Cucumber Vinegar Salad

Our Cucumber Vinegar Salad hits all the right flavor notes and is kid-friendly, making it the ideal side dish for summer dinners, your next potluck, or backyard barbecue. We selected red onions for their potent antioxidant power and cucumbers with thin skins and smaller seeds for their ease of consumption. Vinegar and a little sugar help us temper the onion's sharpness. Fresh dill adds brightness and big herby flavor—a must for this recipe. Keep reading for our expert tips on ingredient selection, herb substitutions and more.

Tips from the Eating Well Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

We prefer Persian and English cucumbers for salads because they have thin, edible skin and small seeds, making them less watery than the American variety, which, if you must use it, should be peeled and deseeded.

Cutting the cucumbers evenly into thin slices will help them stay crisp and allow them to absorb more flavor.

White wine vinegar is used in our recipe, but you can use any vinegar you have on hand, like champagne, white, apple cider, or rice. You can leave out the onions if you don't like them, but we included red onions because of their sweet and tangy flavor.

Nutrition Notes

Cucumbers are a great vegetable for many dietary plans because they are high in water and low in calories and carbohydrates. They are also very versatile for different cuisines. Cucumbers have potassium, which can help pull sodium out of the body and is helpful for blood pressure support.

Red onions are a source of vitamin C for immune support, healthy fiber for digestive health, and potassium for heart health, all of which are found in white or yellow onions. The red/purple color in the skin also shows that these onions contain anthocyanins, which are antioxidants that can help protect your cells from damage

Ingredients

6 Persian cucumbers

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

¼ cup white-wine vinegar

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

¼ teaspoon ground pepper

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Directions

Using a mandoline (or a knife), thinly slice 6 cucumbers ¼ inch thick. Transfer the cucumber slices to a fine-mesh strainer set over a large bowl; sprinkle with 2 teaspoons sugar and ½ teaspoon salt. Toss to combine. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minute

Discard any liquid in the bowl and wipe it dry. Transfer the cucumbers to the bowl and toss with 1 cup onion, ¼ cup vinegar, 2 tablespoons dill and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 days