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
So simple, so delicious. I like to pretend it’s healthy!
It is healthy Kimmie! Rest assured. Glad you are enjoying 🙂
Y E S ! Definitely added to my recipe file. I looked at image and realised I didn’t require a mandolin …l cut regular thickness 2-3 mm.
Glad it worked out Gillian!
How thinly to slice the cucumbers? Like paper-thin with a mandoline, or thicker? Thank you. It looks delicious.
About 1/4″ thick, we usually just slice with a knife. When too thin they wilt faster.
Made this tonight to pair with yakitori skewers and it was fantastic. Thank you.
Great to hear!
Excellent, Sylvia. The Asian dressing elevated my homegrown English cucumbers to another level!
Wonderful Jim, homegrown is the best. 🙂
This is delicious and easy! I just made it for the third time now!!
Wonderful Jan!
Delicious! Enjoyed this at a friends and asked for the recipe. I will be enjoying this all summer.
Awesome to hear Judy!
Amazing! So easy and delicious way to use up cucumbers from my garden.
Great to hear!
Can you mix the dressing in a jar and assmble prior to serving. Or is it good if refrigerated a few hours before serving?
Yes, Leslie feel free to make the dressing separately and mix before serving!
Delicious
Great to hear!
Very refreshing and good mix of flavors!!
Awesome to hear!
Delicious recipe that allowed me to use cucumber gifted from a home garden and Farmers Market scallions that were looking for a purpose. A tip I learned recently when using a Joshua McFadden cucumber salad recipe from Six Seasons was this: after the salting step, turn the sliced cukes onto paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and gently press them dry before adding to dressing. I did that with this recipe.
Thanks for the helpful review Michele.
Really like that bowl! Can you share where to purchase? Thank you.
Thanks so much! I got the bowl as a gift, so not sure where to buy this.
Nice, simple recipe. I did add the fish sauce, cilantro and some Fresno chilies. I also bulked it up with some wakami seaweed. Great summer side dish for these stupid-hot days!
Love the additions, sounds amazing!
delicious salad!
very nice balance of flavours
thanks for sharing it
Glad you enjoyed this Lorenza! Appreciate your review.
Great recipe for a salad people always love. My only question was what it means to “strain” the cucumber slices through a sieve after salting them. Is this to shake off the salt? thanks
The salt draws out the moisture from the cucumbers and the excess drains through the colander. The salad is more flavorful this way!
Yes, I understand that part. I didn’t understand what to do with the cucumbers after they sit in the salt.
Hi Wynette, Oh gottcha, straining means letting them drain off any moisture in the colander before adding them to the salad (without rinsing). Hopefully this makes sense.:)
This recipe is delicious. I will be making this often.
Glad you enjoyed this Erynn! Thanks for taking time to leave a review.
Looks delicious! Is it best to use unseasoned or seasoned rice vinegar in this recipe?
I have Japanese grain vinegar, which I believe is the same as seasoned, and wanted to be sure!
Hi Marisa, Unseasoned rice vinegar. Seasoned is sweetened, so you could try and omit the sweetener in the recipe but I am not sure how the balance would turn out.
When I read this recipe, I was delighted, we just had this yesterday. I have been making this at home, with a couple of changes. I add Mirin to taste and I do not use soy sauce, I am elderly and my lymphatic system forces me to avoid salt. This is my husband’s favorite salad.
So glad you made this work for you Becca! Thanks so much for taking time to let us know, your review is very helpful!
A favourite summer side. I’ll be making it for Canada Day tomorrow!
Thanks for the reminder!
Wonderful! Appreciate you taking time to review Susie!
This is an easy and tasty recipe. The salad is refreshing and packed with flavor. The chili paste I have is very spicy, so I reduced the amount to a 1/4 tsp. Otherwise, followed the recipe exactly, and it was a bit hit!
Glad you enjoyed Lynn! Appreciate you taking time to leave a review. 🙂
This is a delicious recipe and so easy to make. I subbed the chili garlic sauce for gochujang. I also prepared some udon noodles to go with it, and it became an almost perfect copy-cat of the sesame cucumber noodle salad you can find at Whole Foods!
Love it Jess! Sounds delicious.😋
Our new favorite!
Awesome! Thanks for the review. 🙂
My husband and I have been growing cucumbers and looking for recipes to use all of them. This one was perfect! So easy and tasty. We loved it.
Oh wonderful Lauren! So great to have fresh cucumbers from your garden. You may want to check out our post for 25 easy cucumber recipes for more inspiration. Appreciate your review!
My family LOVES this recipe. We usually serve it with either Salmon Bolgogi or Beef Bolgogi. This recipe is fresh and flavorful.
Perfect, so happy to hear this!