This Asian Cucumber Salad is cool and refreshing and pairs well with many things. It’s vegan and gluten-free and is a nice addition to meals and bowls you are already making. Vegan. Watch the video!
I am not these bones, this flesh, this greying hair, I am the fire inside the shell, passing the light forward.
Here’s a simple recipe for Asian Cucumber Salad, that I think you will fall in love with. It’s fast and easy and light and delicious! Cool, refreshing cucumbers are just what I crave during the hot summer months and this salad is no exception. It hits all the flavor notes as well- such a great combo!
And although I went the generic route and called this “Asian”, you can take this Cucumber Salad in many different directions based on what you are serving. For example, to go with a more Thai theme, you could add fish sauce, lime juice, Thai Basil, and crushed peanuts. To give it more of a Korean twist and add Gochujang. Leave out the chili paste and garlic to give it more of a Japanese spin. You get the idea. 🙂
Ingredients in Asian Cucumber Salad
- Cucumbers: Thin-skinned cucumbers like English, Turkish, and Persian cucumbers work best here!
- Rice Wine Vinegar– We use “seasoned” rice vinegar for the best flavor! Feel free to substitute rice wine vinegar or rice vinegar (most acidic), and see recipe notes for adjusting sweetness.
- Toasted sesame oil– make sure your sesame oil smells fresh – I always store this in the refrigerator because it goes rancid quickly after opening. Rancid sesame oil will not smell good and may affect the flavor of the salad!
- Soy Sauce- or sub Gluten-free liquid amino acids or Coconut Aminos
- Sweetener– maple syrup, agave, honey, sugar, or sweetener of choice
- Fresh garlic clove – for punchy flavor
- Fresh ginger root– grated, not too much!
- Scallions– for savory oniony flavor, or sub with ¼ cup chives.
- Chili Garlic Paste (Sambal Olek), or substitute with Sriracha or Gochujang paste.
- Toasted Sesame Seeds – for nutty flavor and nice texture.
What kind of cucumbers should I use?
Use thin-skinned, burpless cucumbers like Persian, Turkish, or English Cucumbers, for the least bitterness and best flavor. Waxy cucumbers will work in a pinch, but you will need to peel them first.
Expert Tips
- Score the cucumbers with the tines of a fork before slicing allows the dressing to cling to them, making each bite more flavorful!
- Salt the cucumber beforehand helps release liquid, also creating a more flavorful salad as the dressing doesn’t get as watered down.
- Acidity. Rice Vinegar (most acidic) Rice Wine Vinegar (medium acidity) and Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar (least acidic, sweetest) all have different acitiy levels. That is why you MUST adjust sweetener to taste at the end.
- Toasted Sesame Oil. Has a smoky nutty flavor, different than untoasted regular sesame oil. It goes rancid quickly, store in the fridge and make sure it smells good. If it smells bad, your salad will taste like that too. 🙂
Cucumber Salad Instructions
Score the cucumbers. This helps the dressing cling to the cucumbers.
Salt the cucumbers and place them in a strainer for 15-20 minutes or up to a few hours.
Prep the remaining ingredients. Chop up the scallion, garlic, and ginger.
Asian Dressing Ingredients
You can directly add these to the salad bowl with the strained cucumbers and toss. Simple!
Combine. Place the strained cucumbers into a large bowl. Grate the ginger and garlic right into the salad bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients: rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, maple syrup (or other sweetener), chili garlic sauce, and sesame seeds. Toss well.
Taste and season. If it tastes overly acidic (sour) add a little more sweetener to balance it. Add more chili garlic paste for more spice. Find your perfect balance! See notes about the vinegar.
Storage
The Asian Cucumber Salad will last 3 days in the fridge- if it makes it that long! You can salt the cucumbers ahead, place them in a strainer over a bowl, and place them in the fridge overnight.
What to serve with Asian Cucumber Salad
- Fast & Easy Seared Tuna (Ahi or Yellowfin Tuna)
- Broiled Miso Salmon
- Instant Pot Teriyaki Chicken
- Japanese Teriyaki Chicken
- Seoul Bowl (Vegan Bibimbap!)
- Thai Turkey Burger Recipe w/ Asian Slaw
- Chinese Eggplant with Spicy Szechuan Sauce
- Miso Mushroom Bowl
- Grilled Lemongrass Chicken
- Instant Pot Peanut Chicken
- Indonesian Grilled Sambal Chicken
- Pan-Seared Thai Chicken with Red Curry Paste
- Thai Fried Rice
- Sticky Gochujang Salmon Bowls
- Korean Beef Bulgogi
Variations
- Thai Version: add crushed roasted peanuts, fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice or tamarind (instead of the vinegar).
