This Cucumber Dill Salad is crisp, cool, and refreshing. It's made with fresh dill, garlic, and lemon juice for a tasty dish that can be served as a side or on its own.
If you love a cool and refreshing salad that's also deliciously crisp, then you have to try this Cucumber Dill Salad. It's made with fresh and flavorful dill, garlic, and acidic lemon juice for a dish that tastes amazing. The cucumbers are perfectly crisp and the flavors are so intense and tasty. It's a favorite in our house and I bet it will be in yours, too.
This salad makes a great side dish because the flavors can accompany lots of other sides and main courses. From proteins to pastas to soups, it makes a delicious pairing. You can also enjoy it on its own or with some bread as a light lunch or snack. Let's look at what goes into this Cucumber Dill Salad in more detail.
Video Tutorial
What you’ll need
- Cucumbers. Any cucumber can be used for this recipe, from English cucumbers to regular slicing cucumbers. The regular ones work best though. Make this salad with the peels on or off.
- Dill. Fresh is best for the most intense dill flavor.
- Lemon Juice. Freshly-squeezed tastes best, but you can use concentrate in a pinch.
- Garlic. You can use garlic cloves that you mince yourself or the pre-minced garlic sold in stores.
- Olive Oil. Or any kind of oil you like. I prefer unrefined sunflower oil if I have it.
- Salt and Pepper. To taste.
How to Make it
1. Slice the cucumbers into small sticks with a mandolin. If you haven't got one, you can also cut them using a knife.
2. Put the cucumber sticks into a mixing bowl with the fresh dill, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, then mix well. Serve.
Tips for the best Cucumber Dill Salad
- Use a mandolin. Slicing cucumbers is much easier with a mandolin than using a knife. It's also faster, so I suggest this.
- Use fresh ingredients. From freshly squeezed lemon juice to minced garlic and fresh dill, your Cucumber Dill Salad will taste so much better if you use freshly prepared ingredients.
- Cut the stems off the dill. This part of the fresh dill is fibrous and doesn't carry any additional flavor, so I suggest cutting the dill off the stems before adding it.
- Make it ahead of time. Save time by preparing this dish the day before. Store it in the fridge until serving time. Just pour out any excess water that the cucumbers have released while stored.
Add-ins and Substitutes
- Substitute the lemon juice. Lime juice or apple cider vinegar is an acceptable substitute for the lemon juice here. Both offer acidity and zesty flavor for the salad.
- Add vegan mayonnaise. Make this salad creamy by adding some vegan mayonnaise. It will make the salad richer and even more flavorful. Skip or reduce the amount of lemon juice in this case.
- Add onion. Add sliced onion to this dish for extra flavor. You can use white, yellow, or red, and just slice them very fine with the mandolin.
How to Store
Store this Cucumber Dill Salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. After that, the cucumbers become softer and less crisp and moisture leaks from them. The flavor is still good for about a week though.
What to Serve with it
- Pastas. Serve this with your favorite pasta dish, such as this Tomato Mushroom Spinach Pasta, Creamy Lemon Spaghetti, or Mushroom Bolognese Pasta.
- Proteins. Enjoy this Cucumber Salad on the side of some Vegan Black Bean Taquitos, Amazing Lentil Chili, or Vegan Black Bean Burgers.
- Soups. Serve it with a bowl of Vegan Potato Soup, Red Lentil Soup, Spinach Orzo Soup, or Cabbage Soup.
- Sandwiches. Make this the side to sandwiches or gyros, like these Vegan Gyros, Easy Chickpea Salad Sandwich, or Vegan Curried Chickpea Salad Sandwiches.
I hope you and your family love this Cucumber Dill Salad as much as we do. It's crisp and easy to make and refreshing. This can easily be a light meal or side dish to whatever you're serving. It's wonderfully versatile. Enjoy!
More tasty vegan salad recipes:
Cucumber Dill Salad
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lbs. cucumbers
- ⅓ cup fresh dill, chopped
- 1 medium garlic clove, minced
- ½ tsp. sea salt or to taste
- ½ tsp. pepper or to taste
- 1 ½ tbsp. lemon juice
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers into small sticks with a mandolin. If you haven't got one, you can also cut them using a knife.
- Put the cucumber sticks into a mixing bowl with the fresh dill, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper, then mix well. Serve.
Notes
Add-ins and Substitutes
- Substitute the lemon juice. Lime juice or apple cider vinegar is an acceptable substitute for the lemon juice here. Both offer acidity and zesty flavor for the salad.
- Add vegan mayonnaise. Make this salad creamy by adding some vegan mayonnaise. It will make the salad richer and even more flavorful. Skip or reduce the amount of lemon juice in this case.
- Add onion. Add sliced onion to this dish for extra flavor. You can use white, yellow, or red, and just slice them very fine with the mandolin.
I made this last night, it was fantastic! My changes were that I had to use fresh lime juice since I forgot I ran out of lemons, and I added a few splashes of champagne vinegar for some added acidity and sweetness. I already bought more cucumbers and dill to make it again this weekend!
Thank you so much! I appreciate the rating!
What can I use to replace the oil please?
Hi Maureen! You can use some yogurt. Enjoy!
I made this today. I love it refreshing. I love dill pickles so I figured I would like this. My husband tasted it and he loved it too. I loosely follow all recipes so I made a smaller amount and just added everything to taste. My one addition was some red pepper flakes for a little heat.
Great addition! Thank you for the feedback, Ruby!