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
Absolutely delicious but is it supposed to be 2 teaspoons of sesame seed oil or is the post correct.
Hi Laura, I use the full amount in the recipe card, but you can start off conservatively if you prefer, and add more to taste.
Very dynamic flavour with a satisfying crunch. A bit sweet, salty, tangy, and spicy. Will be making this one again.
What a lovely review Lela, we appreciate it!
Delicious! Easy and fresh, simple on-hand ingredients. Thank you!
Great to hear Joan!
I make a cucumber salad several times a week. This was one of the very best. Perfect balance of flavors.
Glad to hear this Ann!
hi im making this for school and im excited to see how it tastes!!!! tysm for recipe😝
Great Liz, let us know how it goes over!
Thank you, Sylvia, for this light, tangy and refreshing recipe! Love it and it will be on the regular rotation for summer.
Wonderful Nancy, glad you gave it a try!
If I want to prepare the salad for twenty people, do you know how to adjust the amounts of the ingredients?
I would multiply the recipe by 4.
This is now called Emma’s cucumber salad because my granddaughter loves it so much. Have made it a dozen times, I think. Thank you
That is so sweet! Thanks for the review Brian.
Refreshing and filling! I did not have chili oil so I substituted with extra garlic cloves and chili flakes. I also added crushed roasted peanuts. I will definitely use this recipe again.
Sounds great Elizabeth! Appreciate you taking time to let us know.
A wonderful find – many thanks. I had to pro-rata the ingredients as there were only two of us. Nevertheless ‘twas a big success. I omitted the chili as the memsahib isn’t fond of food that hurts. A versatile dish.
Hi Glen, So happy you gave this salad a try! Thanks for taking time to review, appreciate it.
Absolutely delicious! Lovely bold flavours. So fresh and zingy.
Thanks Gemma, happy you enjoyed!
I subbed the maple syrup and garlic chili sauce for mikes hot honey. Soooo good. I’ve made it the original way as well and it’s equally delicious!
That sounds like a great variation! Thanks Larissa.
Yum put this in my bento and it will be lovely addition
Perfect Kathleen!
Made these 2x so far… Delish!!!
Yay, great to hear Kandii!
I made this to share at work tomorrow and now I think Im going to keep it all for myself
Ha! Glad you like it. 🙂
Delicious and easy to make. Great salad to take to a friend’s for dinner, or to have for a casual dinner at home.
Glad you enjoyed this Kimberly! Thanks so much for the review.
.
My husband hates cucumbers and thinks this recipe is amazing.
Wow, high praise! Appreciate this Janna.
I really enjoyed reading this. Your perspective is unique and thought-provoking. Keep up the amazing work!
pisogame
Thanks so much!
Such a refreshing salad.
Glad you enjoyed Jim!
Great recipe! I’ve made this several times now and have never had to strain the cucumbers as they don’t sweat that much!
Glad it worked out Bnaj! Cucumbers do vary in juiciness.
Yummy! I always need a way to use up my over abundance of cukes from the garden, so this will be on the rotation, for sure! The only switch up was to use Thai sauce instead of sriracha and sugar. Otherwise I made it as posted. Thanks for the recipe!
Great! Glad you enjoyed!
My weekly menu got derailed and I needed to use up cucumbers fast, so I was looking for a not-refrigerator-pickle recipe. This is amazing! I added a little peanut butter to the second batch for a little extra oomph, and it was also great. I did use chili crunch oil instead of siracha because it was what I had.
Sounds amazing! Thanks for the review.
This is the best recipe I’ve tried for this type of salad. I used the standard recipe but I’m looking forward to trying to of the variations. The flavors are perfectly balanced. It was a big hit in my house!
Wonderful to hear Alexa! Really appreciate the rating and review.
This is the best recipe! I added about 2 teaspoons of peanut butter. I could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting!! This will be on my menu every week!
Oh that sounds fun Jennifer! I am going to give that a try. Thanks for the review.
Really delish. I didn’t add spring onions because I didn’t have any. I will be making this again.
Glad you enjoyed this Rachel!
Do you have info on how to change the ingredient amounts if I want to make the salad for 20 people?
You would have to adjust by using a calculator. I would 4x the recipe. 🙂