Asian Cucumber Salad is an easy and delicious side dish to make. I usually pair it with some dumplings, wontons or my Korean Beef Tacos. When I go out to eat at a Korean, Chinese or Japanese restaurant, I always order it. From restaurant to restaurant, and culture to culture, they each have their own way of preparing it, and all of them are delicious and refreshing. I recommend trying it next time you are out to dinner at one of those restaurants.
This recipe for Asian Cucumber Salad is personally my favorite was of making it. It’s such a good little dish to snack on. I make bowls of it and nibble on it over a few days when I get snacky, instead of eating pretzels. I
I hope you enjoy this Asian Cucumber Salad!
Ingredients
- 4 cups of thinly sliced cucumbers (I usually use Persian cucumbers because they are easy to find and I scrape out all the seeds with a spoon before I slice)
- ¼ cup of very thinly sliced red onion rinsed (I use a small mandolin to get them ultra-thin)
- ½ cup of finely diced bell pepper of your choice (I like red because the color really pops)
- ¼ cup of chopped cilantro
- Sprinkle of sea salt and sugar (optional)
- Toasted sesame for garnish
- Optional as seen in photo: halved and thinly sliced radishes
Dressing
- 1-2 cloves of pressed garlic
- ¼ cup of rice wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tsp. soy sauce
- ½ tsp. toasted sesame oil
- ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp. sea salt
- If you want to add a little extra heat and give it more of a Korean Cucumber Salad taste add a little squeeze of Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste.
Directions
- If you want to make this quick to serve right away skip this step. Just slice and seed your cucumbers and proceed to the next step. If you have some time (extra 30 minutes) feel free to prepare your cucumbers this way instead. After slicing and seeding your cucumbers down the middle give them a little smash with the back of your knife, then proceed to slice them. Once all sliced add them to a colander in your sink and sprinkle with a little salt and sugar to pull out the water and add some flavor. Let them sit and drain in your colander for 20 minutes ( giving them a toss and a press here and there). Once the time is up give them a nice press and rinse and dry them off on a towel. Then do the next steps.
- Seed and dice your bell pepper, rinse and chop your cilantro and slice your red onion. I like to rinse the red onion under some cold water and then dry off after I chop it. This removes some of the zing and makes it a little milder. Add them all to a mixing bowl with the cucumber.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients, taste and adjust for seasoning as needed. Pour that over the cucumber mixture and toss. You can serve it right away or refrigerate and serve later. If you serve it at a later time, tosses the salad again and check for seasoning. The cucumbers will expel water so it might dilute the dressing a little.