- Korean Version: Go to our Korean Cucumber Salad Recipe– add Gochujang, cilantro and extra ginger and garlic.
- Japanese Version: Leave out the garlic and chili paste, try chive blossoms.
More Favorite cucumber recipes!
- 20 Cool & Refreshing Cucumber Recipes
- Persian Cucumber Walnut Salad
- Cucumber Salad with Jalapeno & Lime
- Chilled Cucumber Melon Soup
- Cucumber Gazpacho
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw
- Blueberry Salad
Enjoy the Asian Cucumber Salad– please leave your feedback and/or adaptations below; everyone loves reading these! Hope you are having a lovely week. All is well here, hope it is with you too. xoxo Sylvia
More from Feasting at home
Watch the video
Asian Cucumber Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 25
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4-5 1x
- Category: Appetizer, Asian, easy recipe, Make-ahead, meal prep, salad, Side Dish, summer recipe, vegan
- Method: tossed
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Description
Asian Cucumber Salad is made with rice vinegar, sesame, ginger, garlic and soy, cool and refreshing and pairs well with many things. It’s vegan and gluten-free and is a nice addition to meals and bowls you are already making. Watch the video!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds Turkish, Persian, or English cucumbers (about 5 cups sliced)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4–5 scallions, finely sliced
- 1 teaspoon ginger, grated, more to taste
- 1 fat garlic clove, grated, or finely minced
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (or sub rice vinegar, see notes)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce (or substitute Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or Coconut Aminos)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil (do not regular sesame oil)
- 1 – 2 tablespoons maple syrup (or agave, honey, or sugar), more to taste, see note.
- 1–2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (Sambal Olek) or sub sriracha, more to taste
- 1–2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Score and Salt Cucumbers. Using the tines of a fork, score the cucumbers lengthwise- this will help the dressing cling to the cucumbers. Slice the cucumbers thinly and place them in a bowl, and toss with the salt (to help them draw out their liquid). Let this stand 10-15 minutes while you gather the remaining ingredients. Strain (but do not rinse).
- Combine. Place the strained cucumbers in a large bowl with scallions, ginger, garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame oil, sweetener, garlic-chili paste, and toasted sesame seeds. Mix well.
- Season. Taste and adjust salt, sweetness, and spice level to your liking. Find the balance- see notes.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cucumber salad is best served on the same day but will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
Flavor Balance. If your dressing tastes too acidic or sour, add more sweetener to taste. This will help balance it out. Rice Vinegar is more acidic than Rice Wine Vinegar. Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar is the least acidic and is sweetened. So, depending on what you are using, the amount of sweetener needed will change.
Toasted Sesame Oil– Tastes wonderfully smoky and nutty. It can go rancid pretty quickly, so store it in the fridge after you open it and make sure to smell it before using; it should smell pleasant. Regular sesame oil will not have the same flavor here, and I don’t recommend it.
Optional Additions (See variations in post body)- fish sauce, crushed roasted peanuts, Gochujang, cilantro or Thai Basil, red onions, peanut chili crunch, radishes
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 89
- Sugar: 6.4 g
- Sodium: 404.5 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 11.5 g
- Fiber: 1.4 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
These were great! I paired them with the NYT sesame like chicken and Cookerru’s 10 minute garlic chili oil noodles and it was an impressive, easy and DELICIOUS meal. Will make again.
Sounds great Robin!
I an anxious to try this recipe. It sounds delicious. My only question is how can you state that it is gluten free when it is made with soya sauce? It is made with wheat. Perhaps there is a gluten free soya sauce??
Hi Deb, Yes, there are many gluten-free options!
Made fried rice and dumplings so this cucumber salad was a perfect accompaniment. I only used 1/4 tsp of fresh chili paste & it was more than enough.
thanks and great to hear!
LOVED THIS! I grow cucumbers, and this was a perfect way to use some of them up! I paired this with the Ahi Tuna recipe. 10/10!
Oh those home grown cucumbers! So glad you enjoyed.
Tasty! Thank you!
Easy to make, went perfect with cucumbers Gad to use powder ginger since did not have fresh but next time will be fresh, 👍🏼
Glad you enjoyed this Ruth!
Oops, meant to rate it too!
