Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts
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Fast, fresh, and full of crunch, this Thai cucumber salad is a go-to for everything from weeknight dinners to weekend cookouts.
This fresh and crunchy Thai cucumber salad, adapted from Food & Wine, is one of my favorite salad recipes. As the cucumbers sit, their juices mix with the tangy-sweet dressing, giving it a light, refreshing cucumber flavor, while the peanuts add protein and plenty of crunch. It’s great on its own for lunch, or serve it alongside steak, chicken satay, or grilled Thai curry chicken for dinner.
“This recipe is my new favorite summer salad…Can be made ahead of time, and leftovers tasted just as good if not better…SO YUM!!”
What You’ll Need To Make Thai Cucumber Salad With Peanuts
- The recipe calls for English/hothouse cucumbers, long, slender cukes with tender skin and tiny seeds. They’re a little pricier than garden variety cukes, but you can usually find them on sale in three-packs. Happily, they don’t need to be peeled, as they aren’t treated with a wax coating like regular cucumbers.
- Fish sauce is a salty, savory condiment often used in East Asian cuisine. It has a pungent smell, but when used in moderation, it adds rich umami flavor to sauces, marinades, and salad dressings. You can find it in the Asian food section of most supermarkets.
- Use good quality Virginia peanuts if you can find them. Grown primarily in Virginia (but also in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas), Virginia peanuts are large in size, flavorful, and extra crunchy. They are often referred to as “ballpark peanuts” because they are the kind sold at baseball games.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Soak the onions. Begin by placing the red onions in a bowl of cold water. Let them soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients—this will mellow them out and rid them of that sharp, raw onion taste.
Step 2: Seed the Cucumbers. Next, prep the cucumbers by cutting them in half lengthwise and scooping out the seeds and the pulpy matter with a teaspoon.
Step 3: Make the dressing. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lime juice, oil, fish sauce, sugar and garlic.
Step 4: Toss the salad. Drain the onions, then add the sliced cucumbers, minced jalapeño, cilantro and peanuts to the bowl with the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve the salad within 30 minutes and enjoy!
More Salad Recipes You May Like
Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts
This Thai-style cucumber salad is quick, crunchy, and full of flavor—the kind of side you’ll find yourself making on repeat.
Ingredients
For the Salad
- ½ medium red onion, very thinly sliced
- 2 large English cucumbers, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced crosswise ¼-inch thick
- ⅓ cup packed chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup salted peanuts
- 1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (or use 1-2 Thai chiles for more heat)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice, from 2-3 limes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1½ tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Instructions
- Place the onions in a small bowl of cold water. Let sit for ten minutes, then drain well and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Make the dressing: In a large bowl, whisk the lime juice, oil, fish sauce, sugar, and garlic.
- Add the drained red onions, cucumbers, cilantro, peanuts and jalapeño pepper to the dressing. Taste and add the salt if necessary. Serve the salad within 30 minutes.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 238
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 21g
- Sugar: 12g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 6g
- Sodium: 660mg
- Cholesterol: 0mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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I loved everything about this… except I was over powered by the fish sauce. I will definitely try again and perhaps use 1/2 TBSP. I could add more if needed. I will honestly toss the rest because of the fish sauce. Anyone else deal with this???
This recipe sounds great and I am going to try it, but just wondering why the cucumber is seeded. English cucumbers have very small seeds, so I never core them. Any reason I shouldn’t ignore this step? Thanks!
Hi Cassandra, Cucumber salads tend to get watery, so even though the seeds are tiny, I still prefer to seed hothouse cucumbers.
I think “once Upon a Chef” is one of the best food apps going, but this recipe just didn’t do it for us. Nonetheless, we still think you are number one.
OHHHH this is my very favorite recipe! Thanks for the reminder to make it again!
The dressing is drinkable!
Delicious, super quick and easy. I didn’t add any salt nor the salted peanuts as we are trying to cut back on salt. Plan to take to a potluck dinner and will use salt and peanuts. Also made the dressing ahead of time to let the flavors blend. Also may not seed the jalapeños as would like a little more spice. A keeper for sure!
Wonderful salad. I added a few more ingredients to it. 1 avocado, grape tomatoes quartered, and marinated the onions and red bell pepper together.
I made this and it is really the best I’ve ever tasted!
Fresh, delicious salad and so quick to prepare! Perfect side to quickly put together but looks and tastes professional. Thanks Jenn for another fantastic recipe 🙂
I made this salad last night. I do not love cucumbers but I LOVED this salad. It was nice to have a fresh option with our burgers & potato salad. I will definitely make again!
Superb dish, which I made to accompany a Thai-inspired salmon broccoli. Simple yet complex flavours combined with the crunchy texture of the cukes and peanuts. This is now on my regular to-cook list