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Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream

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

½ cup sour cream
2 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
½ tsp dried dill
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. sea salt
1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
¼ red onion, thinly sliced

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.

Makes 4 servings.

Cook's Notes:

  • This salad is best when freshly made because the salt in the dressing will draw the moisture out of the cucumbers and cause the salad to get watery if refrigerated for a day or more. Luckily, this salad is really easy to scale down, or, if you know you plan to eat the leftovers for a few days, you can salt the cucumbers ahead of time to draw out the excess water. But salting the cucumbers will make them softer, which is why it’s not my personally preferred method.
  • To pre-salt the cucumbers, place the sliced cucumbers in a large colander and toss with ½ tsp. salt. Let the cucumbers drain for about ½ hour, then pat dry with a paper towel. Since the cucumbers will already have some salt on them, skip adding salt to the sour cream dressing and just add salt to taste once the salad is assembled.

Ingredients:

  • Cucumber: The base for this salad, cucumbers add a deliciously fresh flavour and a nice crunch. You can use conventional or English cucumbers for this recipe but I suggest scraping out the seeds if using conventional cucumbers.
  • Sour Cream: This is the base for the creamy dressing. You can substitute yogurt for the sour cream or even add a little mayonnaise to make it extra rich and creamy.
  • Lemon Juice: Lemon juice provides a nice acidic balance to the richness of the sour cream, so the flavours remain light and fresh.
  • Sugar: Sugar helps create flavour 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.
  • Dill: Dill and cucumbers are the perfect flavour pairing. You can use fresh or dry dill.

Frequently Asked Questions:

  • Can I Use Fresh Dill? Creamy Cucumber Salad is often made with fresh dill, but since fresh dill can sometimes be hard to find or more expensive, I made the version below with dried dill. You can certainly use fresh dill if you have access to it. I’d use about 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill in place of the dried dill.
  • To Peel or Not to Peel the Cucumbers? It’s totally up to you whether or not you want to peel the cucumbers. I love the contrast of colour the peel provides, but some people experience digestive upset with cucumber peels, so peel them if you prefer. You can also scrape out the seeds if those bother you as well.

What Else Can I Add? This super simple creamy cucumber salad is really flexible and many people make their own unique versions. If you want to branch out from the basic version, here are a few other ingredients you can:

  • Substitute Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.
  • Substitute mayonnaise (2-4 Tbsp.) instead of sour cream to make the dressing extra rich.
  • Use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar in place of the lemon juice (this gives the salad a tangier flavour).
  • Add some sliced radishes, for extra crunch and vibrant colour.
  • Use white onion in place of the red onion, for a more subtle flavour.
  • Add in some grape halved tomatoes.