This cool and good creamy cucumber salad is the solid side at a barbecue, great to take for a lunch, and is sure to delight! If you love cucumbers, this easy salad will be a recipe you'll make again and again.

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Creamy Cucumber and Onion Salad

Cucumber salad is a solid dish regardless of the cuisine you're making. It's versatile appeals to all kinds of palates – it is a great accompaniment to anything you're grilling.

Although this salad has a more traditionally Greek tang, if you like cucumbers it can fit well into whatever meal you're making.

The different flavors of the cucumber and dressing work well together and when they combine for a few hours in the fridge, the entire salad gets even better.

We also love this salad because it can be made days in advance, and after a few days in the fridge it's great to serve and is fresh and cool. We love those recipes that take work off our plate the day of serving.

How to Make Cucumber Salad

For this salad you'll need the following ingredients:

Cucumber – For ths recipe we prefer the English cucumbers. They have a milder flavor, don't have to be seeded, and the cucumber meat keeps its structure better over a few days. If you don't have access to English cucumbers, you can use a traditional cucumber, but after you peel it, cut it lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds.
Red Onion – Red onion is the best onion option for a salad of this kind. Not only do they add a pop of color, but they also have the best flavor to add to a salad of this kind. If we're making it for people who like to be able to pick out the onions, we'll chop them a little thicker so they're easy to pull out, but since we love onions, we'll chop them thinly so they distribute evenly throughout the salad.

Whole Grain Mustard – A high-quality whole grain mustard adds so much depth to the recipe without overpowering the flavors. In mustard “grains” refer to mustard seeds, so the use of a whole grain mustard in this salad recipe will add the flavors without overwhelming the cool creaminess.

Mayonnaise – Mayonnaise is an emulsion of an oil, egg yolk, and an acid (usually either vinegar or lemon juice.) It adds the creaminess to the salad, and is the solid base of an ideal salad dressing.

Italian Seasoning – Italian seasoning is a blend of various spices that lends itself well to a variety of dishes. It usually contains marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil. Although each brand of Italian Seasoning blend is different and proprietary, they are often similar.
Garlic Salt – Garlic salt is one of the most versatile spices in the cabinet. It adds the savory zing of garlic and also satisfying saltiness.
White VInegar – White vinegar adds acidity that adds a clean crispness to the dressing and a solid finish.

Once you'e gathered your ingredients we'll use the following method:

First, using a vegetable peeler, peel your cucumbers. If you prefer to leave a little bit of skin for color, this works well particularly with the soft skin of English cucumbers.
Cut the cucumbers lengthwise, then chop thin slices of cucumber.
Cut the skin off the red onion and chop onion finely.
Add the cucumber slices and onion to a medium bowl and toss together.
Spoon mustard, mayonnaise, sprinkle Italian Seasoning, Garlic Salt, and pour White VInegar over the veggies. Mix well to distribute all the ingredients evenly.

Kitchen notes

Can't get English Cucumbers? Although English cucumbers aren't available everywhere, if you can't find one, whatever cucumbers you have available will work. After peeling and cutting lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. When slicing you'll have nice little half-moon shaped slices.

Increase protein and reduce fat in this salad by substituting Greek yogurt for the mayonnaise.

If you don't love the grains of whole grain mustard, substitute a Dijon mustard.

Allow the salad to sit in the refrigerator for at least a few hours. It will allow the flavors to all settle beautifully.

A few answers

Are there other spices we can add?

This is a great base recipe to use to let your creativity run wild in the kitchen. We would suggest trying it with a little dill weed, tarragon, or even a few mint leaves chopped up. We like to add mint when we're serving this salad with lamb, it seems to set off the dish perfectly.

How far ahead can we make this recipe?

You can make this recipe up to four days in advance! It will stay up to five days in the refrigerator, so it's a solid side to make when it fits into your schedule.

Will the mustard make it spicy?

We find that a whole grain mustard adds a nice depth without making it too spicy. It's cool and creamy without being overpowering. If you don't like mustard, you can substitute an equal amount of mayonnaise or yogurt. It won't give you quite the same flavor but will maintain that nice consistency.

Serve it with

Cucumber salad is a good, easy side dish for hearty main dishes – we love serving this recipe with grilled dinners like grilled lobster tails griddled Greek gyrosand beer can chicken!

For more of our favorite easy main dish recipes, please find some of our recent favorites below: