This refreshing Cucumber Onion Salad has just 4 ingredients! It’s an easy, low-calorie and tasty side dish you’ll find yourself making again and again…and again.
There’s a new gadget at our house…a spiralizer! It turns vegetables, like cucumbers or zucchini, into long pasta-like strands. It’s easy to do. It’s fun. And…it makes you want to eat things like cucumber onion salad. It’s also great for Zucchini Ribbons Sauteed in Rosemary and Garlic. Yep. It was a big day when I finally got one.
This is my new spiralizer. There are many, many brands out there and this is the only one I’ve tried. It was very inexpensive, but it does the trick. I got mine at Bed, Bath and Beyond for about $12.
These are the long strands created from a spiralized cucumber. By the way, check out the clump of seeds in the upper part of the bowl. They (pretty much) neatly fell into a pile during the spiralizing process, an unexpected benefit of my new kitchen gadget in this application. The seeds can be bitter, so it’s nice to exclude as many as possible from the final salad.
A Few Notes on Cucumber Onion Salad
This recipe is embarrassingly easy. Yet, I want it in the recipe archives because it’s such a flavorful and simple side to round out a meal. To make the salad, slice cucumber and onion, toss it with seasoned rice vinegar and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. That’s it!
- Cucumbers are very watery. Once you have peeled and spiralized, sliced, or diced them, allow them to drain, 20 minutes is ideal.
- I sliced the red onion extremely thin to achieve a similar look and feel to the cucumber noodles. (I actually used my other favorite gadget, a mandoline.)
- Once everything is mixed together, drain off excess liquid before serving.
- Top with sesame seeds or chia seeds!
- How many add-ins can you think of for this side dish? Tomatoes, radishes, carrots…?
This salad is perfectly delicious (and of course, tastes exactly the same) when the cucumber is diced or cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler. But, it’s a lot of fun eating loooong cucumber noodles. 🙂
Pairing Ideas: Serve this with Molasses Marinated Pork Chops, Uptown Sloppy Joes or Mango Turkey Burger Sliders.
It’s also a terrifc and low-calorie snack!
- 2 cups cucumber peeled and spiralized can also slice or chop, about 2 medium-sized cucumbers
- ¼ cup red onion thinly sliced or diced
- 2 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds optional
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Allow cut cucumber to drain in a colander for about 15 minutes and blot dry with a towel.
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Discard loose and excess seeds.
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Toss cucumber and red onion with seasoned rice vinegar.
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If desired, toast sesame seeds by heating in non-stick pan for about 5 minutes or until sesame seeds begin to brown and are fragrant. Stir frequently.
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Drain off excess liquid before serving.
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Top with sesame seeds, if using..
Enjoy!
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I’m a big fan of cucumbers and making it like noodles is like a healthy pasta salad! Love rice vinegar in the dressing too!
I love this salad in the summer time! So good!
I love recipes like this in the summer. We grow cukes in our garden and I’m always looking for new ways to use them.
I love that spiralizer! It makes the veggies so cute!
I’m so glad you mentioned the spiralizer. I definitely have a BB&B gift card that needs using! This will be the first thing I make!
This is so perfect for summer! I need to get a spiralizer (or maybe my food processor can do that?). Love the sesame seeds on top!
Ooooh I totally need to make a cucumber salad with my spiralizer now! It’s so much more attractive this way.
How refreshing! I bet this is fantastic!
Such a great summer side dish!
This would be a great side dish at our next family gathering!
This reminds me of my dad, he loves this salad and would have this or similar with sour cream 300 nights out of the year with dinner. He would be very surprised if I made it this way with the Spiralizer – Cool!
I LOVE cucumber salad. Perfect for summer.
How pretty. I love cucumbers only on a small dice so I bet I would love to have a spiralizer
I love anything spiralized! This looks delicious!
Perfect summer BBQ side dish! I am always looking for new recipes!
Fabulous classic salad! I really need to invest in a mandolin, one of the few items I don’t own!
A spiralizer is on my list of WANTS for this summer. This salad looks perfect — I bet it would make great lunches with a little leftover grilled chicken too.
I definitely want a spiralizer too! This salad is easy and perfect for summer – pinned!!
great healthy salad!