Cucumber Tomato Salad – Rachel Cooks®

An Simple Summer season Salad

It’s a heat summer season night and also you’ve bought dinner on the grill. So what do you serve on the aspect together with your grilled hen thighs or California burger? Certainly one of my favourite choices are straightforward make-ahead salads that may be within the fridge, able to go when the grilling’s completed—and this cucumber tomato salad is ideal!

It is a salad recipe that retains issues easy as a result of with contemporary summer season produce, there’s no must make it difficult! Juicy vine-ripened tomatoes are tossed with crisp cucumber and purple onion, with a tangy purple wine French dressing and contemporary herbs. It’s mild, refreshing, and the flavors work nicely with all types of mains, from honey garlic pork chops to air fryer salmon.

Easy Cucumber Tomato Salad Recipe

A cinch to place collectively. I don’t like to spend so much of time cooking in the summertime, and I’m certain you don’t both, so I respect that this salad takes just some minutes to assemble, and I could make it forward of time if I must. It truly tastes higher in case you give it at the least a half hour or so to marinate.

Recent, seasonal substances. It is a nice farmers’ market salad so as to add to your menu on the peak of the season, when you’ll have the ability to simply discover all of the substances you want from native farmers. This recipe is an ideal solution to showcase the superior taste of in-season tomatoes. If you will get your palms on colourful heirloom tomatoes, even higher!

Mild and hydrating. Cucumbers and tomatoes each include numerous water, which is what makes this Mediterranean-style salad so refreshing on a summer season day. It’s crisp, cool, and light-weight! It gained’t make you’re feeling overly full like wealthy potato salad or pasta salads.

Ingredient Notes

• Olive oil and purple wine vinegar: These two substances type the bottom of the French dressing. You possibly can swap in one other vinegar in case you’d like, however I really like a purple wine French dressing, particularly with contemporary herbs. White wine vinegar could be my second alternative, or a white balsamic vinegar.
• Salt and black pepper: I exploit kosher salt and freshly floor black pepper.
• Tomatoes: When you use giant tomatoes, squeeze out the pulpy seeds to maintain your cucumber tomato salad from getting too juicy or soupy.
• English cucumber: Any tender-skinned cucumber will work (and also you don’t need to peel them!). If you wish to use common backyard cucumbers, you’ll in all probability wish to peel them first, then slice them in half lengthwise and scoop the seeds out with a spoon.
• Pink onion: Onion provides a pungent chunk to stability the sweetness and acidity of the salad. The sturdy taste of the onion is tempered by briefly marinating it within the French dressing.
• Recent parsley and dill: Typically contemporary herbs are added as an non-compulsory garnish to recipes, however they’re important to this straightforward salad, and I wouldn’t skip them.

Learn how to Make Cucumber Tomato Salad

Make the dressing. Whisk the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl giant sufficient to include the complete salad.

Add the onions. Stir within the onions and set the bowl apart when you prep the remainder of the salad. This step has two functions: it infuses the dressing with taste and mellows the chunk of the onions. It’s just like a fast pickle (like my pickled purple onions).

Prep the remainder of the substances. Rinse and trim the tomatoes, cucumbers, and contemporary herbs. Chop the tomatoes and cucumbers into similarly-sized items, sufficiently small so that they’ll match comfortably on a fork. I quarter the cucumbers lengthwise, then cube the quarters about ¼ inch thick. Add the chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and minced herbs to the bowl with the dressing, and gently toss. Style the salad to examine the seasonings, including extra salt and pepper in case you assume it wants it.

Marinate. Cowl the bowl and let the salad sit at room temperature for 10 to fifteen minutes, or refrigerate for as much as a day earlier than serving. If the salad is chilled, take it out of the fridge quarter-hour forward of time so it may well heat up somewhat earlier than serving it.

Simple Recipe Variations

• Add extra veggies. Sliced bell peppers and radishes will add additional texture and taste to this cucumber tomato salad. When you add numerous additional greens, you should definitely make additional French dressing, too. (When you’re not keen on tomatoes, strive my cucumber salad which is analogous to this salad however with out tomatoes.)
• Sweeten it. In case your tomatoes are on the acidic aspect, you possibly can whisk a pinch of sugar or a small quantity of honey into the French dressing. It’s going to stability out the flavors and make the salad barely sweeter.
• Add cheese. Tangy feta is ideal for this salad, including Greek salad vibes. Recent mozzarella would even be a sensible choice, or small cubes of your favourite aged cheese.
• Give it an Asian spin. Swap in rice vinegar as a substitute of purple wine vinegar and add basil, mint, cilantro, or a mixture of those as a substitute of dill and parsley.

Serving Sugggestions

When you’ve got leftover salad, add it to a meal bowl like this BBQ hen bowl. You too can make a tremendous wrap with deli lunchmeat and a scoop of this salad, or stuff a pita pocket with avocado hen salad and prime it with a scoop of cucumber tomato salad.

Retailer leftover cucumber tomato salad in an hermetic container within the fridge for as much as 3 days. (When you’re making it for a celebration, I don’t advocate making it greater than a day upfront.) After a day or so within the fridge, the cucumbers will likely be pickled; they gained’t have the crispness of contemporary anymore, however the salad will nonetheless be scrumptious. Stir the whole lot nicely earlier than serving.