Creamy Cucumber Salad

4.90 from 59 votes

This simple Creamy Cucumber Salad is the quintessential side dish of summer. It's light, fresh, and so quick to prepare!

Prep Time15

Total Time15

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Total Cost: $1.58 recipe / $0.39 serving

Servings: servings (1 cup each)

Calories: 74kcal

Author: Beth Moncel

Equipment

Medium Bowl

Ingredients

½ cup sour cream $0.49*
2 Tbsp lemon juice $0.08
1 tsp granulated sugar $0.02**
½ tsp dried dill $0.05
½ tsp salt $0.02
1 large cucumber $0.67***
¼ red onion $0.25

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To make the dressing, combine the sour cream, lemon juice, sugar, dill, and salt in a bowl. Set the dressing aside.
Peel the cucumbers, if desired. Slice the cucumbers and thinly slice the red onions.
Combine the cucumber, red onion, and dressing in a large bowl and stir to combine.
Let the salad sit for 5-10 minutes, give it another stir, then serve.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Video

Notes

*Sour cream is the base for the creamy dressing. You can sub plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream or even add a little mayonnaise to make it extra rich and creamy.

**Sugar helps create flavor balance against the rich sour cream and acidic lemon juice. Some people prefer to leave out the sugar, which is an option if you prefer.

***You can use conventional or English cucumbers for this recipe, but I suggest scraping out the seeds if using conventional cucumbers. It's totally up to you whether or not you want to peel the cucumbers. I love the contrast of color the peel provides, but you can peel them if you prefer.

Meal prep tip: This creamy cucumber salad is best served fresh while the cucumbers are still crisp, but leftovers will keep in the fridge for a day or two. For longer storage, toss the sliced cucumbers with ½ tsp salt in a colander, drain for about 30 minutes, then pat dry before adding the dressing. This pulls out extra water so the dressing doesn’t thin as much, but the cucumbers will be softer, so I only do it when storage matters more than crunch. Skip the salt in the dressing and season to taste once mixed.

Nutrition

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