Use up garden-fresh cucumbers for this fresh cucumber salad that is crisp, refreshing, and easy to make. It’s a wonderful, cool side dish for a cookout, grilled dinner, or even eaten as a light lunch. Just a few simple ingredients are needed for this cold picnic salad recipe, perfect to make ahead and take to a potluck or picnic!

If your garden is overflowing – trust me, mine has! This is the best recipe to use up instead of letting all of those cucumbers go to waste, along with this recipe for Refrigerator Pickles. These are both my go-to recipes when cucumbers are in mass supply! This recipe uses those cucumbers along with a few pantry ingredients, then it’s chilled in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

What you’ll love about the Cucumber Salad Recipe:

This recipe is no-bake, so you won’t have to heat your kitchen!
It’s naturally gluten-free and made with fresh ingredients.
Budget-friendly because of the pantry ingredients.
Easy to make ahead and chill until you are ready to serve it!

Ingredients needed for Cucumber Salad:

Cucumbers
Red Onion
Celery Seed
Salt
Vinegar
Water
Sugar

If you do not have white vinegar, cider vinegar does work but it will make the cucumber salad a bit sweeter.

Step-by-Step Instructions for Cucumber Salad Recipe:

Slice the cucumbers and onions, perfect to do with a mandoline.
Place them in a large bowl.
Sprinkle with celery seed and salt.
In a small saucepan, bring vinegar, water, and sugar to a boil until the sugar is well dissolved.
Carefully pour this mixture over cucumbers and mix it up well.
Place in an airtight container, cover, and seal.
Chill in the fridge for 2+ hours.
Serve chilled.

Tips for Making Easy Cucumber Salad:

Slicing the onion and cucumber is very easy with a mandoline or by thinly slicing with a sharp knife.

I prefer the mandoline over a knife because uniform thickness is the only way to ensure every bite marinates evenly, this allows each cucumber to come out perfectly even.

The next thing is deciding what type of cucumbers to use. English Cucumbers are a great choice as they have softer outer skin and do not have large seeds. These are commonly known as a hothouse cucumber. That thinner skin means no peeling is required.

Warming up the ingredients in the saucepan will allow the sugar to dissolve and soften the vegetables.

Red onion works best for this and gives it a nice addition of color as well. Red onions have a great sweetness to them.

Red radishes can also be added, or if you want a spicy kick, add red pepper flakes.

How do you store leftovers?

Cucumber salad can be stored for up to 4 days in the fridge in an airtight container, and it can also be made in advance for 4 days. It’s best served very cold, so the longer it’s stored in the fridge, the better it will taste with a great crunchy texture.

By day 3 the cucumber will have softened some, to eliminate some of the extra liquid, drain some out before serving.

Cucumber Salad uses up delicious cucumber slices along with those pantry ingredients to make a wonderful cold picnic salad with a ton of great fresh flavor. This recipe is light and crisp, and honestly, you could just eat it with a fork straight out of the bowl for a light snack, it’s that good!