Creamy Cucumber Salad is fresh, crunchy and creamy with cucumbers, dill, yogurt or sour cream. A 10 minute salad my grandma made in the Ukraine during the summertime that is perfect for any potluck, BBQ or backyard gathering. Classic cucumber dill salad is vegetarian, gluten-free and is a quick and affordable year round side dish.

Serve this light and refreshing salad alongside any grilled protein – healthy chicken burgers, healthy black bean burgers or even carne asada steak!

Creamy Cucumber Salad

Healthy Creamy Cucumber Salad

Creamy cucumber salad screams summer due to its light taste and the fact that cucumbers are at their seasonal peak. In North America we are lucky to make affordable cucumber salad year round, although I do encourage you to try it at least once with some garden fresh cucumbers.

Grandma in Ukraine whipped up all possible cucumber salad variations during July-August while she could. Simple salads containing only cucumbers, with tomatoes, unrefined sunflower oil and white vinegar…similar to this healthy cucumber salad.

This easy cucumber salad recipe is a perfect quick side dish for summer night dinner, poolside BBQ or unexpected company as it takes only minutes to make!

I love simple salads, and this is just one in my ‘rotation’, including this simple cucumber and tomato salad, easy avocado salad, and lemony kale salad. In fact, cucumber is one of my favorite low-cost, year-round salad additions, you can find it within my avocado corn salad, Ukrainian coleslaw, Mediterranean quinoa salad, and spinach salad recipe – just to name a few!

Why This Recipe for Creamy Cucumber Dill Salad Works?

  • Simplicity is key and this salad uses only cucumber, dill, Greek yogurt (or sour cream) and salt/pepper.
  • Quick to make, only 10 minutes for creamy dill salad yogurt from start to finish. There is no peeling or deseeding of the cucumber!
  • Versatile creamy cucumber dill salad with either Greek yogurt or sour cream and you can swap out the fresh dill for fresh herbs that you have on hand, parsley, chives or green onion tastes great!
Creamy Cucumber Salad in glass bowl with metal spoon

Ingredients for Cucumber Dill Salad with Yogurt

  • Cucumber: These two cucumber varieties are best to choose from when making this creamy cucumber dill salad.
  1. English cucumbers. The best part of this salad is that it tastes very good with available year-round and affordable long English cucumber. Its skin is soft enough to avoid peeling. You can find these at the supermarket usually wrapped in plastic.
  2. Dill cucumbers would be great during summer months. This is what my grandma used in Ukraine cause that’s the only cucumbers we had in July-August
  • Greek yogurt: 2% and higher fat content would be comparable to the creaminess of sour cream but healthier.
  • Dill: Fresh dill is the best accompaniment for cucumbers. Please do not use dried seaweed.
Cucumbers, greek yogurt, dill, salt and pepper.

How to Make Creamy Cucumber Salad

  1. Slice cucumber thinly into half-moon shapes.
  2. Add chopped dill, yogurt, salt and pepper.
  3. Add yogurt (or sour cream) and stir well. It might appear not enough yogurt but keep stirring.
  4. Refrigerate for 10 minutes for best results.

Optional Add-In’s and Salad Variations

  • Grandma always used sour cream – we didn’t have yogurt.
  • Add thinly sliced red onion.
  • Replace half of cucumber with sliced tomatoes, like creamy cucumber tomato salad.
  • Fresh parsley, chives or green onion instead of dill.
  • Add a splash of vinegar or sugar for more traditional North American recipe.
  • Add 1-2 tbsp of mayo for additional tang.
  • Garlic powder for a savory garlic taste.
  • Ranch flavor – replace the sour cream or yogurt with my healthy ranch dressing.
  • Asian cucumbers – try replacing the creamy dressing with Asian salad dressing.
  • Cucumber salsa add some chopped jalapenos and use cilantro instead of dill.

Tips for Best Results

  • Serve within 10 minutes, best ate within 2-3 hours.
  • Not planning to eat it right away? Store ingredients separately, combine a few minutes before serving.
  • Deseed cucumber if you are worried that your creamy cucumber salad with greek yogurt will be watery.

Did you forget you had leftovers of this creamy cuke salad in the fridge? If it has been a day or two, refresh the salad by adding fresh chopped cucumbers or onion and now it has crunch again!

FAQs

What are the best cucumbers for cucumber salad?

I love to use English cucumbers as they are thin-skinned and do not need peeling or de-seeding. Many different varieties can be use though – I recommended using the cucumber your family likes best! See below on which cucumbers need to be peeled.

