Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad
Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad is a classic salad made with cucumbers and fresh dill, and it’s refreshing and perfect for summer. And this is a MUST MAKE salad when you have fresh garden cucumbers!
PIN the sweet and sour cucumbers to try it later!
As soon as I start getting lots of garden cucumbers this Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad is the type of salad I love for a summer side dish. It’s a simple recipe that includes cucumbers, salt, white wine vinegar, sweetener of your choice, and black pepper, and then what bumps this up into the category of memorable cucumber salads is the addition of lots of fresh dill.
I love dill, so I used even more than the recipe called for, but even if you think you’re not that crazy about dill I’m begging you to try some in this salad. Another thing that makes the sweet and sour cucumbers such a great summer salad is that it’s made in advance, and then chilled in the fridge for an hour (or longer) before serving.
I like this delicious and refreshing cucumber salad with dill so much that I’m reminding you about it for my Friday Favorites pick this week! What are you waiting for? Get some cucumbers wherever you can, and make this salad!
What ingredients do you need for this salad?
(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- cucumbers
- coarse grind kosher salt (or coarse grind sea salt)
- White Wine Vinegar (affiliate link)
- Granulated Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) or other sweetener of your choice
- fresh ground black pepper
- chopped fresh dill
What if you don’t have fresh dill?
I haven’t tried making the salad with dried dill weed (affiliate link), but I am guessing it would still be pretty good! I’d use just a tablespoon or so of dried dill, and if anyone tries that I’d love to hear how it works!
What sweetener did I use for the Sweet and Sour Cucumbers?
I’m a fan of Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) and that’s what I’d use for this salad. But any sweetener you prefer will work, even sugar if you don’t care about the carbs.
How to make Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad:
(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)
- I’d love to make this with garden cucumbers, but these European cucumbers from Costco were also great in the salad.
- I sliced the cucumbers with a Mandoline Slicer (affiliate link). (I got mine as a gift from a student about years ago!) You can also slice with a knife but the mandoline is faster and makes nice even slices.
- Put sliced cucumbers into a colander placed in the sink and sprinkle over 1 T coarse-ground salt, mixing it a bit with your fingers. Let sit 15 minutes.
- While cucumber drain, wash the fresh dill, spin dry or dry with paper towels, then chop.
- Mix together white wine vinegar, Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) or sweetener of your choice, and black pepper and then stir in the chopped dill. (I confess, I added a bit more dill after I took this photo!)
- After 15 minutes, pat cucumbers dry with a paper towel. (The water that’s released will wash off most of the salt.)
- Mix cucumbers with the dressing in a plastic bowl that has a tight-fitting lid (or use a Ziploc bag.)
- Refrigerate cucumbers with dressing for an hour or longer, turning the bowl over a few times if you’re around.
- Serve cold.
Make it a Low-Carb Meal:
When it’s hot outside, I’d eat this with something like Marinated Flank Steak, Rosemary Mustard Grilled Chicken, Grilled Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar, Chicken Souvlaki, or Grilled Shrimp Skewers for a tasty low-carb dinner!
More Cucumber Salads For Summer:
- Cucumber and Radish Salad with Feta Dressing
- Tomato, Cucumber, and Radish Salad
- Tomato Salad with Cucumber, Avocado, and Cilantro
- Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing
- Al’s Famous Hungarian Cucumber Salad
Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad
This Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad is delicious with fresh garden cucumbers and fresh dill.
Ingredients
- 2 European cucumbers, thinly sliced (see notes)
- 1 T coarse grind kosher salt (or coarse grind sea salt)
- 1/2 cup white wine vinegar
- 3 T Monkfruit Sweetener
- 1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill (or more)
Instructions
- Cut ends of cucumbers, but do not peel.
- Slice into thin slices. I used a 3mm blade in the Mandoline Slicer (affiliate link), but you can also thinly slice the cucumbers by hand.)
- Put cucumbers in a colander placed in the sink and sprinkle with 1 T coarsely ground kosher salt.
- Mix it around a bit with your fingers so all the cucumbers have some salt on them.
- Let cucumbers sit and release water for 15 minutes.
- While cucumbers drain, wash dill, spin dry or dry with paper towels, then finely chop.
- Combine white wine vinegar, Monkfruit Sweetener or sweetener of your choice, and fresh ground black pepper, then stir in the chopped dill.
- After 15 minutes, pat cucumbers dry with paper towel. (Most of the salt should have been washed off by the water that was released.)
