Our Italian Cucumber Salad is full of refreshing, crunchy flavour that is extremely packable for outdoor entertaining or for weekday lunches.
What is the Secret to this Salad 🤫?
As cucumbers are mostly made with water it can result in water logged salads.
The solution to this is to salt your cucumbers and drain off the excess liquid. Your dressing will taste even better as it is not diluted and it will intensify the flavour of your cucumbers.
Ingredients and Substitutions
This Italian Cucmber Salad is super simple to put together, it is really just baby cucmbers and some onion tossed together. What makes it exceptional is the fresh italian dressing that we have tossed them in.
- Qukes or Cukes: I prefer qukes for this salad as they are super crunchy and crisp, their skins are mild and they are chock full of refreshing, sun sweetened flavour.
- Red Onion: We have used red onion in this salad first of all because it is mikder than white or brown onions and for a ppopmof magenta colour. Swap for french shallots/eschallots as they are also mild.
If you have to use white or brown onions then I recommend rubbing thme in some salt and rinsing them in cold water to tone down their pungency. - Fresh Italian Dressing: Now this womderful fresh herb dressing is reallynthe magic in this salad, and is well worth the extra few minutes it takes to blitz it together.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 - Prepare Cucumbers and Onion
Wash cukes and pat dry, trim the ends, cut them in half lengthwise, then in half again to make quarters.
Place them in a colander and season with a couple of pinches of salt.
Allow to sweat for 30 minutes then pat them thoroughly dry.
In the meantime, slice red onion in half and remove the papery skin from the onion half. Slice the onion into thin slices.
Step 2 - Blitz Vinaigrette
Wash your parsley and basil stems, then shake to remove excess water and pat dry.
Pick the leaves from the stems, then roughly chop them. You will need one tablespoon of basil leaves and two tablespoons of parsley leaves.
Place all your vinaigrette ingredients in a small food processor or high-speed blender, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
Blitz the ingredients until the herbs are broken up and the dressing is well combined.
Taste and adjust seasonings according to your personal preferences.
Step 3 - Assemble Your Salad
Place all the salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper.
Pour over dressing and toss well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings according to your liking.
Arrange your salad in a salad bowl or platter and add a sprig of basil to garnish.
What Can I Serve with It? 🍽
A super delicious Italian Cucumber Salad is ideal to serve with any Italian style meal - try it with any pasta, veal parmigiana, steak pizzaiola or chicken osso bucco or fruitti di mare.
Pairs with everything g from meats, poultry, fish and seafood.
Tips and Questions
What Are Quks, Dukes or Cukes?
They are the babies from Persian or Lebanese cucumber varieties and are picked when very small making them young, tender, great for salads and perfect for snacking on.
Can I Use Any Other Cucumbers?
- If you can’t find cukes then small seedless cucumbers are best try Persian, Lebanese, English or Kirby cucumbers.
I do not recommend regular cucumbers as they have tough skins and water filled seeds as this will make your salad soggy and dilute the tasty dressing. - To prepare regular cucumbers cut them into 1 inch / 2.5 cm batons.
Can I Make It Ahead?
- Absolutely, in fact, the longer you leave the cucumbers to marinate in our delectable Italian vinaigrette the tastier this salad will become.
- It can be made at least 1-2 hours in advance if you would like it with some crunch or the day before for pickly tangy flavour.
- The dressing can be made 4-5 days in advance and kept in a sealed container in your fridge so that it’s easy to shake when you need to mix it up before making up the salad to serve.
Can I Meal Prep it for Weekday Lunches?
Yes again! Just make it up and portion it in your containers, for some added protein try some meatballs, grilled chicken or tinned tuna or salmon. For vegans try some chickpeas or falafel.
Other Cucumber Salads You May LIke
Recipe Card
Equipment
- Small Food Processor or High-speed Blender
Ingredients
- 500 grams cucumbers cukes / qukes 2 packs; 17.64 oz
- ½ red onion 60 grams, 2.11 oz
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
- 6 tbsps olive oil
- 2 tbsps wine vinegar either red or white
- 2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil chopped
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
Instructions
- Wash cukes and pat dry, trim the ends, cut them in half lengthwise, then in half again to make quarters.
- If you are using regular cucumbers cut them into 2.5cm / 1-inch batons.
- Place them in a colander and season with a couple of pinches of salt.
- Allow to sweat for 30 minutes then pat them thoroughly dry.
- In the meantime, slice red onion in half and remove the papery skin from the onion half. Slice the onion into thin slices.
- Wash your parsley and basil stems, then shake to remove excess water and pat dry.
- Pick the leaves from the stems, then roughly chop them. You will need one tablespoon of basil leaves and two tablespoons of parsley leaves.
- Place all your vinaigrette ingredients in a small food processor or high-speed blender, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
- Blitz the ingredients until the herbs are broken up and the dressing is well combined.
- Taste and adjust seasonings according to your personal preferences.
- Place all the salad ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a pinch of freshly cracked black pepper.
- Pour over dressing and toss well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings according to your liking.
- Arrange in a salad bowl and keep chilled until ready to serve.
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