This refreshing Cucumber Onion Salad has just 4 ingredients! It’s an easy, low-calorie, low-carb 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 and Zucchini Noodle Alfredo. I’m pretty sure it would even work on this Broccoli Stalk Salad Recipe!
It was an exciting day when I finally got one!
There are many, many spiralizer brands on the market and I’ve included my favorites in our Amazon Shop. But, you don’t need to buy a fancy, expensive one to make this recipe. The one pictured below is inexpensive and does the trick.
In fact, you don’t need one at all to make this Cucumber and Onion Salad!
How to Make 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!
Pictured below are the long strands created from a spiralized slicing cucumber, the type that you generally find at the grocery store.
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.
Seeds can be bitter, so it’s nice to exclude as many as possible from the final salad.
Use an English or Persian cucumber, which are prized for having minimal seeds, and you won’t have this problem at all. Check out all different types of cucumbers in this article by Berkeley Wellness.
Cucumber and onion 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. 🙂
More Tips and Variations
- 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 mandolin.)
- 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…?
Pairing Ideas: This salad is perfect for BBQ’s and brunches and will round out just about any dinner. Try it with Baked Blackened Chicken Breast and Grilled Pork Chops in Molasses Marinade!
Rate the recipe if you make it and tag @DinnerMom or #DinnerMom on social media. We love to see what you are cooking up!
- 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.
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Hello! We’re sharing easy and healthy recipes the whole family will love! Why am I called the Dinner-Mom? 
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!
We just got a spiralizer and tried this. It was very good. Added tomatoes.
Hands down one of my favorite simple speedy salads to make!
Yay! It’s definitely quick to make!
LOVED this! I can already tell I’ll be making this for our weekend parties, it was so light and flavorful and *easy*!
Thanks for your feedback. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!