This creamy cucumber salad is easy to make for a summer salad or picnic side dish with sliced cucumbers, red onion and a sour cream dressing with fresh dill.
More salad recipes I love to make for barbecues and potlucks include corn and tomato salad, orzo salad and cucumber tomato salad.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Cucumber Salad
- Easy recipe: This cucumber salad with sour cream comes together in just 10 minutes with no cooking. Chop vegetables, combine dressing and enjoy this summer salad!
- A refreshing crowd pleaser: This salad is one of my top recipes to bring to a BBQ! It’s light and refreshing with the perfect balance of crisp texture and tangy flavor. I love it for a snack or easy lunch!
Recipe Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Cucumbers: I prefer English cucumber that have a thinner skin. Garden or field cucumbers can be used, but you may want to peel their thicker skin and scoop out larger seeds.
- Red onion: If you find that a red onion has too much bite for your taste, soak it in cold water for a few minutes. Alternately, white onion can be used.
- Sour cream: Adds creaminess to this cucumber salad!
- Dill: Fresh dill weed is my favorite, but fresh basil or parsley could be used.
- Lemon juice: Fresh lemon juice adds a zing of fresh taste, but red wine vinegar can be used instead.
- Sugar, salt and pepper: A little bit of sugar balances the tangy dressing ingredients while salt and pepper enhance taste.
How to Make Creamy Cucumber Salad
Combine dressing ingredients including sour cream, fresh dill, sugar, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a small bowl and stir to combine.
Thinly slice fresh cucumber and red onion. For thin cucumber slices I love to use sharp knife, but a mandoline also works. Place cucumber and thin slices of red onion in a large bowl and add creamy salad dressing.
Stir cucumber salad recipe to combine and serve immediately or chill and cover for a few hours until ready to serve.
Tips and Variations
- How to prevent runny cucumber salad: Cucumbers are 90-95% water! You can salt your cucumbers to draw out excess moisture and set them on a plate lined with paper towels.
- Fresh dill: Fresh dill is an important ingredient in this recipe and should not be substituted with dried dill, save the dried herbs for my ranch dressing!
- Sour cream. You can use Greek yogurt if you would like a lighter dressing or you can even use 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 mayonnaise. If you choose to use mayo, avoid Miracle Whip.
- Adjust taste to your preference. I love to taste the dressing as I go! Add a little more salt, pepper, vinegar or even a dash of garlic powder.
Try these other salad recipes including Olive Garden salad recipe, coleslaw and broccoli salad with bacon.
More Cucumber Recipes
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Creamy Cucumber Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 2 English cucumbers
- ¼ cup red onion , thinly sliced
Dressing
- ½ cup sour cream (or greek yogurt)
- 1-2 Tablespoons fresh dill , chopped
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice , or red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt , more to taste
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper , more to taste
Instructions
- Prep cucumbers. Wash the 2 cucumbers and thinly slice.
- Combine dressing ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 – 2 Tablespoons chopped dill, 2 Tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper.
- Toss cucumber salad and serve. Add the cucumbers and onions, and gently toss. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
I love to use crisp English cucumbers as they have thinner skins with less seeds. Persian cucumbers are another favorite. Any cucumbers you have on hand, though, can be used including ones from the garden or farmer’s market.
If you plan to serve the salad within 2 hours, you can make this ahead of time and store it covered in the fridge. Stir before serving. To make it farther in advance, you could cut the cucumber and onion and store them separately in the fridge. Combine sour cream dressing ingredients and store covered in the refrigerator up to 24 hours.
This creamy cucumber and onion salad is best to serve immediately and eat within a few hours. If you have leftovers, store them covered in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, but you will need to drain the bowl each time and the cucumbers will become markedly less crisp the longer they sit.
While it does keep in the refrigerator for a day or two, it is generally best to serve and eat it immediately. The longer it sits the watery juices from the cucumber will affect the texture of the sour cream dressing.
Categorized as: 4th of July, American, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, Reader Favorites, Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetarian, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
This reminded me of a salad my mom used to make when I was growing up. I like the addition of red onions and we ate this with some chicken shawarma and naan. Super yummy!
Sounds like a fantastic dinner!
My kids love cucumbers, and this salad is so perfect for lunches, picnics, parties, and even just for snacking! I will defiantly be making again.
So glad you enjoyed it and your kids, too!