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At a glance
- What it is: A simple salad of diced cucumbers in a lemony dressing
- What makes it special: Even though this no-cook recipe comes together in five minutes from just a handful of ingredients, you won’t be able to stop thinking about its perfect combination of freshness and savoriness
- How to make it: Cut the cucumber into 1/2-inch pieces, make a simple dressing right in the serving bowl, and toss it all together
Video: Celia’s Cucumber Salad
Why you’ll love this recipe
As you might know from TikTok, “sometimes you just have to eat a whole cucumber.” I didn’t pay much attention to that flash-in-the-pan food trend (I never do — that’s why the recipes here are really good!), but when my daughter Celia started making her own cucumber salad, I fell in love with it.
This recipe is:
- Beautifully balanced
- Great on its own or as a side dish for summer grilling
- Super-flexible — see below for suggestions
- Ready in five minutes
Hope you love it as much as I do.
What you’ll need
Here’s a peek at the ingredients you’ll need to make this recipe.
- Theoretically you could use any type of cucumber, but I like to use an English cucumber in this recipe. They have thin skin that isn’t waxy and diminutive seeds that aren’t bitter. A typical one weighs about 350 grams (12-ish ounces), but you don’t need to sweat that detail in this recipe. Smaller Persian cucumbers have similar characteristics, so you could use an approximately equal weight of those if that’s what you’ve got.
- A little bit of minced shallot adds so much delicate flavor.
- This is a great place for your good extra-virgin olive oil. With so few ingredients, quality makes a difference.
- You’ll use the freshly-squeezed juice of half a lemon.
- Beyond that, it’s just fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
How to make it
Here’s an overview of what you’ll do to make a great batch of Celia’s cucumber salad. You can watch the steps in action in the video that accompanies this post, and get all the details in the recipe card below.
- Cut the cucumber into 1/2-inch pieces and mince the shallot.
- Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and minced shallot in a large bowl.
- Add the cucumber.
- Stir to coat. That’s it!
Suggested additions
Want to add extra flavors or turn this cucumber salad into a meal? Here are some of my favorite ingredients to add. If you’re adding something that increases the total volume of the dish by a lot, I’d recommend doubling the dressing.
- One small clove garlic, minced or grated on a rasp
- A few torn or julienned basil leaves
- A teaspoon of minced mint leaves or fresh dill
- 1/2 Hass avocado, diced
- 1 small ripe tomato, diced, or 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 ounces crumbled feta
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
Expert tips and FAQs
Try to use about the same total weight of cucumber as called for in the recipe. If your cucumber variety has very thick skin and/or large, bitter seeds, consider removing them before using.
Since this cucumber salad is so quick to put together, I wouldn’t go out of your way to make it in advance. That said, cucumbers are sturdy, and it holds well, so you could easily make it a few hours in advance of serving. Leftovers will keep well in a sealed container in the fridge for two to three days.
More favorite easy summer salads
Summarize & Save This Content On
Celia’s Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, from 1/2 lemon
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, Celia says this is "14 cracks" 🙂
Instructions
- Trim the ends from the cucumber and cut the remainder into 1/2-inch pieces.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the minced shallot, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
- Add the chopped cucumber and stir to coat. Serve right away.
Notes
- Theoretically you could use any type of cucumber, but I like to use an English cucumber in this recipe. They have thin skin that isn’t waxy and diminutive seeds that aren’t bitter. A typical one weighs about 350 grams (12-ish ounces), but you don’t need to sweat that detail in this recipe. Smaller Persian cucumbers have similar characteristics, so you could use an approximately equal weight of those if that’s what you’ve got. If your cucumber variety has very thick skin and/or large, bitter seeds, consider removing them before using.
- This is a great place for your good extra-virgin olive oil. With so few ingredients, quality makes a difference.
- Advance prep and storage: Since this dish is so quick to put together, I wouldn’t go out of your way to make it in advance. That said, cucumbers are sturdy, and it holds well, so you could easily make it a few hours in advance of serving. Leftovers will keep well in a sealed container in the fridge for two to three days.
Suggested additions
Want to add extra flavors or turn this cucumber salad into a meal? Here are some of my favorite ingredients to add. If you’re adding something that increases the total volume of the dish by a lot, I’d recommend doubling the dressing.- One small clove garlic, minced or grated on a rasp
- A few torn or julienned basil leaves
- A teaspoon of minced mint leaves or fresh dill
- 1/2 Hass avocado, diced
- 1 small ripe tomato, diced, or 1/2 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1-2 ounces crumbled feta
- 1 cup cooked chickpeas
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
