Creamy Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing
Creamy cucumber salad is one of our favorite summer side dishes. The sour cream dressing and fresh dill are a perfect compliment to the crisp cucumbers.
It's great for picnics and grilling – or simply using up the bounty of summer cukes! The prep work takes just a few minutes, and it can be made ahead.
Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe
Andrea Chesman notes in The Garden Fresh Vegetable Cookbook that this is a favorite salad of the American South. She also mentions that it is a Finnish favorite, known in Finland as kurkusalaatti.
(Our readers chimed in on Facebook at noted that it's called Gurkensalat in German and Mizeria in Poland.)
I grew up with it on our summer table back on the farm, and at every summer church dinner.
See bottom of post for print friendly recipe.
Ingredients
- Sliced cucumbers
- salt
- sour cream
- vinegar
- fresh dill
- granulated sugar
- black pepper
Variations
- Add sliced red onion for extra color and flavor.
- No fresh dill available? Substitute 1 teaspoon dried dill weed for each tablespoon of fresh dill weed.
- Swap honey or non-caloric sweetener for the sugar.
- Add a little garlic powder or change the dill out for mint or basil.
- Use plain Greek yogurt, half and half or mayo in place of the sour cream.
- Try lemon juice instead of vinegar, or different types of vinegar.
Directions
Thinly slice the cucumbers and toss with salt in a colander. Allow to drain for about 30 to 60 minutes.
To make the creamy dressing, mix together the sour cream, vinegar, dill, sugar, and black pepper in a small bowl.
Combine the cucumbers (and onions, if using) and sour cream dressing in a large bowl. Toss gently to coat the cucumbers with the dressing. Add extra salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
Serve immediately, or hold up to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Stir well before serving and refrigerate any leftovers.
The salad will keep a few days in the refrigerator, but more water will separate from the cucumbers with longer storage.
Which cucumbers are best for creamy cucumber salad?
English cucumbers, which have smaller seeds and thinner skin, are commonly used for salads. If you use a thin skinned variety, you can skip peeling if you like.
We also grow Japanese Suyo Long cucumbers, which are wonderful for fresh eating, Armenian “cucumbers”, and pickling cucumbers.
Armenian cucumbers aren't really cucumbers at all, but a type of muskmelon. We like them best when they are around a foot long. The flavor is similar to regular cucumbers, and they are quite crunchy.
Pickling cucumbers tend to be short and blocky, with tougher skins. If you want to use large pickling cukes for creamy cucumber salad, peeling and removing the seeds is recommended.
To peel or not to peel your cucumbers?
Mom always raised pickling cucumbers, so we always peeled the cucumbers for creamy cucumber salad.
If you used thin skinned cucumbers, or don't mind skins, there's no need to peel. It's a personal preference.
To Make Ahead
If you'd like to make your cucumber salad a day ahead, prep the cucumbers and red onion separately from the dressing.
On the morning you want to serve, drain off excess water and mix the cucumbers, onions and dressing.
Creamy Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing
Creamy cucumber salad is one of our favorite summer side dishes. The sour cream dressing and fresh dill are a perfect compliment to the crisp cucumbers.
It's great for picnics and grilling – or simply using up the bounty of summer cukes! The prep work takes just a few minutes, and it can be made ahead.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 16 servings 1x
- Category: side dish
Ingredients
- 8 cups sliced cucumbers
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh dill weed or 3 teaspoons dried dill weed
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Thinly slice the cucumbers and toss with salt in a colander. Allow to drain for about 30 to 60 minutes.
- To make the creamy dressing, mix together the sour cream, vinegar, dill, sugar, and black pepper in a small bowl.
- Combine the cucumbers (and onions, if using) and sour cream dressing in a large bowl. Toss gently to coat the cucumbers with the dressing. Add extra salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
- Serve immediately, or hold up to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Stir well before serving and refrigerate any leftovers.
- The salad will keep a few days in the refrigerator, but more water will separate from the cucumbers with longer storage.
Notes
- Add sliced red onion for extra color and flavor.
- No fresh dill? Substitute 1 teaspoon dried dill weed for each tablespoon of fresh dill weed.
- Swap honey or non-caloric sweetener for the sugar.
- Add a little garlic powder or change the dill out for mint or basil.
- Use plain Greek yogurt, half and half or mayo in place of the sour cream.
- Try lemon juice instead of vinegar, or different types of vinegar.
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Love this salad. It reminds me of the cucumber salad my mom used to make when I was a kid. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Laurie for this recipe. My Mom use to make this when I was younger and living at home. I’m 80 years old now and this brought back a lot of memories! I really enjoy the cucumber salad and it’s nice to have something to do with all of the cucumbers being produced in the garden. I’m going to try making pickles next. Keep up the great work with your great family!
Thanks, Bob.
Picked tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and our first melon of the season today. We could use a good rain again, but the garden is doing quite well considering the rough start to the season with bizarrely high temps in spring.
My grandmother made this often but I was too young to appreciate the details of the preparation. Can you tell me if you rinse the cucumbers under water after they’ve been draining in the colander? … i.e. do you need to rinse to get rid of excess salt?
By the way, thank you for your website; just one of the best of it’s kind. Informative, but not ‘preachy’ …respectful of your readers, demonstrating your belief in their integrity while maintaining your own in a very friendly manner.
Hi Helen.
A good portion of the salt binds with the water it pulls out of the cucumbers and drains away, so I do not rinse.
Thank you for your kind words.
We too have had lots of visiting birds lately also.. Ours are mostly hummingbirds. I refill the feeders (4) nearly every day. They are so hungry & fly around the feeders in circles if they are empty. I refill them & they are there for awhile. I do enjoy these little ones. We strive to keep our little farm better than we found it. It is not easy when the temps are high but so worth it when you look out the kitchen window & see the fields & garden neat and well cared for. I always hate to see frost & my garden flowers & vegs. disappear for another season. Thanks for your blog, I will try your cucumber salad. Sounds good. Thanks again, Betty
We only get a few hummers, but they certainly are beautiful. We have their feeder on the deck just outside the window, and they sit on the laundry line and watch me through the kitchen window as I clean and refill the feeder. We put in a trumpet vine for them earlier this year that I think they will enjoy.
I don’t always keep the yard and gardens quite as tidy as I would like, but it is most certainly alive and appreciated by all.