Cool and flavorful Creamy Cucumber Salad has crisp fresh bites of cucumber with thin slices of onion, wrapped in a light and tangy dilly dressing. A perfect potluck side!
Summer calls for light, cool side dishes that go well with outdoor cooking. This salad is the perfect size and features chunky, crisp cucumber, onion and dill and just the right amount of dressing,
Creamy Cucumber Salad offers a nice balance to everything BBQ!
What You’ll Need to Make Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Fresh Cucumber – You need about 4 cups of fresh cucumber, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces.
- Onion – You can use any onion you like. We prefer a milder onion for this dish. Yellow or white onion works fine but shallots or chopped green onions are delicious and add color!
- Mayonnaise – any mayonnaise may be used, regular or low fat.
- Salt, Pepper & Sugar – We don’t get fancy here. Pantry staples.
- Cider Vinegar – Cider vinegar is our overwhelming favorite for summer salads but if you don’t have any, just use whatever vinegar you have. White vinegar, wine vinegar, sherry vinegar – they will all work!
- Dill – Fresh or dried, either will work! If using fresh, use 1/2 tablespoon, if using dried, 1/2 of a teaspoon.
- Garlic powder – Plain old granulated garlic or garlic powder. Fresh garlic could be used but you can mince 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic instead if you prefer.
How to make Creamy Cucumber Salad
Fresh and easy salads are a great summertime treat. This Creamy Cucumber Salad has a tasty light dilly dressing and is an awesome side for any barbecue or picnic.
This recipe makes just enough so that there’s usually not any leftovers either!
Peel cucumbers and cut into bite sized chunks. Place into a medium bowl. Sprinkle salt over the top and toss to combine.
The salt will pull some of the fluid out of the cucumbers and soften them.
Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
In the meantime, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, cider vinegar, dill, garlic powder and black pepper to create the dressing.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
After the 30 minutes has passed, stir and drain the cucumber. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels or spin in a salad spinner and then return to the bowl.
Thinly slice the onion and add to the cucumber then pour the refrigerated dressing over the top.
Stir to coat.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 24 hours) and stir before serving. Enjoy!
Other Delicious and Easy Potluck Favorites
Perfect Potluck Pasta Salad – A simple, adaptable perfect Potluck Pasta Salad made with pantry ingredients. Assembled, chilled and ready to eat in about 45 minutes!
Three Ingredient Fruit Dip – How do you make a fruit plate even better? With this easy and yummy three ingredient fruit dip.
Super Simple Sesame Noodles – packed full of flavor and simple to make using pantry ingredients!
Party Pretzel Bites – these delicious little bites are addictive and always welcomed at any gathering.
Spicy Deviled Eggs – Tender boiled egg whites topped with a light and creamy egg, mayonnaise and mustard mixture, a little spice and just a hint of dill.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups cucumber peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup onion sliced thinly
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Peel cucumbers and cut into bite sized chunks. Place into a medium bowl. Sprinkle salt over the top and toss to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, in a small bowl, whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, cider vinegar, dill, garlic powder and black pepper to create the dressing. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- After the 30 minutes has passed, stir and drain the cucumber. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels or spin in a salad spinner and then return to the bowl.
- Thinly slice the onion and add to the cucumber then pour the refrigerated dressing over the top. Stir to coat.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 24 hours) and stir before serving. Enjoy!
Nutrition *
* The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator.
Judith says
I made this today and I thought it was awesome..I have never had mayo with cucumbers before so I wasn’t sure about that..it was soooo delish..I was amazed..thanks for sharing..love your blog!!
The Bandit says
Thank you Judith! I am so happy to hear that you tried this recipe and liked it. I used to be totally against mayonnaise but I have realized that it is a fantastic base for so many things that I had never considered before. Now if I could just conquer my fear of yogurt… 😉
Carol says
My husband is growing cucumbers and we have more than we know what to do with. I’m definitely going to try this.
The Bandit says
I had cucumbers growing and then the AZ heat came and now they’re just fried little vines. 🙁