Zach’s Favorite Cucumber Salad
I’m not going to lie to y’all: I make this cucumber salad in bulk every single Sunday through most of the summer. It lives in our fridge from roughly June to September. It’s incredibly simple, it’s incredibly versatile, and it goes with nearly everything I pull off the Kamado, which is most of what we eat once it’s warm out. Zach requests this salad, by name, and eats it like the world was running out of cucumbers. He builds his summer lunches around it: a wrap or a sandwich made from whatever grilled chicken tenders are in the fridge, and a big scoop of this on the side. It’s cold, it’s crunchy, and it gives him a pile of food without much heaviness, which is exactly what you want when it’s ninety-five degrees and you still have to be a functional person after lunch.
I make a batch on Sunday and it holds all week. That’s the part that still surprises me; most salads with anything fresh in them are sad and weepy by day three, but this one just gets better. The cucumbers stay crunchy, the dressing keeps soaking in, and by the second day it tastes like it’s been marinating in a good idea. (More on why in a minute.)
The most important thing to know going in is that this is a guideline, not a hard and fast recipe. The amounts below are how I make it for a hungry house. Scale it down if you’re cooking for fewer people, or if you don’t happen to have a Zach.
Here’s what it is, honestly: it’s my riff on the soy, rice vinegar, and chili oil cucumber salads you’ll find all over Chinese and Korean cooking, the ones built on chopped or smashed cucumbers dressed cold. I didn’t invent any part of this and I’m not going to pretend I did. I just landed on a version that Zach and I both reach for, and the engine of the whole thing is a heaping spoonful of chili crunch or crisp or whatever you call it. Use whatever brand you like, but a good homemade chili crisp is even better if you’ve got it. Zach adds more to his portion, every time, like clockwork.
Now, the cucumbers. You want either the little Persian cucumbers or the long English ones (skip the big waxy slicing cukes; too many seeds, too much water). Here’s where I’ll save you some money: you can buy those bags of mini cukes at the regular grocery store for an outrageous $5.99 for five or six of them, or you can go to a farmers market or an Asian market and buy bulk Persian cucumbers for a fraction of that. We’ve got a Super H Mart, the Buford Highway Farmers Market, and the DeKalb Farmers Market within reach, and any one of them will sell you a mountain of cucumbers for what the grocery store charges for a handful. If you’ve got a market like that near you, use it.
A word on the tomatoes: cherry or grape, quartered, because they’re reliably sweet in a way that sad winter romas are not. If romas are all you have, seed them first so the salad doesn’t go soupy.
The dressing is barely a dressing: neutral oil (avocado, around here), rice vinegar or mirin, a little soy, and that chili crunch. That’s it. No emulsifying, no whisking a vinaigrette into submission. You pour it over, you toss, and you walk away.
And then the actual secret: make it ahead. Like all of these salads, it’s better the second day, once the vinegar and soy have gotten into the cucumbers and the onion has mellowed from sharp to friendly. If you can stand to wait, wait. If you can’t, it’s still good the first day; it’s just showing off by day two.
That’s the whole thing. Zach’s summer lunch, and my go-to for when I want something to go with grilled anything and cannot face the heaviness of potato salad. (I love potato salad. I do. But not every day, and not in August.)
Zach’s Favorite Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 9 cups diced cucumbers English or small Persian ones
- 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes quartered
- 2 cups red onion diced small
- 1 med red bell pepper seeded and diced small (optional)
- ¼ cup neutral oil avocado is our standard
- ½ cup rice vinegar or mirin
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp chili crisp or chili crunch heaping, plus more to taste
Instructions
- Combine the vegetables. Put the cucumber, red onion, bell pepper (if using), and tomatoes in a large bowl.9 cups diced cucumbers, 2 cups red onion, 1 med red bell pepper, 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- Dress it. Add the oil, rice vinegar (or mirin), soy sauce, and chili crunch. Toss well to coat.1/4 cup neutral oil, 1/2 cup rice vinegar or mirin, 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1 tbsp chili crisp or chili crunch
- Wait, if you can. Cover and refrigerate. It’s good right away, better after a few hours, and best the next day.
- Re-toss and taste before serving; wake it up with more chili crunch or a splash more vinegar if it needs it.
Notes
- Keeps: holds crunchy in the fridge up to a week. Give it a re-toss before serving.
- Vegan if your chili crunch is (most are, but a few contain shrimp or fish, so check the jar).
- Mirin vs. rice vinegar: mirin adds a little sweetness, rice vinegar keeps it sharp. Use what you like, or a little of both.
- Zach’s move: an extra spoonful of chili crunch on his own portion, always.
P.S. If you’re taking this to a cookout, it’s the low-drama option: no mayo, so it can sit out longer than the potato salad without anyone getting nervous, and it genuinely improves on the drive over.
P.P.S. The red bell pepper is optional. The batch I shot for this post skipped it and nobody rioted; add it for sweetness and color, or leave it out and nobody will know.
P.P.P.S. Zach would like it on the record that “a heaping teaspoon” of chili crunch is a suggestion for beginners, and that the correct amount is “more.” He is entitled to his opinion. I am entitled to make my own bowl.