Always appreciated. ❤️
So good!
Was amazing with your chicken satay but I’ll make again and again with so many other things!
Thanks Alison!
Great
Delicious! I was tired of making the same creamy cucumber salad and I’m glad I chose this recipe to try something new. I can’t stop eating it! I used regular American cucumbers because that’s what I had. I went easy on the chili paste so everybody in the family could eat.
Perfect and glad you enjoyed this!
So good. I want to try the dressing on green beans or broccoli!
That would be yummy Anne!
Another fantastic recipe! Sylvia’s recipes always have wonderful flavor profiles with a perfect balance of sweet/salt/spice. I made this with cucumbers freshly picked from our garden, subbed chives for scallions (they’re what I had on hand), and used one tsp of red chili paste. I made it a few hours ahead so the flavors would have time to blend and it was delicious! I’ll be making this a lot this summer.
Thanks so much Valerie! Glad you enjoyed it!
I love this salad. I am now making it once a week and have passed the recipe on to numerous people. Thanks.
Thanks so much Ann!
Great, easy to make recipe; thank you! Refreshing dish! This is exactly what I was looking for to accompany some homemade Asian inspired food, during the hot summer months. Also, thank you for the variations!
So happy to hear you enjoyed TC! 💚
Super tasty and refreshing! I didn’t have rice wine vinegar so I just used white vinegar and it was still excellent. Will definitely make again.
Perfect Kate!
This looks yummy. I think I’ll add some crispy tofu using your recipe and see what happens. Thank you.
sounds tasty!
Can you tell me where you got that bowl? It’s beautiful.
It was a gift! Thanks I like it too. 😉
I had some asparagus I needed to use up, so I made a cold asparagus salad with this recipe. It was divine! I added some roasted peanuts as suggested. The salad was a hit.
I’m also avoiding sugar right now, so I used Swerve brown sugar (erythritol). It didn’t need much – just a bit of sweetness to balance the heat.
Perfect Lyn!
Soy sauce is not gluten free. You say this recipe is gluten free but it calls for soy sauce.
Hi Robyn, Fortunately there are quite a few gluten-free brands of soy sauce available these days! San-J and Eden both make nice ones.
This tastes great!
I added a tiny bit of spicy mustard to the dressing to help it emulsify.
I have some fresh cilantro on hand but don’t want to ruin this by adding it. What do you think?
Cilantro would be yummy!
I increased the ginger and added julienned carrots which paired so well with a pan seared duck breast. It could so easily pair with anything!.
Perfect Maddie!
SO GOOD!!!! I used honey and instead of chili paste I used this chili crunch sauce I found at Hmart with chili flakes, dried onion flakes and a few other things in it. Amazing!
Perfect Sydney! Glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve been making (and refining) a variation of this for about a year now – when my love of Asian cuisine really started to kick into high drive – but thanks to you, my quest is over. Your recipe is perfection and no refining or changing is necessary…and why would you mess with a good thing?!?? (A GREAT thing!)
I think it was your extra tips of scouring the cukes, and definitely salting them beforehand. But I was already doing that, whereas I wasn’t doing the scouring. You’re on to something with that and this recipe is just…divine. It’s currently 4am and I’m eating a (small-ish) plate. THANK YOU!!!
Thanks Brittany- so happy this worked for you!
Hello from Las Vegas ! I made this salad and it turned out beautiful. Salting the cucumbers is a super smart tip! Also scouring the cucumbers added extra flavor & made me feel fancy 😄 thank you for sharing !!
Awesome Merrily!
Merrily…I just said almost the EXACT same things, verbatim.
So not only do I wanna say that I fully agree with you…I just want to share it with as many people as possible that I’m currently eating this as a 4am snack. 😆 And it’s soooo not even close to the first time I’ve done this with this recipe. HA!
I live this recipe -thank you! I also love this quote you posted:
“I am not these bones, this flesh, this greying hair, I am the fire inside the shell, passing the light forward. “
Can you share who is the author of this bit of wisdom?
Thanks Cindy. The quote is from me. I wrote it in my journal a couple of years ago and thought I’d share. 🙂
Wow 🤩 I was wondering that too. Came for the cucumber 🥒 salad recipe & stayed for the quote! Pondering 🤔 it now. I wish I could write like that. Thank you for sharing x
Thanks Hilda. 😉
I think I found the bowl!
Godinger Magnus Serving Bowl on Wayfair.
Not the beautiful serving forks but still looking!
Oh awesome!