Creamy cucumber salad is a dish I grew up with; it brings back memories of dinners at my Grandma Mary’s house.
This summertime staple is a fresh addition to any picnic, barbecue, or potluck with crisp cucumbers, fresh dill, and a simple sour cream dressing.
This easy recipe is fast to prepare with ingredients you likely have on hand.
Ingredients in Cucumber Salad
Cucumbers – Use long English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers for this recipe as have thinner skins and don’t require peeling (although you can peel them if you prefer).
Field cucumbers can have tough skins, so they should be peeled (or peel some strips). The seeds in field cucumbers are larger and can be scraped out with a spoon.
Onions – Sweet white onion or red onion is optional but adds great flavor to this cucumber salad. Thinly slice the onion and soak it in cold water while preparing the salad to take off a little bit of bite from the onion.
Variations – This salad is great with fresh garden herbs like basil and dill. Chop up your favorites and stir them in.
Dressing – Making this cucumber salad dressing is easy. Combine sour cream, mayo, vinegar, seasonings, and a touch of sugar. You can replace sour cream with plain Greek yogurt if you’d like.
How to Make Creamy Cucumber Salad
The best cucumber salad recipe is one that is simple so the cucumbers really shine.
- With a sharp knife or mandolin, slice the cucumber ¼-inch thick. Thinly slice the onion if adding per the recipe below.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients in a bowl and toss with the cucumbers, onion and dill.
- Refrigerate one hour before serving. Garnish with additional chopped dill.
To Make Cucumber Salad Ahead
This recipe can be made 4 or 5 hours in advance for the best flavor; this way, the cucumbers stay crisp!
If you’d like to make it further ahead, slice the cucumbers and onions if using, and store them separately from the dressing in an airtight container. Combine the two an hour before serving.
Storage
Creamy cucumber salad will up to 2 to 3 days in the fridge. Drain any juices before serving, and add a little bit of extra sour cream if needed.
More Cucumber Favorites
Did you make this Creamy Cucumber Salad? Be sure to leave a rating and a comment below!
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 2 long English cucumbers
- ⅓ cup white onion sliced, optional
For the Dressing
- ½ cup sour cream or plain greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ¼ cup fresh dill chopped
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon white sugar
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash the cucumber and cut it into slices ¼-inch thick.
- In a large bowl, whisk the sour cream, mayonnaise, dill, vinegar, sugar and 1/8 teaspoon salt.
- Add the cucumbers and onions if using and gently toss well to coat.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.
- Taste and season with additional salt and pepper and sprinkle with fresh additional dill if desired.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Salad, Side Dish
Cuisine American
Diet Vegetarian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
this was my first time ever making cucumber salad… and what I did was:
1/2 cup mayo
2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar
few dashes of Italian salad dressing (I didn’t measure just kind of eye balled it lol)
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
few teaspoons of dill relish
mixed it all together and cut up 2 cucumbers and tomatoes and done… my family loved it it came out very good… thank you for sharing your recipe :)
I have made this so often, I never measure….I add chives instead of onion. I use about a tablespoon of ranch dressing mixed with the sour cream and about a tablespoon of apple side’s vinegar. My mom made cucumber salad often. Sometimes I add cherry tomatoes and some chopped green and/or red pepper. Chill and eat!
You mention lemon juice as one of the ingredients but it isn’t listed in the actual recipe.
There is no lemon juice in this recipe Sandee, updated.
This recipe has the right sour cream to mayonnaise ratio. I have an old, old recipe that calls for way too much mayo (and I love mayo!) and it isn’t a refreshing dish. This is just right!
Thank you Sarah! So glad you loved the salad!
i love your receipes
i love it!!!
AMAZING!!! I am under 10 and my family ate the whole dish in just 5 minutes!!! Such easy instructions! Thank you Holly!
I loved this recipe! It was so flavorful for so few ingredients. I will definitely make this one again.
Super
The cucumbers with yogurt delicious.
So glad you enjoyed it!
My family did not care for this, creamy is correct, way too creamy with out much flavor. I had to throw this out. Will not try again.
So sorry to hear that Jill, we have made this recipe many times with great success.
Not that great. Just kind of messy and not a whole lot of flavor. Marinate a cucumber in white balsamic, dill weed, olive oil, half of a lime’s juice and red onion. It’s the difference between Tuesday afternoon and a Friday Night.
We love the flavors in this recipe Riley! But that does sound delicious as well. Thanks for sharing.
Cucumber salad reminds me of the one my late mother would make
I hope you enjoy the recipe Brian.
Love cucumber salads
Me too Lucy! I could eat it everyday in the summer when cucumbers are fresh from the garden!
I thought the vinegar was way overpowering. I added more sour cream and mayo to tone down the vinegar but didn’t use all the dressing. Next time I would do only one tablespoon of vinegar.
You can actually just make it really easily with only cucumbers and sour cream. Maybe a little salt and pepper. We’ve been doing it in our family for years
Yum!
That’s how my grandmother always made it. This dresses up the classic a little. Yummy either way!
Sounds delicious, can’t wait to try it.
Enjoy, Keith!
Where do you find fresh dill, never used it
You can find this in the refrigerated herb section at most grocery stores. Ask someone in the produce section for help :) Enjoy!
This is a Turkish cucumber salad.
Love the simplicity of this. Made it as written but also like how I can adapt it and substitute herbs I have on hand and it is still refreshing. I like how the dressing has very little sugar. I usually make with salmon as an accompaniment. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed it!
Yum! I am such a cucumber salad fan. Thanks for the shout-out for my Green Bean Summer Salad too!
You’re welcome, I can’t wait to try your salad!!
So good i loved it