Cucumber Salad with Creamy Dill Dressing

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A fresh creamy cucumber salad is the perfect accompaniment to a grilled meat dinner. Bright fresh English cucumbers balanced with a dill, white wine vinegar, and Greek yogurt dressing make for a delicious and light salad.

Creamy Cucumber Salad with Dill and White Wine Vinegar

When we eat outside and it’s a warm day we want a cold side that accompanies our main dish. And we like easy sides if we’re spending the majority of our time on longer or more complicated main dishes. This salad comes together in minutes and is delicious with an acidic backbone, balanced with the sweetness of local honey and the crisp bite from the fresh veggies.

Best Cucumber for Cucumber Salad

English or Persian cucumber is the ideal option for this salad. Both cucumbers are seedless and dense, and so when sliced for a salad, you don’t get the texture of the seeds mixed into the salad. In addition the skin tends to be thinner and makes for a nice bite versus pickling cucumbers that may have thicker skin and seeds.

For the dressing it’s best to use whole milk yogurt. 2% works okay, but if you go with a lower fat yogurt the sauce consistency will be a little more thin and watery. If you do use a low fat yogurt, stick with Greek yogurt as it naturally is thicker, and you can add more thickness or viscosity with more honey. Offset the sweet with vinegar or citrus.

How to Cut Cucumber For Salad

If you have great knife skills feel free to slice thinly, but a mandolin is our recommended tool for a cucumber salad. It allows for uniform thickness and is fast to use. Just use caution and be sure you use the guard if it comes with one, and use on a non slip surface.

An alternative is to use the food processor with the mandolin slicer attachment, especially if doubling or tripling the recipe for a crowd.

Instructions

  1. Slice – Slice up the cucumbers, red onion, and red pepper using a mandolin.
  2. Dressing – Combine the dressing ingredients in a bowl. Don’t salt yet, wait until you add the vegetables.
  3. Combine – Add the sliced vegetables to the salad and mix.
  4. Season – Add kosher salt and coarse black pepper to taste.

Following this format is an easy way to customize flavors through each of the steps.

If the salad seems too acidic, offset with more honey and yogurt.

Add more yogurt or salt if the salad is too sweet, .

Variations

  • Freshly sliced jalapeños are amazing and add more heat.
  • Consider adding a dry rub into the dressing. It adds some savory notes and pairs well with any barbecue main dish, like our brisket.
Fresh and creamy cucumber salad with dill and white wine vinegar

Other Great BBQ Side Dishes

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Creamy Cucumber Salad
5 from 1 vote

Cucumber Salad Recipe with Creamy Dill Dressing

White wine vinegar, dill, and Greek yogurt sauce balanced by fresh English cucumbers, red onions and peppers.
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients 

  • 1 whole English cucumber
  • ½ red onion
  • ½ red pepper, seeded
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Dressing

  • ¼ cup 5% Greek yogurt, You can use 2% as well
  • 2 cloves garlic, grated
  • 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • ½ tablespoon chopped dill
  • ½ tablespoon local honey
  • ½ tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • ¼ teaspoon red chili pepper flakes

Instructions 

  • Prepare the dressing by adding the yogurt, garlic, lemon, dill, honey, vinegar and red chili pepper flakes in a medium size bowl. Whisk to incorporate.
  • Slice one end off the cucumber and using a mandolin on the second thinnest setting, slice. You want to start the slicing on the end that was cut off. Take care when getting toward the end and use the guard if the mandolin comes with one.
  • Using the mandolin, carefully slice the onion and pepper on the thinnest setting. Place the cucumber, onion, and peppers in the bowl with the dressing and stir.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.

Notes

English cucumbers are the idea cucumber to use because they are seedless and dense. 

Nutrition

Calories: 20kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.02g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.01g | Cholesterol: 0.4mg | Sodium: 392mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 318IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Salad
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 20
Keyword: cucumber salad, cucumber salad recipe
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Vindulge

About Mary


I'm Mary, a wine/food/travel writer, Certified Sommelier, mom of twins, former vegetarian turned BBQ fanatic, runner, founder of Vindulge, and author of Fire + Wine cookbook. Thanks for stopping by!

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