Name: Cucumber Tomato Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Ingredients: 1 English cucumber (sliced); 2 to 3 large ripe tomatoes (diced); ½ red onion (sliced); 1 tablespoon fresh herbs (parsley, basil and/or dill, optional); 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; salt and black pepper (to taste)

Cucumber Tomato Salad is a classic salad, light, cooling, and oh-so refreshing. This easy salad is made with sliced cucumbers & juicy tomatoes and enhanced with slivers of red onion and a tangy vinaigrette dressing.

Serve cucumber tomato onion salad next to grilled or roasted meats or fish, such as marinated beef or chicken kabobs, grilled salmon, or pork tenderloin.

Overhead picture of Cucumber Tomato Salad in a wooden bowl

How to Make Cucumber Tomato Salad

When the farmer’s markets start overflowing with juicy garden fresh veggies, I take my cue to make a big bowl of cucumber tomato salad.

Combine all dressing ingredients (per recipe below).
Slice all vegetables and toss with the dressing.

I love using a combination of fresh or dried oregano and basil in this salad to bring out its Mediterranean essence. Chopped fresh dill and-or parsley deliver equally excellent herbal notes.

Overhead shot of Cucumber Tomato Salad ingredients in a bowl before mixing together

English cucumber is ideal for this recipe. The peels are tender enough that there’s no need to remove them, and the seeds are virtually nonexistent. If you only have regular salad cukes on hand, those are perfectly suitable as well. Just peel them, and, if the seeds seem tough, scoop them out and then slice.

Dressing for Cucumber Tomato Salad

Honestly, this salad really doesn’t need much, a simple dressing allows the flavor of the veggies to shine and keeps the salad light and fresh.

A splash of vinegar and a bit of olive oil with salt & pepper. I most often use red wine vinegar but you can use your favorite (infused oils and vinegars are great here too).

Pouring dressing over Cucumber Tomato Salad in a wooden bowl

Can I Make it Ahead?

This salad tastes great served cold and can be made ahead. Of course it’s best made the day you’re serving it but you can keep it for a couple of days and drain any juices. Whenever I’m planning this dish and need to get a jump on dinner, I partially prep the tomato-cucumber salad.

In the same bowl you plan to make the salad, whisk together the wine vinegar, olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper.
Peel and cut the onion into slivers and toss in the vinaigrette.
Cover and refrigerate for up to a day in advance.

The onions will stay crunchy while helping the dressing mellow and develop flavor. To assemble the salad, all you have to do is slice the cucumbers and tomatoes, toss with the onion and vinaigrette mixture, and briefly refrigerate before serving.

More Fun Additions

You can have a lot of fun with this recipe, by treating it as a foundation. Go ahead and layer in other fresh and tasty ingredients like crumbled feta, mozzarella balls, avocado chunks or chopped fennel bulb. Got stale bread? Even better, turn this into a Panzanella Salad to make it a meal!

The options are limited only by your own creativity!

Salads with a Cucumber Crunch

Creamy Cucumber Salad – summertime staple!
Cucumber Onion Salad – light & refreshing
Cucumber Avocado Salad – simple 3 ingredient dressing!
Cucumber Dill Salad – made with a lemon vinaigrette
Creamy Cucumber Pasta Salad – potluck favorite!

image of Everyday Comfort cookbook by Holly Nilsson of Spend With Pennies plus text

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