Creamy Cucumber Pasta Salad takes my favorite summer cucumber salad and turns it into a delicious meal. Loaded with tender pasta, crisp juicy cucumbers, fresh dill and sweet white onion, this dish will be the hit of every potluck!
The recipe combines two of my favorite summer side dishes. Creamy Cucumber Salad meets pasta salad in this amazing side for a perfectly refreshing new summer staple! I love a good pasta salad, not only are they easy to make but they can usually be prepared well ahead of time making them the perfect potluck dish!
Fresh crisp cucumbers in a simple and creamy sauce loaded with dill from the garden is tossed with your favorite pasta. The dressing in this salad doesn’t have a lot of ingredients, but that’s really the beauty of this recipe!
If you have access to fresh dill, it really makes a huge difference in this salad. For a great twist you can also add in a handful of chopped tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes or a squeeze of lemon juice.
While it’s not required, soaking the onions in cold water for a few minutes takes just a little bit of bite out of them. When purchasing white onion for this recipe, you’ll want to be sure you’re getting the white onion with a white papery skin (not the yellow papery skin). The white onions are much milder and sweeter and won’t overpower the other ingredients in this recipe.
If possible try to toss this at least 1 hour before serving to allow the flavors to blend.
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber
- ½ pound medium pasta such as penne or rotini
- ½ sweet white onion
Dressing
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Set aside.
- Thinly slice onion and place in a bowl of cold water. (see note)
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Run under cold water to stop cooking.
- Cut cucumber in half lengthwise and remove seeds using a spoon. Slice into thin slices.
- Toss all ingredients in a large bowl. Let sit at least 40 minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad
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That’s way more clever than I was exgneticp. Thanks!
Love this! I just made it and I Is delicious, I had a cucumber going bad and didn’t know what to do with it- All the ingredients are things I have in my pantry.
Also a great way to stretch some simple ingredients when you’re budgeting!
That’s great to hear, Kat! I love creating recipes that help save money :)
I don’t love sour cream and I also don’t have any right now! Do you have a suggestion for a substitute or if I should change anything if I were to leave it out?? This looks so good and I can’t find any other cucumber pasta salad recipes!
You could use plain yogurt if you like it. If not a high quality (or homemade) ranch dressing would work well.
Just made this and eating it now. SO DELICIOUS. Had a bunch of cucumbers from a family member and didn’t know what to make, so glad we tried this! Definitely going to make again for a bbq side dish!! Thank you for sharing this!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Tara! :) Perfect for all of those end of summer cucumbers!
This salad is insanely GOOD. Thank you so much for sharing! We will be adding this to our regular rotation.
I’m so glad you loved it!
Love your salads big hit at my church.
So glad everyone enjoyed this Janet!
made the dill pickle one and it was a real hit. thanks to you
So glad you enjoyed it!
the dill pickle pasta salad was awesome and so easy to make. going to try the Hawaiian pasta salad and the creamy cucumber pasta salad
So glad you enjoyed it Barbara!
I have red wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, and rice vinegar..can I use one of those in place of the white vinegar?
I have only made this as written. Of the 3 you’ve suggested I would try the apple cider vinegar first.
is a way i can Make the sauce vegan
I don’t follow a vegan lifestyle so I can’t say for sure.
Holly,
Will the salad with dessing hold up well if made the night before or will it become watery? I am making it for a pot luck birthday party tomorrow.
It should hold up fine overnight.
Have made the dill pickle pasta salad 3 times in 2 weeks. It is to die for and doesn’t last more than 2 days in my household :D
YAY!! So glad you loved it!
I don’t see how much pasta to cook.
Sorry, disregard this message. I guess it was a Sr. Citizen’s Moment. lol
LOL Eileen! I have moments like that way too often!
It’s listed as the second ingredient, right after the cucumber. 1/2 lb. pasta such as ziti.
I just made the creamy cucumber pasta salad, and it is beyond yummy. I love it! I used a Vidalia onion. Thank you so much for this great recipe. 5 stars!
So glad you loved it Brandi!! :)
This looks amazing! Do you think I can sub plain greek yogurt for the mayo and sour cream? (I’ve seen that substitution before in recipes.)
You can certainly sub the sour cream for greek yogurt (and I often do). The mayo does add a little creaminess to this recipe so I would suggest keeping at least a small portion of mayo. If not, the texture/flavor will change slightly.
Okay, mayo is no big problem. I just wanted to eliminate the sour cream portion! Thank you! Can’t wait to make this soon!
Enjoy Melissa!
On your creamy cucumber salad raw broccoli is also great with it .
Yummy addition, thank you for sharing!
Salads look so good I need to try because I love all Ingredients
For how long its can stay in refrigerator
Thank you Holly
We’ve kept this up to 3 days in the refrigerator.
Lovely salads Holly. Thank you
Thank you Liz!
This is summer in a bowl. Love it!
Thank you Averie! It’s one of our favorite refreshing pasta salads!
This looks so summery and fresh and cool. Have printed recipe and heading to store first thing tomorrow. Can’t wait to try it.
Enjoy June!!