This Quick and Creamy Cucumber Salad is the best for picnics, potlucks, barbecues, family dinners, or any occasion when a quick, delicious, and nutritious salad is in order. Chock full of crunchy cucumbers, zesty red onion, and the creamy tanginess of sour cream, mayo, and herbs, plus a bit of honey sweetness and citrus, this salad just screams summer.
If you love quick and easy salads, then you’ll also want to try making my Bacon Avocado Potato Salad, my Best Simple Tossed Green Salad, or my Chopped Asian Salad.
Why This Recipe Works
Great on the go — This Quick and Creamy Cucumber Salad is great for picnics, potlucks, barbecues, family dinners, or any occasion when a quick, delicious, and nutritious salad is in order. This cucumber salad is so easy to make and take — whether that’s to a family picnic or to your own backyard.
Taste and texture galore — Chock full of crunchy cucumbers, zesty red onion, and the creamy tanginess of sour cream, mayo, and herbs, plus a bit of honey sweetness and citrus, this salad has the most perfect texture and taste, you’ll be coming back for seconds…and thirds!
Perfect use of fresh summer veggies — When summer rolls around and the cucumbers in my garden or at the farmers market are at their peak, I immediately start thinking about how I use them all up in all the foods, and this creamy cucumber salad is top-of-mind, every time.
Simple ingredients — In addition to cucumbers, this recipe also uses red onion, sour cream, mayo, lemon juice, honey, and a few herbs and spices that you probably have in your spice drawer right now. Just slice, mix, and devour — easy!
Here’s How You Make It
- First, peel and cut the cucumbers into rounds and set those aside.
- Next, thinly slice the red onion and add that to the cucumbers (or soak it first if you are going that route).
- Whisk together the sour cream and mayo, adding in the spices, lemon juice, and honey, making sure to combine that well.
- Finally, add the cucumbers and red onion to the sour cream and mayo mixture and give it all a good stirring to coat all of the veggies. I like to serve mine right away but you could wait up to a day. Make sure you stir it before you serve it though!
Customizations
There are many ways you can riff on this salad.
- Use plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream.
- Skip the mayo and use Greek yogurt or just sour cream.
- Add smoked, grilled, or just plain old frozen corn (off the cob) into the mix for a touch of sweetness.
- Skip the dill or swap it for another herb you love.
- Change the red onions for white, yellow, or green or leave them out and sub in another veggie like some diced bell peppers, corn, or shaved carrots.
- Add some lemon zest if you like a little more lemon to your cucumber salad.
- Instead of garlic powder, try minced or crushed garlic.
- If you like a more tart salad, leave out the honey.
Expert Tricks and Tips
- This creamy cucumber salad will last about 2 days in the fridge. It will start to get too soggy to eat much after that. Do not freeze this salad, it will be gross and slimy upon thawing.
- For best results, add dressing right before serving.
FAQs
Pole cucumbers are the most common. They are the ones you see stacked or piled high and are usually under a dollar a cucumber. They are kind of waxy on the skin and so that’s why I like to peel this tough wax and skin off before cutting them and using them in food. They can be kind of seedy and watery. If you don’t like the seeds, then cut those out too.
English cucumbers are long and thinner than Pole varieties. They are usually sealed in plastic (why, I’m not sure…maybe so they don’t have to be coated in wax to keep?). They are my favorite kind of cucumbers, even though they are more expensive than the Pole cucumbers. However, they are bigger and have less seeds and a thinner skin, so I don’t always peel these for salads and other dishes.
Persian cucumbers are the smaller ones you’ll see packaged 5-6 together. They are great for veggie trays and for snacking. They are good in this salad too, but you’ll need to buy two or three packs of them to have enough cucumbers in your salad. This can get expensive and a little tedious.
No matter which cucumber you go with, you can’t go wrong with this summer cucumber salad!
More Side Dish Recipes
- Creamy Parmesan Spinach Orzo
- Greek Pasta Salad
- Mediterranean Salad with Greek Salad Dressing
- Greek Lemon Rice
- Spinach Artichoke Dip
Did you make this recipe? EXCELLENT. Please rate the recipe below and leave a review! And be sure to tag me on social when you share your creation – I love to see what you’re up to in the kitchen.
Best Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers - peeled and thinly sliced into rounds
- ¼ red onion - thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayo
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons honey
- ½ teaspoon salt - or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper - or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder - optional
Instructions
- Whisk together sour cream, mayo, dill, lemon juice, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Stir in cucumbers and red onions. Serve immediately or cover and chill for up to 24 hours – give it a good stir immediately before serving.
We LOVE Creamy Cucumber Salad. I’ve been making it for years, and we especially like it with the fresh cucumbers & Dill from our garden in the summer. Your recipe is very close to the one which I use (my mom’s) and it’s incredibly delicious. I do however, prefer to let the prepared salad sit in the fridge for at least a couple of hours before serving, in order to let the flavors meld together (but that’s just my preference). BTW, I sometimes used light Mayo & light Sour Cream (depending on what I had in the fridge) and it still worked well, and was every bit as tasty).
Thanks for your awesome input, Angelina!! I hope that you love this recipe as well 🙂