Refreshing Creamy Cucumber Salad

this recipe

Hey, it’s me! Emily, food blogger who has been MIA for a few weeks. Vacation followed by a mild foot injury, which meant no cooking and photographing for long hours, followed by another vacation.  Anyways, I am back with the most refreshing salad for all your summertime needs!!!

Creamy cucumber salad, at your service!!

We’re BFFs, this creamy cucumber salad and I. We go way back.

My Mom would make it when I was in high school and I absolutely was obsessed with it. When I was in college she would make it for me when I would come home for visits just so that I could take all of it back to school with me to enjoy all by myself.

Thanks Mom!!!

This refreshing creamy cucumber salad is so ridiculously simple!!!

The bulk of it is the cucumbers, sliced paper thin. There is something about them being super floppy, yet still crunchy that really makes this salad enjoyable to eat and extra special. Trust me I have had similar salads with thickly sliced cucumbers and  it’s just not as good for some reason.

Whenever my Mom would make this I remember she would spend so much time carefully using her sharp knife to make the thinnest cuts she could get. She would work slowly so that they were paper thin…and so she wouldn’t cut herself. Oh, the things mother’s do for their only child (funny, because as I write this post today it is my Mom’s birthday! Yaaay happy birthday Mom!!!)

Anyways, if only I would have known what a mandolin was back then, my mom would have been able to effortlessly slice those cucumbers paper thin in no time. Luckily I now have one so that I can make this creamy cucumber salad all summer long! And yes, you really can use a sharp knife, my mom did it, but if you want to save yourself a headache, and possibly a cut finger, I highly recommend using a mandolin slicer. Here is the one I have, and I LOVE IT!!!  (affiliate link)

Okay now that we talked about thinly sliced, floppy cucumbers let’s talk about the sauce. My Mom made it with sour cream, dill, garlic, salt and pepper. I almost did the exact same thing, except I threw in a little plain, fat free Greek yogurt to lighten things up a bit and some white wine vinegar for a little tang!!!

A classic is a classic for a reason, it’s so good it doesn’t need to be changed.

Once you have your mandolin slicer, which makes slicing those cucumbers a breeze then you need to “drain”  said sliced cucumbers for 20 to 30 minutes.

Yes, I know that seems annoying, but it’s the only way to go if you don’t want a watery creamy cucumber salad. Cucumbers have a high water content, if you just throw them into the sour cream and the Greek yogurt they will continue to release their water as the salad sits and you will end up with a sad, not-so-creamy cucumber salad.

So, we throw the cucumbers into a strainer over a bowl, sprinkle on some salt and let them release all that cucumber water. Seriously, you will be amazed at how much water comes out of those babies.

After that you just stir everything together. Simple and easy.

You can serve your creamy cucumber salad  room temperature BUT it’s waaaaayyyyy better  when served chilled. Chill it for at least 2 to 3 hours, but 8 hours (or overnight) is best. Trust me, the cold cucumbers and cold creamy dressing = refreshing!!! Especially on a hot summer day!

What to serve this refreshing creamy cucumber salad with? Anything! It will go with literally any type of grilled meat, fish, chicken, pork. It would also be great with anything spicy since the cucumbers and the creamy sauce are great for cooling that spicy heat. It would also be a great salad to bring to any summertime party.

Here are a few ideas of what to serve it with: 10 minute curry chicken salad, easy salmon cakes, pineapple turkey burgers, or sheet pan chicken and asparagus with lemon tahini sauce.

TBH whenever I eat this creamy cucumber salad I really wish I could just make it the main event of the meal. Seriously, I love it that much!

And I know you will too!

Hey, did you make this recipe? If you did, do me a favor and leave a comment and star rating below – this helps my recipes to rank higher in google so that they are found by more people. Thanks a bunch. You rock!

Refreshing Creamy Cucumber Salad

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 1 review

• Author: Emily Koch
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Yield: 4 to 6 1x
• Category: salad, side, easy
• Cuisine: gluten free, vegetarian

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Description

Creamy cucumber salad has thinly sliced cucumbers with a creamy dill sauce. The perfect side salad for any summertime meal.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 English cucumbers (AKA seedless cucumbers)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sour cream (I used full fat, but you can use light)
• 1/2 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped (or 4 teaspoons freeze dried dill)
• 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

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Instructions

1. Slice and drain cucumbers: thinly slice the cucumbers – the thinner the better for this salad – I like to use a mandolin to get paper thin slices. Add the sliced cucumbers to a large fine mesh strainer that is resting over a large mixing bowl along with the teaspoon of salt, toss the cucumbers to coat in the salt – the salt helps draw excess water from the cucumbers. Allow the cucumbers to drain for 20 to 30 minutes (the longer the better). While the cucumbers are draining you can prepare the remaining ingredients as instructed above and set them aside.
2. Finish: Once the cucumbers have drained use a spatula to press as much liquid out of the cucumbers as possible. Discard the cucumber water from the mixing bowl and add the cucumbers to the mixing bowl. Also add the remaining ingredients, gently stir everything together until it’s well mixed. Taste and adjust the seasoning as needed – you may need to add more salt depending on how much salt clung to the cucumbers, I added another 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
3. Chill: Although you can serve this salad immediately it is best when it’s chilled for at least 3 hours to 8 hours (or overnight) to allow it to become nice and cold and extra refreshing and for the flavors to really develop. The salad will keep for up to 2 to 3 days in the fridge.
4. Serve: This salad is best served chilled with a garnish of fresh dill. It would be great served at any summer party or alongside spicy food because of it’s cooling factor.

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Notes

Traditionally this salad is made with all sour cream, which I LOVE the taste of. I used some Greek yogurt to lighten it up slightly but still mostly used sour cream to maintain that same taste I enjoy. You could use all sour cream if you prefer.

Prep time: Prep time includes the 20 to 30 minutes suggested to drain the cucumbers, although this is mostly inactive time so you can be multi-tasking during this time.

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