This Chinese Cucumber Salad is simple and refreshing, with a mild garlic flavor balanced with the perfect amount of salt and rice vinegar. The secret is making a mild garlic oil in addition to a little bit of raw garlic!
What’s Different About This Cucumber Salad?
Chinese cucumber salads are hugely popular these days. Smashed, chopped, salted, chili oil-ed, and vinegar-ed they’re a great option for easy summer dinners, as an appetizer, or served with bowls of noodles for an easy vegetable.
The flavors for a cucumber salad are often strong and spicy. This Garlic Cucumber Salad results in a mild flavor that’s a non-spicy alternative to my mom’s Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad, which is loaded up with raw garlic, chili oil, soy sauce, and cilantro.
What’s more, I’ve found that a lot of Garlic Cucumber Salad recipes out there offer up substitutions and mixtures of Chinese black vinegar or rice vinegar, and highly variable ratios of raw garlic to cucumber, and soy sauce to sesame oil.
I’ve come to have a new appreciation for a simple, pure garlic Chinese cucumber salad—and the ratios to get there! It can be tricky to pull off if you’re not paying attention!
Perfect for Summer Cucumbers
My mom grows cucumbers in our backyard every summer, so we have cucumbers all season for quick and tasty cucumber salads like this one, which round out dinners and offer a cooling dish to combat the summer heat.
In fact, the cucumbers you see here are from her garden! As you’re selecting cucumbers, it’s best to use ones that have fewer seeds like English or Persian cucumbers, but you can use any kind you have on hand––just be sure to deseed as needed.
Chinese Cucumber Salad Recipe Instructions
First prepare the garlic. When you’ve minced all of the garlic, set aside the equivalent of 1 clove.
Mix the oil and the rest of the garlic together, and set over medium-heat in a saucepan. Cook lightly for 2-3 minutes. Some foam will appear as the water in the garlic escapes. Do not let the garlic brown! This process takes about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
Chop the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and then into ½-inch chunks. Transfer to a bowl.
Add the garlic oil, salt, sugar, pinch of MSG if using, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Finally, add the reserved minced raw garlic.
Stir thoroughly to coat everything.
For the best results, let sit for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld.
Chinese Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 6 cloves garlic (minced very finely, almost like a paste)
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 2 English cucumbers (or 6-8 Persian cucumbers; if you can't find seedless cucumbers like these, just de-seed regular cucumbers)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon MSG (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Instructions
- First prepare the garlic. When you’ve minced all of the garlic, set aside the equivalent of 1 clove.
- Mix the oil and the rest of the garlic together, and set over medium-heat in a saucepan. Cook lightly for 2-3 minutes. Some foam will appear as the water in the garlic escapes. Do not let the garlic brown! This process takes about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Chop the cucumbers into quarters lengthwise and then into ½-inch chunks. Transfer to a bowl. Add the garlic oil, salt, sugar, pinch of MSG if using, sesame oil, and rice vinegar. Finally, add the reserved minced raw garlic. Stir thoroughly to coat everything.
- For the best results, let sit for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld.
Jesse says
Just made this and it is amazing!! I made a second one and decided to add the everything bagel seasoning and it really added a new depth of flavor. Would recommend trying it!
Kaitlin says
Thanks, Jesse! Very nice tweak adding the everything bagel seasoning! We’ll have to give it a whirl.
Judy says
English cukes are different sizes how many cups of cukes should I have
Kaitlin says
Hi Judy, I would say we had about 4-5 cups of chopped cucumbers.
Jonnette says
Refreshing and delicious! It was so easy to make… Thank you for another 5 star recipe!
Kaitlin says
Thank you Jonnette!
Brandy says
Whelp, I was looking for ways to get more vegetables in me. This’ll work swimmingly. Thanks!!
Kaitlin says
Isn’t it grand when things are tasty *and* healthy? :)
Keri says
What type of oil should I use?
Kaitlin says
Hi Keri, any mild oil works well: avocado oil is our latest kick, but vegetable oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil would all be fine.
Steve says
Grapeseed oil is another name for canola oil; right?
Sarah says
Grapeseed oil is different from canola oil, Steve!
Alene says
#1. Easy and fast; #2. Delicious and refreshing. I love cucumbers, and this is perfect. I prefer it to sour cream based cucumber salads, which are what I usually make when faced with lot of cukes. And I always have the ingredients in my pantry. This will be my new go-to cucumber recipe for awhile, I’m sure. Thank you! And, by the way, I just love your blog and your recipes.
Kaitlin says
Thank you, Alene! So glad you enjoyed the recipe–not to mention the website :) My mom always makes sure to grow lots of cukes in the summertime too, and this is so easy to prepare.
Ann says
I’ve found it also helps if you quickly pickle the garlic by letting it sit in the vinegar for a couple hours before preparing the recipe.
Kaitlin says
That’s a great tip, Ann! I’ll definitely try that the next time I make this!
Iro Te-Ariki says
Can i use apple cider vinegar with my cucumber dish?. I’m sure will be a choice summer salad with boil eggs an cold chicken legs .Hummy.
Kaitlin says
Hi Iro, yes! Sounds like a lovely summer lunch :)
mability says
Delicious, refreshing, easy!
Kaitlin says
\(^_^)/
Maureen says
Should I assume you are using unseasoned rice vinegar?
Kaitlin says
Hi Maureen, yes unseasoned, but I think it would probably be okay with either one.