Dill Cucumber Salad or German Cucumber Salad is one of my favorite, classic, best, and easy to make creamy salad recipe prepared using fresh cucumber, dill, onions, and a 4-ingredient creamy salad dressing.
This is one of the most refreshing and cooling salad recipes to try this summer, perfect for potlucks, picnics, 4th of July BBQ grilling party. Cucumber salad can be served as a light meal in itself or as a side for your lunch or dinner.
Cucumber is the Best Summer Vegetable
Cucumber is a must-have summer vegetable. This vegetable is made of 95 percent water and nothing better than this to keep you hydrated during hot weather. It detoxifies your body and most importantly keeps your skin beautiful. And if you are planning to lose weight then add this to your diet as they are low in calories.
Cucumber is one of my favorite vegetables since childhood and I remember how we loved eating it sprinkling some salt and pepper. Luckily it is my elder one's favorite vegetable and I don't have to force-feed him and my 15-month old loves to have small bites of it too.
This week was a Cucumber week for us. Grandmom delivered a big box of fresh organic cucumbers for her grandson as this is what he loves and demands along with cashews and mangoes. Strange right. If you have seen my last post on THAI CRUNCH SALAD WITH SPICY CASHEW DRESSING, you see my Lil one grabbing cucumber first from the plate 🙂
Now if you ask me What Can I do with a big batch of cucumbers?, I can go on with a big list of recipes and I am soon going to share a couple of them soon here on my blog.
Till then you can check some of these cucumber recipes
- THAI CRUNCH SALAD
- CUCUMBER DOSA OR PANCAKE - SAVORY
- CUCUMBER SEMOLINA PANCAKE
- CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD
From the time I have made cucumber salad with this dressing, it has become one of our favorite way to eat cucumbers. There is nothing that can go wrong with the recipe, plus it stores well in the refrigerator. Therefore, you can add this to your make-ahead recipe list.
The sour cream dressing or yogurt dressing recipe is by far the easiest one. When the dressing is combined with cucumber, dill, and onion it makes your salad amazingly delicious and you cannot stop but go for a 2nd serving.
Ingredients for Dill Cucumber Salad or German Cucumber Salad
3 Medium-sized Cucumber (peeled, seeds removed, and sliced)
1 Onion sliced (optional)
2 tablespoon Dill leaves (finely chopped)
½ cup to ¾ cup of Sour cream or thick yogurt
¼ teaspoon Garlic powder or 1 Garlic clove (grated)
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Lemon juice
(You can check below for substitutions and variations)
How to make Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad with Sour cream or Yogurt Dressing
- Prepare Sour Cream Dressing or Yogurt Dressing: In a bowl, add sour cream or yogurt, garlic powder, salt, sugar, lemon juice and stir until combined.
- In a mixing bowl add cucumber, dill, and onions. Now add the dressing and toss to combine.
- For best results, cover and chill an hour before you are ready to serve.
Substitutions and Variations for Dill Cucumber Salad
- Depending on what is available in my pantry I switch between Greek yogurt and sour cream. I have also tried regular plain yogurt (Dahi) and it still tastes delicious. Just that it won't be much creamy. You can even add 2 tablespoon of mayonnaise if you are using plain yogurt.
- I generally don't add onion while making this salad for kids. So you can skip adding onions.
- Cucumber and Dill go well together but if you are a person who cannot stand the flavor of dill, you can use any other fresh herbs like basil, cilantro (coriander), or parsley.
- You can substitute lemon juice with vinegar.
- Adjust salt and sugar to taste.
- Love more colors in the salad? Feel free to add tomatoes, bell peppers, pomegranate, etc.
- The seeds make the cucumber salad watery, so I recommend you remove the seeds.
- Depending on how creamy you want your salad, adjust the amount of sour cream or yogurt.
- You can also substitute garlic powder with one fresh garlic clove, finely grated.