Why is my creamy cucumber salad so watery?

There are a few reasons why this might have happened. Cucumbers release water, so you probably let the salad sit too long! Alternately, if your cucumber was squishy and not firm this could result in watery cucumber salad. Or if you used a yogurt with a thinner consistency. One last reason, could be the cucumber seeds, depending on the cucumber variety used.

How do you cut cucumbers for this salad?

I recommend half moons – slice the cucumber into a thin round and then slice again down the middle. You could also just leave it in the rounds or even dice the cucumber.

Do I need to peel the cucumbers for this salad?

If using English (also called hot-house) no need to peel. Persian cucumbers are similar and also do not need to be peeled. Garden cucumbers might need to be peeled. Often grocery ‘garden’ cucumbers are waxed which might have an off-putting taste. If you find fresh garden cucumbers at your local farmers market, it may or may not need to be peeled – depending on the thickness of its skin. Dill cucumbers (or pickling cucumbers) can also be used unpeeled in this recipe.

Creamy fresh cucumber Salad with dill served with grilled chicken thigh on white plate and black fork

Serving Recommendations

Making Salad with Creamy Cucumbers in Advance

Cucumber dill salad is best consumed within 2-3 hours. Cucumbers consist of 99% water, so as soon as you add salt they start “leaking”. Photo below shows well how dressing becomes more and more runny and cucumbers lose their crunch.

To make ahead, I recommend to refrigerate chopped cucumber, dill and pepper for up to 24 hours. Add salt and yogurt before serving.

Less watery salad tip: Scraping out seeds will prevent the salad from getting watery. No need to do so with small dill cucumbers.

More Cucumber Salads

You might also enjoy browsing through this list of over 50 healthy salad recipes!

Creamy garden cukes Salad recipe in a bowl
creamy cucumber salad

Creamy Cucumber Salad

Creamy Cucumber Salad is fresh, crunchy and creamy with cucumbers, dill, yogurt or sour cream. A 10 minute salad my grandma made in Ukraine during the summertime that is perfect for any potluck, BBQ or backyard gathering. Classic cucumber dill salad is vegetarian, gluten-free and is a quick and affordable year round side dish.
5 from 9 votes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 21
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes

Ingredients 
 

  • 2 large cucumbers thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup fresh dill chopped
  • 3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt; at least 2%
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, combine cucumber, dill, yogurt, salt and pepper.
  • Stir gently with a metal spoon until well combined.
  • Let the salad stand for 10 mins in the fridge.
  • This Creamy Cucumber salad is best consumed within 2-3 hours.

Notes

  • Make ahead: Keep chopped ingredients (without salt) covered  in the refrigerator for up to 24 hrs. Add yogurt and salt, then stir before serving.
  • Grandma always used sour cream – we didn’t have yogurt.
  • Add thinly sliced red onion.
  • Replace half of cucumber with sliced tomatoes.
  • Parsley, chives or green onion instead of dill.
  • Add a splash of vinegar or sugar for more traditional North American recipe.
  • Add 1-2 tbsp of mayo.
  • Seeds English cucumber for less watery salad.
 

Nutrition

Serving: 0.5cup | Calories: 21kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 154mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g
Course: Salad
Cuisine: North American
Author: Olena Osipov
Did you make this recipe?Mention @ifoodreal or tag #ifoodreal!

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About Olena

Welcome! I grew up in Ukraine watching my grandma cook with simple ingredients. I have spent the last 11 years making it my mission to help you cook quick and easy meals for your family!

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Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Grew up with this salad all summer long (Mom born in Ukraine). I have continued the tradition. We love it, as well as cottage cheese salad. Yum. Enjoy your recipes.

  2. 5 stars
    Great summer side and one we grew up with at every family picnic and summer birthdays. I did add a bit of sherry vinegar and just a pinch of sugar-to more mimic Moms. She would have had onions too, but I left those out. I added fresh herbs from the garden-dill chives and parsley. A nice “memory” salad.

  3. 5 stars
    So quick, easy, and great! This will be a summer staple for sure. Many of your recipes are very point friendly on the Weight Watcher program. So loving your website!

  4. 5 stars
    Great recipe! Dill and cucumbers are coming into the garden now in Southern Indiana, and this is such a refreshing side dish on these hot and muggy days.

    1. It’s one of my favourite combinations too! Glad you are liking the recipe and have some fresh garden produce to use!

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