Asian Cucumber Salad

This Asian Cucumber Salad is an easy 15-minute crunchy cucumber salad with a spicy soy dressing. It’s the perfect side dish for any Chinese or Asian dinner.

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Asian sauces are delicious on vegetables, and you might have tried one of my crowd-favorite Asian Brussels Sprouts, which are absolutely scrumptious. But when it’s hot outside, or you feel like something fresh, light, and crunchy that doesn’t need baking, this salad is convenient.

This Asian cucumber salad is made from mini cucumbers, also called Persian cucumbers. Some recipes use spiralized cucumber, which consists of cutting the cucumber in a spiral shape between chopsticks. It means that one cucumber creates one single long spiral.

But the most conventional recipe uses thinly sliced mini cucumbers in a sweet, spicy sauce. Let me share with you how I make a batch of this recipe in under 15 minutes.

Ingredients and Substitutions

All you need are the following:

• Persian Cucumber – These are tiny cucumbers, keep their skin on and slice them into 1/4-inch thick slices. You can use a mandolin or sharp knife.
• Rice Wine Vinegar – or white wine vinegar.
• Lime Juice or simply more rice vinegar.
• Toasted Sesame Oil – Or classic sesame oil.
• Chili Oil – or more sesame oil if you don’t have chili oil or want’ a less spicy salad.
• Soy Sauce – or tamari sauce if gluten-free.
• Garlic – fresh minced garlic or garlic powder.
• Brown Sugar – or coconut sugar.
• Red Pepper Flakes – only if you didn’t use chili oil or the salad will be too hot.

How To Make Asian Cucumber Salad

It takes only 15 minutes to make a batch of this easy Asian cucumber salad.

First, wash and pat dry the cucumber. Cut off the extremities of each mini cucumber with a long sharp kitchen knife. Don’t peel the cucumbers.

Now, use a mandolin or knife to cut each cucumber into thin slices of about 1/4 inches. Place the thinly sliced cucumbers in a salad bowl. Set aside.

Make the Asian cucumber salad dressing by whisking all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl: rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil, and soy sauce.

Pour the salad dressing onto the thin slices of cucumber and toss to coat evenly.

Refrigerate the salad for one hour for the best flavors.

Variations

Calling this salad ‘Asian’ is probably a bit general since there are so many different flavors in Asian cuisine.

Below I narrow down some ideas to adapt this recipe and make it fit your Asian theme:

• Thai Cucumber Salad – Use lime juice instead of rice vinegar, add one tablespoon of fish sauce, and a bit of finely chopped Thai chili instead of chili oil. Keep peanuts on top and add cilantro for a perfect Thai-cuisine taste.
• Japanese Cucumber Salad – Replace the chili oil with more sesame oil and use dried chili pepper flakes.
• Chinese Cucumber Salad – Replace the rice vinegar with black vinegar, also called Chinkiang vinegar.
• Korean Cucumber Salad – Replace the chili oil with Gochugaru, also called Korean chili paste. Serve with sesame seeds instead of peanuts and green onion slices.

Allergy Swaps

Below I listed some substitutions for you to try if you have some allergy to the ingredients used in this salad recipe:

• Nut-Free – You can replace the roasted chopped peanuts with sesame seeds or sunflower seeds.
• Gluten-Free – Replace the soy sauce with tamari sauce.
• Chili-Free – Replace the chili oil with more sesame oil.
• Sugar-Free– Replace brown sugar with any sugar-free sweetener you love, including brown erythritol.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are my answers to your most common questions about this easy Chinese-style salad:

More Salad Recipes

If you like this easy Asian cucumber salad recipe, below are some more salad recipes you’ll love: