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Asian Cucumber Salad is a quick and easy snack or side dish. It’s refreshing, zesty, and delicious! You can whip it up in just a few minutes.
Looking for more refreshing salad recipes? Try my Watermelon Feta Salad next!
Asian Cucumber Salad Recipe
I’m a big fan of little dishes with incredible flavor (and not a lot of work)!
This Asian Cucumber Salad recipe is refreshing, full of flavor, and super easy to make.
You can eat it for a quick snack or make it as a delicious side dish to chicken or steak!
My favorite part about this recipe is truly the flavor! If you are looking for new or different flavors to spruce up your meal or a side dish, this is the perfect recipe for you.
Cucumber Salad Ingredients
Vegetables: I used a large traditional cucumber, however, you can use English cucumbers or the small little Persian cucumbers if you prefer. You’ll just need more of them! You will also need a small chili pepper.
Tip: if chili peppers are too spicy for you, you can substitute with a jalapeño or red pepper flakes.
Herbs & spices: Salt, fresh cilantro, and toasted sesame seeds.
Wet ingredients: Rice wine vinegar, honey, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce
*for a detailed list of ingredients and measurements, please reference the recipe at the bottom.
How Do You Make Cucumber Salad Asian?
What makes this cucumber salad an Asian cucumber salad is the dressing. It is made using the perfect combination of soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and sesame oil (and seeds)!
The best part is, it only takes about 7 minutes to (literally) toss together!
Slice the cucumbers. Thinly slice the cucumbers using a sharp knife or a mandolin. Salt them and allow them to sit for about 5 minutes, then blot with a paper towel.
Add salad ingredients to bowl. Place the cucumbers, cilantro, chili pepper, and sesame seeds in a medium-sized bowl.
Prepare the dressing. In a small mixing bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, honey, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce.
Add dressing to cucumber salad. Mix the dressing with the cucumber salad. Taste, and add salt if needed, then serve!
Pro-Tip: If you are worried about using a mandolin, they sell gloves that can’t be cut by the blade!
What is Cucumber Salad?
Cucumber Salad is a salad made with cucumbers instead of lettuce!
There are many different types of cucumber salads like: tomato and cucumber salad or creamy cucumber salad.
Because of the crunch and water content, cucumber salads are super refreshing especially on a hot spring or summer day.
Questions you may have
What vegetables go well with cucumber?
Cucumbers are so interesting to me because they are incredibly universal. You can pair cucumbers with fruits, veggies, nuts, and protein!
In terms of fruits and vegetables, I enjoy the following pairings with cucumbers:
- Avocado
- Carrots
- Lemons
- Mangos
- Shallots and/or onions
- Tomatoes
How do you keep cucumber salad from getting watery?
Cucumbers have an incredibly high water content. A really great way to avoid getting a “watery” cucumber salad is to avoid letting it “sit” before serving it.
What is Sunomono salad?
Sunomono is a Japanese vinegar salad made up of veggies (and sometimes seafood). The vegetables are marinated in a seasoned vinegar and then served.
It is very common to make Sunomono salad with cucumbers. Like my Asian cucumber salad, it’s simple and delicious!
More Salad Recipes You Might Like
- Grilled Chicken Pasta Salad
- Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad
- Tex-Mex Flank Steak Salad
- Citrus Avocado Green Salad
- Cabbage Slaw with Champagne Vinaigrette
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Asian Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, torn
- 1/2 of a small chili pepper, seeds removed and diced
- 1/2 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, more for garnish
- 2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons, honey
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Thinly slice the cucumbers using a sharp knife or a mandolin. Salt them and allow them to sit for about 5 minutes, then blot with a paper towel.
- Place the cucumbers, cilantro, chili pepper, and sesame seeds in a medium sized bowl.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the rice wine vinegar, honey, toasted sesame oil, and soy sauce.
- Mix the dressing with the cucumber salad. Taste, and add salt if needed, then serve!
Notes
- If you prefer less heat, you can substitute the chili pepper with a jalapeño pepper or red pepper flakes.
This salad was super easy to make and was so refreshing!! It was the perfect side dish for our dinner this evening!
This cucumber is super fresh and easy to make! Such a great side dish!
This recipe is fresh and light, I love it! A side of this and the air fryer wings and I am all set, thanks for sharing!
This was so fresh and tasty. Great for the warmer weather.
To salty, didn’t really care for it.