- Put cucumbers into a plastic bowl with a tight-fitting lid (or use a Ziploc bag.)
- Pour dressing over cucumbers and stir to combine.
- Refrigerate cucumbers with dressing for an hour or longer, turning the bowl over a few times if you’re around.
- Serve cold.
- This will keep in the fridge for a day or so, although I liked it best after just an hour in the fridge.
Notes
If you don't have European Cucumbers, use 4 medium garden cucumbers. I'm a fan of Monkfruit Sweetener (affiliate link) but use any sweetener of your choice.
This recipe adapted slightly from Bon Appetit, July 2004.
Nutrition Information
Yield
6Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 17Total Fat 0gSaturated Fat 0gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 0gCholesterol 0mgSodium 1165mgCarbohydrates 3gFiber 0gSugar 2gProtein 0g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Cucumbers are a wonderfully low-carb food, and made with an approved sweetener this Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad would be a perfect side dish for low-carb, Keto, and low-glycemic diets and any phase of the original South Beach Diet.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Cucumbers or Salad Recipes to find more recipes like this one.Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe was first posted in 2010. It was last updated with more information in 2023.
23 Comments on “Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad”
Very tasty. Went very well with fish!
Thanks Julia! So glad you enjoyed it!
I wish when I print your recipes, the picture would be included. I like your recipes and have made some of them. Thank you Mary Lou
I changed that and a few other things recently after getting a lot of feedback from readers who wanted the printed recipes to fit on one page. I wasn’t able to make every single recipe fit on one page but not a lot more of them do. Unfortunately you can’t have everything, so we had to remove the photos to make the recipe shorter.
Glad you are enjoying the recipes!
cucumbers are so easy to grow it is to cold here as we are in the middle of winter but will put it in my recipe book for the summer as it sounds so nice and yes I think I will add some red onion
Hope you enjoy Karen. I think red onion would be good in this.
This sounds delicious! Cucmbers are super inexpensive at my produce market right now so I am trying tons of new recipes. I put another dill cucumber recipe up on my food blog today, a creamy Persian-style with yogurt.
So glad you like the idea!
This sounds perfectly fresh and flavorful! I love dill and have a few cucumbers in my garden waiting to be picked! Thanks for always providing healthy fresh recipes Kalyn!
Joanna, that's a great idea to put a weight on the cucumbers to get even more water out!
Mmmm this is one of my favorite salads ever! Following a tip from my dad (since he's the chef in my family!) I make one small modification. When the cucumbers are in the colander, I weigh them down with another bowl, which really helps squeeze out every last bit of moisture before adding the dressing. I also cut the cucumbers as thin as possible, I think a little thinner than you based on your pictures. It's sooo good!
I make a similar salad which includes sliced red onion, sliced orange or red pepper and finely chopped thai red chili pepper, sugar or splenda is omitted. Delicious SB friendly and a hit at the potluck bbq parties!
We made a similar salad last week, but added red onion and feta. So light and refreshing for these hot days.
Lauren, it's hot here in Utah too; this is a great salad for hot weather.
Cara, be patient with the cucumber. I've only had one from my garden so far.
Lydia, wish I could give you some dill.
Dara, this would be great with Salmon!
Angie, I haven't tried liquid stevia, but it would be a good alternative for this.
Dani, I'm a big dill fan too.
If only my cucumbers were doing that well… I'd love to be eating this salad soon!
Hello Kalyn! That cucumber salad looks so flavorful and refreshing. A great way to beat the summer heat down in here in Florida without heating up the stove for veggies. Thanks for the inspiration!
I love dill with anything! This salad looks so refreshing and I too like the idea of adding some onions:). I am off to the farmers market in a few minutes so I may just have to pick up some cucumbers!!
I love this salad, I have been making the same thing, but with plain white vinegar and liquid stevia. I will make sure to get the white wine vinegar on the next grocery run, thanks for the tip!
So many memories are flooding back. This is very similar to the salad my family likes to serve alongside a large piece of grilled salmon. Wonderful flavors!
I love simple cucumber salads like this. Although I've never been able to grow dill in my garden, whenever I find it at a farm stand I make half-sour pickles and cucumber salads. They really do taste better the longer they sit in the fridge.
Jan, I like the addition of onion too!
Yum!
I make a very similar salad. Slice cucumbers and white onions thinly. Combine equal parts water, vinegar (any flavour will do),splenda, salt and pepper. Pour over cukes and onion. Let sit in fridge for at least an hour. Gets better the longer it sits.
I am going to throw dill into mine. What a great idea.