Recipe Review

The Only Side Dish I’ve Been Making All Summer (It’s Almost Too Easy — and Make Ahead!)

Lindsay Funston
Lindsay FunstonEditor-in-Chief at The Kitchn
I never wanted to work in food, but when I got placed as the food team intern at Real Simple magazine as a new college grad, I knew it was a better fit than fashion or beauty. I didn't really know how to cook, but I loved to eat, and the idea of writing about food seemed fun — who doesn't love it? I moved on to work as an editor at Martha Stewart's Whole Living (RIP) and Oprah magazine (RIP) before saying farewell to print magazines and joining the founding team at Delish, where I fell totally in love with producing food content for the internet. Over the years, I've traveled the country hosting my own video series, written cookbooks, and developed hundreds of viral recipes, including the now-famous Marry Me Chicken (yup, that's me!). I love helping readers (and all of my friends!) figure out easy but still wildly delicious things to cook for dinner, a holiday brunch, a weekend picnic, you name it. Sometimes all you need is a home-cooked meal to turn around a bad day.
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published Aug 7, 2024
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overhead shot of cucumber salad in a large white salad bowl, with a spoon resting in the bowl
Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe ; Food Styling: Rachel Perlmutter

Confession: I didn’t really recognize the appeal of a cucumber salad until this summer. Now before you @ me, there is an exception: I have long loved any Asian-style cucumber salad, whether it’s smashed with Sichuan flavors or swimming in a rice vinegar-sesame dressing like this Japanese-inspired side. But the classic Americana picnic dish that is a cucumber salad has never been able to call me a fan. That changed for me in May. When hosting my toddler’s 2nd birthday party, I needed to make a few salads to go with all the pizza we ordered. Classic Caesar was obviously on the list, and my favorite farro salad, but I was having the hardest time settling on a third. I wanted it to be supremely easy, to have a different texture from the other two, and, well, be supremely easy. I settled on our newly published perfect cucumber salad recipe, and you can consider me a convert after the first bite. 

Get the recipe: Perfect Cucumber Salad

Let’s start with the ease. This salad is four ingredients — okay, five because even though we list dill as optional it’s really not IMO, and we never count salt and pepper as ingredients because, yes, we assume those are sitting on your counter already and not something you need to consider for a grocery list. The fact that you can make something so delicious with only cucumbers, red onion, dill, vinegar, and sugar is miraculous really.

Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe ; Food Styling: Rachel Perlmutter

Ideally you’d have a mandoline (I guess?) to make sure the cucumbers are sliced real thin, but I didn’t have a problem using a little patience and getting them just right with my chef’s knife. The one important step of the whole salad is to let the cucumbers and red onion sit for 20 minutes after they’ve been salted. No soggy cukes here: The salt helps draw out their moisture and makes each slice super flavorful. You pour off the excess liquid (of which I had quite a lot!), then toss with a little vinegar (dealer’s choice! I used apple cider), sugar, black pepper, and dill — AND YOU’RE DONE. Supremely easy indeed.

The zippy flavor from the vinegar and refreshing crunchiness makes this salad such a welcome addition at the table, whether you’re at a picnic, potluck, or toddler birthday party. (No, no toddlers were interested in trying this salad, but the adults were very happy!) Since May, I’ve now made this salad more times than I can count this summer and it’s always met with people not believing how easy it is considering how delicious it tastes. Let’s just say that I officially get the cucumber salad appeal.

Get the recipe: Perfect Cucumber Salad

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Recipe Review
Salad