Thai Cucumber Salad

This Thai cucumber salad is a refreshing and crisp salad with cucumbers and cilantro in a fresh dressing of rice vinegar and sesame oil. It is a perfect summer side dish! 

What Is Thai Cucumber Salad?

Thai cucumber salad is a light and refreshing Thai recipe that is quick to put together and packs lots of flavor. 

It makes a nice summer alternative to a coleslaw. 

Traditionally, this cucumber salad is served as an appetizer or side dish. If eaten as an appetizer, it it typically slightly spicy and served with chopped peanuts on top.

If served as a side dish, the peanuts are generally omitted and the heat is dialed back in the salad so that it is a refreshing accompaniment to a spicy main dish. 

We love that this salad is such a great way to use up a garden cucumber abundance. It is super simple to make, super fresh in flavors, and it makes a great side dish to other Thai dishes like Thai grilled pork skewers, larp chicken salad, or Thai basil chicken.   

The Dressing For Thai Cucumber Salad

Thai food is known for its unique balance of sweet, savory, and spicy.

You will find many variations of this salad, some use lime juice and fish sauce to create that flavor balance. Other recipes use rice vinegar and sesame oil to create the sweet and savory combo. 

The two variations will create a very differently flavored sauce, so feel free to give them both a try. 

Personally, we find fish sauce to have a very strong flavor, and for a light summer salad, we tend to prefer the fresher, lighter flavor that rice vinegar and sesame oil give. So that is the route we took for our recipe below.  

What Is Rice Vinegar?

Rice vinegar is a lightly acidic vinegar with a mild flavor that is made from rice wine. (Sometimes rice vinegar is also called rice wine vinegar.) 

You'll find it in the Asian section of most grocery stores and is great to have on hand for flavoring stir fries and other dishes like sushi, hoisin sauce, and egg rolls.

It's hard to fine an exact substitute for rice vinegar. With its mild acidity and slight sweetness, most other vinegar comes in too kicky.

But, if you're in a pinch, you could substitute rice vinegar with some champagne vinegar or slightly diluted apple cider vinegar. You could also use white wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar added in. 

Other Cucumber Salads

If summer has hit and your garden is full of cucumber, you'll want to check out our recipes for German Cucumber Salad, Chinese Tiger Salad, Persian Salad Shirazi, and Traditional Greek Salad to make good use of your bounty!

Have you ever had a cucumber salad at your favorite Thai restaurant? Let us know how you liked it in the comments below!

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Yield: 3 cups of salad

Thai Cucumber Salad

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This Thai cucumber salad is a refreshing and crisp summer salad with cucumbers and cilantro in a fresh dressing of rice vinegar and sesame oil.

Prep Time 35 minutes

Additional Time 2 hours

Total Time 2 hours 35 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb (3 med) cucumbers, sliced thin
• 1 teaspoon salt

For The Dressing

• ¼ c rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes or chopped red Thai chile (more or less to taste)

For The Salad

• ½ red onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• ¼ c peanuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

Instructions

1. Slice cucumbers and toss with 1 teaspoon salt. Set aside to sweat for 30 minutes.
   
2. While your cucumbers are resting, combine the dressing ingredients and set aside.
   
3. After resting your cucumbers, rinse and drain them. Pat dry and place in a bowl.
   
4. Add the sliced onion and chopped cilantro to the cucumbers.
   
5. Add the dressing and mix to combine.
   
6. Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered, for 2-3 hours to let the flavors come together.
   
7. Serve topped with chopped peanuts, if desired.
   

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

9

Serving Size:

⅓ c
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 45Saturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mg

Sarah - Curious Cuisiniere

Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.

www.curiouscuisiniere.com/about/