A refreshing and delicious vegan cucumber salad recipe. Thinly sliced cucumber and red onion slathered in a creamy vegan dressing with fresh dill, crushed garlic and lemon juice.
It's a perfect Summer side salad and easy to make with everyday ingredients.
Now that it’s springtime and the last bit of cold weather is almost behind us, we can look forward to lighter meals, longer evenings and time outside with friends. YAY!
And that’s relevant because the dish I’m making today is really versatile, and ideal for sharing at Summer picnics, barbecues and parties.
This vegan cucumber salad recipe is the first of a short series of vegan cucumber recipes. The humble cucumber is terrific added to salads, blended in smoothies or turned into a refreshing juice. It's very popular with raw vegans, of course.
If you’re curious about raw foods, I hope you’ll find these posts helpful: 10 raw food techniques you'll love, 10 ways to start with raw food and 6 healthy foods raw foodies love.
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Ingredients
My vegan cucumber salad recipe uses only 7 ingredients. It's very simple and quick too. It takes me about 10 minutes to put together, if I have the mayonnaise made up already.
If you want to make the mayo yourself I have a great recipe for you, one of my most popular posts: Easy Cashew Mayonnaise.
- Cucumber. Cool, refreshing and crisp, made up mostly of water.
- Red onion. Spicy and sour. Sweeter and milder than white onions.
- Vegan Mayonnaise. Rich and creamy tasting, it forms the base of this vegan salad dressing.
- Lemon juice. Adds a fresh citrus tang and slight sourness to counter the richness of the mayonnaise. It also helps to thin the mayonnaise down into a dressing.
- Mustard powder. Adds a little warmth and spice to the cucumber salad.
- Garlic. I include it for its distinctly pungent and earthy flavour.
- Fresh Dill. A light, fresh, herby flavour that pairs well with cucumber and lemon.
- Salt & Pepper. Add to your taste.
Step by Step Instructions
See the recipe card below for full details.
Step 1. For this cucumber salad with mayonnaise, quickly prepare the dressing by adding the dressing ingredients to a bowl then whisk together until fully combined.
AStep 2. Slice the red onion very thin, then add it with the cucumber to a bowl and pour over the dressing. Stir gently.
Substitutions
- Swap English cucumbers for baby cucumbers if you’d like vegan cucumber salad to have more crunch.
- Red onion generally tastes gentler than a standard white UK onion, so I prefer red onion in this recipe. A good alternative would be to use finely chopped chives or spring onions.
- If you find raw garlic a touch too strong in flavour, try a pinch of powdered garlic instead or a few wild garlic leaves.
- Swap dill for parsley, mint or any other fresh herb and use as much or as little as you like.
- You can, of course, omit the mustard powder or try a little Dijon mustard instead.
- Instead of lemon juice, you could swap it out for apple cider vinegar.
Storage
It’s best to enjoy this creamy salad on the day. Although, you can keep it for 1-2 days if stored in a lidded container in the fridge.
Store the dressing separately and add to the vegan cucumber salad before serving to avoid it turning soggy.
Not suitable for freezing.
How to stop the cucumber salad from getting watery
This vegan cucumber salad with mayonnaise is best prepared just before serving. A little preparation can prevent the cucumbers and the dressing from becoming a soggy mess.
Firstly, once you’ve sliced the cucumbers, lay them on a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. You’ll need to leave them alone for 15-30 minutes, enough time for the salt to draw water from them.
Secondly, pat the cucumber dry with kitchen paper, wiping off the salt. Alternatively, you can give the cucumber slices a quick rinse under cold water before drying. I do this sometimes to stop the cucumber dill salad from being too salty.
I don’t add any additional salt to this recipe afterwards otherwise it becomes too salty.
Always do a taste test before adding any more seasoning.
Top tip
Using a mandolin will help you to get even slices from the cucumber and red onion. It’s not essential though, a regular paring knife will do.
FAQ
It’s not essential to peel cucumbers for this cucumber salad recipe but rather a matter of your personal preference.
The healthiest way to eat cucumbers is raw, as cooking destroys some of their vitamin content.
Cucumber lasts up to a week in the fridge.
Related recipes
Looking for other raw recipes with cucumber as an ingredient? Try these:
Pairs well with
These are currently my favourite dishes to serve with vegan cucumber salad:
📖 Recipe
Vegan Cucumber Salad
Equipment
- mandolin with a hand guard to protect your fingers (optional)
- A paring knife
- Small bowl
- medium size bowl.
- hand whisk
Ingredients
- 1 whole English cucumber, sliced
- 1 very small red onion
Dill Mayonnaise Dressing
- 4 tablespoon mayonnaise, heaped tablespoons
- 3 tablespoon fresh dill, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 small clove garlic, crushed
- ⅛ teaspoon mustard powder
Instructions
- Prepare the dressing. Peel, then crush a garlic clove. Roughly chop a few stems of dill, until you have about 3 tablespoons. Half a lemon and squeeze 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a small bowl. Whisk the dressing ingredients together until you have a beautifully smooth and creamy dressing.
- Finish the cucumber salad. Slice half a red onion very thin, saving the other half for use in another recipe. Take the English cucumber and slice that into rounds about 3mm thick. Add the ingredients to a medium size bowl. Pour over the salad dressing, then gently toss together until everything is lightly covered with mayonnaise. Sprinkle with any leftover torn dill before serving.
Notes
Tips
If you prefer a thinner dressing add a little more lemon juice.If you want a thicker dressing add more mayonnaise. Season to taste the cucumber salad with mayonnaise with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
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