Creamy Cucumber Salad

This refreshing cucumber salad is the perfect salad recipe for Summer cookouts or picnics. A great side dish for all the things off the grill or even just to snack on or it’s a salad to build on if you prefer to load it up with other veggies. We also use this as a condiment for sandwiches, wraps, bowls or burgers (like my Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers, or my Chicken Souvlaki) Crispy fresh cucumbers in a creamy dressing with loads of fresh herbs. The unofficial name of this creamy cucumber salad is “deconstructed tzatziki salad” - cause essentially we are dressing cucumber slices with a thick yogurt dressing (no mayo) made with herbs and garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and shallots. I could eat cucumbers all day so this is one of my favourite salads - deliciously creamy, herby and garlicky and on repeat all summer long!

Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe Ingredients

• CUCUMBERS: Feel free to use English cucumber, garden cucumbers or baby cucumbers or Persian cucumbers - a variety of them makes for a fun salad as they all have a slightly different texture. Peeling them is optional and so is removing the seeds. Chopping and slicing them into different sizes and thicknesses adds to the variety of textures too so feel free to do that. Use a sharp knife to slice them or if you want an easy way to get ultra thin cucumber slices, use a mandoline slicer to cut your cucumber.
• GREEK YOGURT: This adds the creaminess to the salad. I usually use thick strained yogurt/ Greek yogurt or Labneh - you could sub it out for sour cream as well or even store bought tzatziki (technically we are creating a tzatziki dressing here) or even ranch dressing in a pinch. No mayonnaise in this creamy sauce
• FRESH HERBS: I love to use fresh dill, but this would be great with a combination of mint and parsley but feel free to use your favourite fresh herbs
• LEMON JUICE: Fresh lemons for best flavor, fresh lemon juice. If you prefer to use vinegar I recommend a white or red wine vinegar but regular white vinegar will work in a pinch too. If you want even more lemony flavor you could also add in some lemon zest
• SHALLOT: I love the more subtle sweet flavour of shallots but feel free to use red onion instead
• EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL: For the dressing
• GARLIC: Feel free to use fresh garlic for the dressing or for a mellower flavor use garlic powder
• SALT & PEPPER: To taste although if salting your cucumbers beforehand you will need 1 teaspoon of salt for them.
• ADD INS: Green Onion adds a tasty fresh flavour to the salad - feel free to sub with fresh chopped chives, Feta is a great add in. A pinch of oregano if you would like to add a dry spice.
  
  

Cucumber Salad Variations:

• Feel free to add in other veggies like tomatoes regular diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes, chopped bell peppers, blanched asparagus etc…
• Add in some capers or Kalamata olives for more briny flavour.
• You could also throw in some protein like seared or grilled shrimp or greek chicken.
• Add some white beans or chickpeas or even green peas for extra plant protein
• Toss in a grain like cooked orzo, or other pasta, quinoa or even rice
  
  

How To Make This Greek Cucumber Salad

1. Whisk together the dressing ingredients set aside or chill in the fridge until ready to dress salad
2. Wash and slice or chop your cucumbers
3. Salt and pat cucumber slices dry - optional step to reduce excess moisture released from cucumber
4. Toss cucumbers with dressing along with the dill and shallots
5. Serve
   
   

What To Serve Cucumber Salad With

• Grilled greek Chicken
• Grilled flank steak
• Greek Turkey Burger
• Ribs
• Baked BBQ chicken
• Salmon
  
  

Do I Need To Salt The Cucumbers?

Some cucumber salad recipes call for salting rinsing (rinsing isn’t always required) and squeezing the moisture out of the cucumbers before making the salad. The salt makes the cucumbers taste better and draws out and removes excess water from them before tossing the cucumbers with the dressing. This helps prevent the excess water from the cucumbers from diluting the dressing, therefore intensifying their flavor. I can fully appreciate the reason behind adding this step to this recipe but since this cucumber salad is best eaten once prepared the cucumbers don’t usually have time to sit and release all of their natural juices. That being said if you are making this a couple of hours before serving and want to dress the salad then it might be a good idea to salt your cucumbers - otherwise I wouldn’t bother. How do you salt your cucumber? Easy - toss the cucumber slices with a generous amount of salt, then let them sit in a colander over bowl or sink for 20-30 minutes then rinse the cucumbers with cold water, removing excess salt. Squeeze them dry by adding them to a clean dishcloth or paper towels and squeezing, then they are ready to dress.

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