Cucumber Salad: A Delicious And Healthy Picnic Recipe

Cucumber salad is an easy recipe, which can be made in advance and stored before serving.

Refreshing, and ready in minutes, this cucumber salad recipe is a fantastic side dish for barbecues, picnics and cookouts. Cucumber salad is a summertime favorite for me.

This recipe is for a pickled cucumber salad that's healthy, with a slightly sweet and tangy flavor.

Sliced cucumbers usually feature in a tradtional Irish salad, a meal that is often served in the evening hours during the summer months in Ireland. This salad can be substituted for plain cucumber slices in an Irish pub salad.

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The Mighty Cucumber

Loaded with health benefits – and low in calories, high in fiber and with many vitamins – cucumbers are one of the fastest growing vegetables in the world.

Cucumbers are primarily made up of water, but they also contain some important micronutrients.

Here's a quick look at a cucumber's nutrition profile.

One 11-ounce (300-gram) whole, unpeeled, and uncooked cucumber contains the following (according to this source - Healthline)

• Calories: 45
• Total fat: 0 grams
• Carbs: 11 grams
• Protein: 2 grams
• Fiber: 2 grams
• Vitamin C: 14% of the RDI
• Vitamin K: 62% of the RDI
• Magnesium: 10% of the RDI
• Potassium: 13% of the RDI
• Manganese: 12% of the RDI

RDI = recommended daily intake

Cucumbers also contain a unique compound called cucurbitacin E, which is thought to have beneficial health effects.

Type of Cucumber To Use

There are many types of cucumbers available, but the two most popular varieties are an outdoor-grown, regular, American cucumber, and the glasshouse-grown English cucumber.

The regular, common cucumber has many large seeds compared to the hothouse variety. The English cucumber is generally sweeter and has a much thinner skin.

There is no need to peel an English cucumber before eating. Sometines the skin of a common cucumber has too many ridges and is just too thick to eat without peeling.

If you like to eat seasonal produce, then the cucumber's peak season is from May through August. However, cucumbers are grown in glasshouses all year round, so they're never out of stock on our grocery store shelves.

You can use either kind of cucumber for this salad.

Ingredients for Cucumber Dill Salad

Here's a quick list of what you'll need for this salad. You'll find exact quantities and nutritional information in the recipe card below.

If you find that red onion is too strong for your palate, then you could substitute some sliced shallots instead. They have a much more mellow onion flavor.

Fresh herbs are best for this salad. I love to use fresh dill. You could use parsley, mint, or tarragon if you don't like the taste of dill.

This is not a creamy cucumber salad, but one that is made with a pickling juice of white vinegar and sugar. You can use a white wine vinegar if you wish, but I prefer the more budget-friendly, common white vinegar.

Pickled cucumber and dill salad is an ideal recipe for potluck get together. There's no creamy dressing that can separate when traveling, so it stays fresh for longer.

I don't add pepper to this salad, but feel free to season it with freshly ground black pepper once you're ready to serve it.

Directions for Cucumber Salad

Making this salad is pretty simple. You can thinly slice the cucumbers and onions using a chopping board and sharp knife, or you can use a mandoline.

Be careful not to hurt your fingers if you choose to use a mandoline.

Toss the cucmbers in salt and let them sweat for about 30 minutes.

This process draws out excess liquid from the cucumbers so your salad won't end up being a watery mess.

While the cucumbers are sweating make the pickling juice. Prepare the dressing in a saucepan, by stirring together the vinegar, water, and sugar over high heat. Keep stirring until the sugar is fully dissolved and the mixture is clear.

Allow the dressing to cool before tossing it with the vegetables. You can speed up this process by putting it in the fridge.

First toss the cucumbers and onions together, then add the cooled dressing.

Then, all that's needed is the fresh, chopped dill. Stir everything together. Cover the salad and refrigerate it for at least an hour to allow all the flavors meld together.

This salad is delicious served with barbecues, fried chicken sandwiches, pulled pork, fish, and pork.

I hope you enjoy this taste of summer.

Recipe Card for Cucumber Dill Salad

Here's the recipe card to add to your kitchen files.

If you like salads, especially during the summer months, you might enjoy some of my other salad recipes.

Tabbouleh Salad With Bulgur Wheat and Parsley

Layered Blueberry Salad

Irish Salad

Layered Taco Salad

Ham and Pea Salad Recipe

Thanks so much for following my recipes and ramblings.