- The texture of the salad will vary depending on how you slice the cucumber, whether you peel or unpeel its skin.
- You can garnish the salad with pepper or paprika or red pepper flakes for an extra kick.
- Mustard fan? Feel free to add a bit for additional tang and zing.
Can you make Cucumber Salad ahead of time?
This is definitely one of the best make-ahead salad recipes. For better results, you can actually make it 2 to 3 hours in advance and keep it in the refrigerator so that the flavors blend well.
But if you want to make it even ahead of time, you can prep the vegetables and prepare the dressing and keep it separately in the refrigerator. Just toss everything before you are ready to serve.
Can I store leftover cucumber salad?
Salads taste good when eaten fresh. But if there are any leftovers, I would recommend storing them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. I personally do not like the texture beyond that.
Can I make a vegan dill cucumber salad or german cucumber salad?
Simply substitute yogurt or sour cream with dairy-free yogurt. Coconut yogurt is what I prefer.
Detailed Recipe for Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad or German Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream Dressing or Yogurt Dressing
Recipe card
Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad With Sour Cream Or Yogurt Dressing | German Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 3 medium Cucumber (peeled, seeds removed ,and sliced)
- 1 Onion , sliced (optional)
- 2 tablespoon Dill leaves (finely chopped)
- ½ cup to ¾ cup Sour cream or thick yogurt (Use coconut yogurt for vegan version)
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic powder or 1 Garlic clove (grated)
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Sugar
- 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
(You can check below for substitutions and variations)
Instructions
- Prepare Sour Cream Dressing or Yogurt Dressing: In a bowl, add sour cream or yogurt, garlic powder, salt, sugar, lemon juice and stir until combined.½ cup to ¾ cup Sour cream, ¼ teaspoon Garlic powder, ½ teaspoon Salt, ½ teaspoon Sugar, 1 tablespoon Lemon juice
- In a mixing bowl add cucumber, dill, and onions. Now add the dressing (from above) and toss to combine.3 medium Cucumber, 1 Onion, 2 tablespoon Dill leaves
- For best results, cover and chill for an hour before you are ready to serve.
Notes
- Depending on what is available in my pantry I switch between Greek yogurt and sour cream. I have also tried regular plain yogurt (Dahi) and it still tastes delicious. Just that it won’t be much creamy. You can even add 2 tablespoon of mayonnaise if you are using plain yogurt.
- I generally don’t add onion while making this salad for kids. So you can skip adding onions.
- Cucumber and Dill go well together but if you are a person who cannot stand the flavor of dill, you can use any other fresh herbs like basil, cilantro (coriander), or parsley.
- You can substitute lemon juice with vinegar.
- Adjust salt and sugar to taste.
- Love more colors in the salad? Feel free to add tomatoes, bell peppers, pomegranate, etc.
- The cucumber seeds makes the salad watery, so I recommend you remove the seeds.
- Depending on how creamy you want your salad, adjust the amount of sour cream or yogurt.
- You can also substitute garlic powder with one fresh garlic clove, finely grated.
- The texture of the salad will vary depending on how you slice the cucumber, whether you peel or unpeel its skin.
- You can garnish the salad with pepper or paprika or red pepper flakes for an extra kick.
- Mustard fan? Feel free to add a bit for additional tang and zing.
Nutrition
If you like this Creamy Dill Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream or Yogurt Dressing Recipe
Don't miss to check out other delicious recipes for summer!!
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Anjali
This was such an easy, refreshing side salad for our dinner last night! We served it alongside some veggie burgers and it worked out well!
Andrea
This simple, fresh and delicious creamy dill cucumber salad is right up my alley. I am looking forward to making this. Yum!
Dina and Bruce
We used yogurt and fresh dill. This was so tasty!
Mahy
This is exactly the salad that I need this summer. Fantastic recipe and so refreshening!
Paula
This was such a cool and refreshing salad to enjoy on a hot day!