This Smashed Asian cucumber salad recipe is light, refreshing and perfect for the summer, but packed with flavor from a zingy dressing, garlic, and cilantro. It only takes 10 minutes to make – and there are other benefits of this perfect summer salad so just read on!
In our family, I’m the resident whacky Chinese medicine enthusiast—I drink the elixirs (check out Sarah’s experience from way back when here), read the most books, and enjoy the healing powers of a good Chinese foot massage. So I’ll start this recipe by saying, everyone knows that cucumber salad is a great summer dish, but do you know about its health benefits?
According to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), cucumber cleanses and detoxifies, it helps reduce high blood pressure, and, with its “cooling” element, also eases the internal heat of the body. In short, eat plenty of cucumber this summer!
In the US, you might find the odd tabbouleh salad, a dill pickle here and there, and perhaps a pitcher of cucumber water, but people in China take eating cucumbers to a whole new level. For example, we Americans would probably enjoy an ice cream cone (or gnaw on a turkey leg if you’re at Disney World) when visiting a park or a zoo in the US, but in China, you can see people crunching on mini cucumbers as they walk around, riding on the train, or taking a rest on the Great Wall. It’s an everywhere, anytime snack. Fruit peddlers peel them for you and they’re only RMB 1.00 (16 cents) a piece. A bargain!
This Asian cucumber salad is also a popular appetizer/cold dish (凉菜）on most restaurant menus. Besides the fact that it’s so easy to whip up, it’s crunchy, crispy, and its health benefits have won over many diners. We make this on a weekly basis during the summer because it’s so simple and refreshing!
Asian Cucumber Salad: Recipe Instructions
Note: if you prefer to omit the chili oil, heat up a tablespoon of oil in a pan and drizzle it over the cucumber. Seems weird, but in Chinese cooking, uncooked vs. cooked oil have different flavors and are treated as such!
Wash the cucumbers and pat them dry with a clean towel. Make the salad dressing by combining the salt, sugar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Set aside.
On a cutting board, lay a large knife flat against the cucumber, and smash it lightly with your other hand. The cucumber should crack open and smash into four sections.
Repeat along its full length. Once the whole cucumber is completely open (usually into 4 long sectional pieces), cut it at a 45-degree angle into bite-sized pieces.
In a large bowl, mix the cut cucumber with the prepared dressing, garlic and chili oil (or cooked plain oil), and toss it well. Serve, garnished with toasted sesame seeds and cilantro.
To stay healthy and keep cool this summer, check out some of our other delicious salads.
Smashed Asian Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 2 seedless cucumbers (about 1 to 1 1/2 lbs; 600g)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 3 teaspoons light soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2-4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 1-2 teaspoons chili oil (optional)
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- a small handful of chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Note: if you prefer to omit the chili oil, heat up a tablespoon of oil in a pan and drizzle it over the cucumber. Seems weird, but in Chinese cooking, uncooked vs. cooked oil have different flavors and are treated as such!
- Wash the cucumbers and pat them dry with a clean towel. Make the salad dressing by combining the salt, sugar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, and rice vinegar. Stir until the sugar and salt are completely dissolved. Set aside.
- On a cutting board, lay a large knife flat against the cucumber, and smash it lightly with your other hand. The cucumber should crack open and smash into four sections. Repeat along its full length. Once the whole cucumber is completely open (usually into 4 long sectional pieces), cut it at a 45-degree angle into bite-sized pieces.
- In a large bowl, mix the cut cucumber with the prepared dressing, garlic and chili oil (or cooked plain oil), and toss it well. Serve, garnished with sesame seeds and cilantro.
I find that whenever I use regular cucumbers, the skin of the cucumber is too thick for my liking. and the restaurant version of this recipe always tastes different. Do restaurants use different cucumbers like persians?
Hi Kaila, you should use Persian cucumber if regular cucumber’s thick skin makes you dislike cucumber ;-)
Why are the cucumbers smashed instead of cut into pieces?
Hi Clara, because rough edges can soak up a lot more sauce than smooth edges :-)
This was soooo good! I added fried peanuts which is how my favorite restaurant in Beijing used to serve it. It’s so hard to get authentic Chinese food where I live and this really hit the spot! Thank you!
You are so right, Tamar, many restaurants in Beijing have peanuts in their cucumber salad.
So delicious and easy! So glad to have found this recipe, which my family would make at home all the time. I like to add a bit more sugar and sesame oil and use less chili oil. To the whole family at The Woks of Life, thanks for preserving Chinese heritage in a beautiful website!
Wow, thank you so much for your amazing words!
Judy, I have a bunch of larger cucumbers from our garden that have seeds; can I still make this by de-seeding my cucumbers? Thanks, and love your recipes.
Yes, you can, Andy.
So delicious and easy to make! I love this recipe. I have made it without cilantro so far (since I haven’t had it on and) and it’s still gotten rave reviews.
I’ve found that I can make this a few hours in advance of serving and it still tastes great (if not even better, as the flavors have more time to marinate with the cucumber). I also don’t have a large knife but have been able to smash the cucumber into quarters just by pressing on it with my hands :)
Love it that you all loved it, Annie.