Best Cucumber Salad

Name: Best Cucumber Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: PTM
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Quick & Easy, Salads & Dressings
Ingredients: English cucumbers, partially peeled and sliced; cup plain yoghurt (or sour cream); garlic cloves, minced; tablespoons chopped fresh dill; juice of half a lemon; teaspoon granulated sugar; sprinkle kosher salt; sprinkle black pepper

Ingredients

2 English cucumbers, partially peeled and sliced
1 cup plain yoghurt (or sour cream)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
juice of half a lemon
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
sprinkle kosher salt
sprinkle black pepper

Takes 10 Minutes, serves 6.

Instructions

Wash and partially peel the cucumbers in a striped pattern, leaving inch-wide strips of skin.
Cut cucumbers into ¼-inch slices and transfer to a medium-sized bowl.
Pour the remaining ingredients into a small bowl and whisk or stir together to combine thoroughly. Pour dressing over the cucumbers then gently toss to dress. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

When only the BEST CUCUMBER SALAD will do!

If you’re craving a rich, creamy cucumber salad flavoured with a tangy mix of lemon, garlic and fresh herbs, you’ve come to the right place. In fact, this salad is so good, it’s a mainstay here at WATC with all of its endless applications. It’s the perfect side dish that can be enjoyed throughout the year with everything from seafood, fish and vegetarian mains to poultry and assorted meats. The only drawback to this homemade salad recipe is that it always disappears quickly, so don’t expect leftovers. Yup, it’s that good.

Before we run through a few key tips about making it, how about a few leads on other recipes that put cucumbers to good use? After enjoying this salad, make sure to circle back and try our very delicious ASIAN CUCUMBER SALAD with a tangy dressing of ginger, honey, rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and chili flakes. Want to throw more veggies in the mix? Make this simple CUCUMBER, FETA AND AVOCADO SALAD, which gets extra points for being so healthy.

Now, let’s get back to this easy recipe for the BEST CUCUMBER SALAD:

INGREDIENTS

It’s easy to remember the ingredient list for this wonderful salad. To start, you’ll need some plain yoghurt, whether a full-fat or low-fat version. Next, a couple of cloves of garlic and some lemon juice, plus a light sprinkle of salt, black pepper and granulated sugar. The sugar adds a tiny hint of sweetness, but feel free to leave it out if you prefer. The final ingredient is fresh dill; the more the merrier. If you don’t have dill growing in the garden, try using chives.

CUCUMBERS

In case you thought we’d forgotten about the stars of this show (and how could we?), you’ll need fresh cucumbers, whichever variety is your favourite. English cucumbers, also called hothouse cucumbers, Persian cucumbers and seedless cucumbers, are sometimes referred to as “burpless” cukes, all boasting a dark green colour and thin, bumpy skin. If grown in a hothouse, they also come in a mini option. Next are Armenian cucumbers, similar to English, but more yellow in colour with a less distinctive cucumber flavour. The last variety is a garden cucumber or field cucumber. These beauties often have the most flavour and moisture, smoothest skin and lots of seeds. Pick a variety that you enjoy.

Watch the VIDEO prepared for this recipe to see how we only partially peel the cucumbers. This creates an interesting striped look, making the salad more visually appealing. Next step is to cut the cucumbers into slices. You decide whether you want thick slices or thin, remembering cucumbers have a tendency to release their juices once cut. This, in turn, causes the slices to get soft. Though the partial peel delays the wilting of the slices, we suggest slicing the cukes right before you intend to serve. This is for sure not a make-ahead salad recipe.

A bowl containing sour cream, garlic, lemon juice, fresh dill, sugar, salt and pepper.

THE DRESSING

The mix of yoghurt, chopped fresh dill, lemon juice, finely minced garlic and seasoning comes together quickly. Simply place everything into a small bowl, then stir everything together with a spoon or wire whisk. The goal here is to have all of the ingredients blended together thoroughly before pouring the dressing onto the sliced cucumbers. Final step is to gently toss everything together, give it a taste, and then season as you wish. I love holding back a tiny bit of the dill, then adding it onto the top of the bowl of salad as a garnish. One thing you can do is prepare the dressing for this salad in advance, keeping it in a storage container until the salad’s ready to dress.

Yoghurt dressing with dill, garlic and lemon

SERVE

It’s important to prepare the salad fresh and serve it immediately, as mentioned. So whether you make this at home or at the cottage, your marching orders are to make and eat it straight away! Nobody wants a droopy, withered salad. Our hope is that the robust flavour of the creamy dressing gets your taste buds jumping as you bite into the still-crunchy slices of cucumber. Delicious and memorable flavours are on the way.

At the top of this post, I noted that this BEST CUCUMBER SALAD goes with virtually any main, but why not try it with one of our faves? We especially like it with our ROASTED CHICKEN, our famous GRILLED CHARCUTERIE, this SEARED ARCTIC CHAR or our tender and juicy PORK TENDERLOIN.

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Enjoy the BEST CUCUMBER SALAD. It really is amazing!

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