The farmer’s market is a grand place to start this salad thanks to the plethora of varietals you’re sure to encounter. The list of cucumbers below are just some of the kinds you can play with for color and texture.
Choose thin skinned cucumbers that will absorb the vinegar quickly.
- Persian cucumbers
- Kirby cucumbers
- Japanese cucumbers
- Lemon cucumbers
- English cucumbers
Because they have a thick, tough skin, and take longer to marinate, avoid using pickling cucumbers in this salad.
How to Make Cucumber Salad
Keep your cucumber slices consistently thin. To make easy work and the same size slices, I use my handheld mandoline for slicing the cucumbers and the onion.
Do a quick cucumber salt and sugar brine. Add the thinly sliced cucumbers to a bowl and sprinkle with salt and sugar. So the cucumbers keep their snap and the vinegar dressing doesn’t get diluted, refrigerate the cucumbers for about an hour to brine and release excess water.
Drain the cucumbers, then dress. Drain the cucumbers, then stir in the vinegars, water, sliced onion, and dill. The heat of the onion will mellow in the vinegar solution as well.
Should you skin the cucumbers? If the skin is tender, there’s no need to skin them. The skin adds a nice color to the dish. Plus, I can quickly discern which seeded orb to pick up next!
Thinly slice the red onion. I like my red onions sliced thinly so I can have a bit of onion with each cucumber bite and don’t taste just onion. If you prefer a thicker bite, consider slicing the onions into batons to give a different shape to all of the circles in the bowl. If the onions are extra strong, soak them in water then drain before adding them to the salad.
How to Keep Cucumber Salad from Getting Watery
Salting and sugaring the cucumbers is key to this recipe. Cucumbers are packed with moisture and over time will release water over time. A quick brine keeps them from leaching out too much water and gives the cucumber slices snap and crispness in each bite. I place a plastic colander in the bowl (I love these bowls for this) and the water drains straight away as they sit in the refrigerator.
How Long Is Cucumber Salad Good for In the Fridge?
This vinegar cucumber salad will last up to 1 week in the fridge. Note that the onions and cucumbers will soften over time.
More Cucumber Recipes You Need to Try
- Sweet and Sour Asian Pickled Cucumbers
- Thai Chicken and Cucumber Salad
- Tomato, Avocado, Cucumber, & Onion Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Crunchy Asian Cucumber Watermelon Salad
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EASY Cucumber Salad with Dill
Ingredients
- 1 pound cucumbers (like English cucumbers, cocktail cucumbers, and garden cucumbers), sliced into ¼ inch rounds
- ½ red onion , peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons cider vinegar
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup fresh dill leaves , chopped
Instructions
- Combine the sliced cucumbers in a colander set inside a medium size bowl and sprinkle with the salt and sugar. Place in the refridgerator for about 1 hour.
- Drain the cucumbers. Add the onion, vinegars, water and dill.
- Serve or refrigerate. The cucumbers will become more pickled as they sit.
Nutrition
More Easy Summer Sides You’ll Love
- Greek Pasta Salad with Cucumbers and Artichoke Hearts
- How to Make the Best Creamy Coleslaw
- Asian Ramen Noodle Salad
- German Potato Salad
- Classic Shrimp Macaroni Salad
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What is the half cup of water used for?
Hi there! It helps dilute the vinegars. We hope you enjoy!
Used your cucumber dill as the foundation idea of the one I made for dinner tonight! Added a 1/2 cup sour cream, lots of fresh black pepper, 3 tsp. of red wine vinegar and 2 tsp of Himalayan salt (fine) 2 heaping tsp of chopped fresh dill. Perfectly refreshing on this HOT & STEAMY summer’s day. YUM
I picked beautiful cucumbers from the garden. Did the recipe. It was awful. Not sure how someone would enjoy this.
My God! This was excellent! I can not believe this is delicious!
Oooo! This looks so good!
When you say drain the cucumbers do you mean rinse off the salt and sugar?
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This recipe looks delicious and simple enough to make! Saw this recipe on Pinterest and did not hesitate to pin it (: Thanks for sharing!
Looks awesome Heidi! Definitely want to try this out!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
Heidi, this is the most beautiful dill cucumber salad I have ever seen! gorgeous! Have a great 4th!
Thank you :) and you too!
Cucumbers just so refreshing! Little Q had cucumber water recently and proclaimed to LOVE it :) Have a great 4th!
I love cucumber salads, the dill in this sounds so good!
Hooray for cucumber salads! My mom used to make a salad very much like this one when we were growing up, and everyone LOVED it because of the striking similarity to pickles. :) So good!
All of these look so good. Pinned, pinned and pinned. I know I will be enjoying them all summer long.
Heidi this salad is gorgeous! There is just something about cucumbers and vinegar that makes the world go round. I love all the pretty dill in this. And the white balsamic! Bring it on. Thanks so much for including my Cilantro cuke salad, you are sweet! After your salad I want to try that caprese up there. Yum!
I love this cucumber salad and I just got a boatload of cucs from my granfather’s garden. This will totally be on our menu this weekend at some point.
Heidi your cucumber salad is right up my alley. I make it all the time. It perfect with fish, or anything for that matter. Delicious.
I love cucumber salads too- in any form with any dressing. The photos are gorgeous, as always. Have a great holiday weekend!
cucumber salad is one of the highlights of summery foods. LOVE this!
A cool cucumber salad is just what a summer bbq calls for. The vinegar dressing is perfect to serve with rich burgers and steaks! Have a great weekend.
The ingredient list says mint, but should it be just dill?
Wondering the same thing…? Is it supposed to be “mint OR dill?” Or is it a type-o, and supposed to just be dill?
Woops. Just dill. I was thinking about adding mint originally :) It would be a great addition.
Where does one buy balsamic white vinegar? Can’t find it anywhere.