Simple Cucumber Tomato Salad
Vibrant, flavorful, and super refreshing, this gorgeous salad combines cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion with a sweet and tangy vinaigrette to create a perfect summer side dish.
Yield: servings
Equipment
- small mixing bowl
- whisk
- Cutting board
- Vegetable peeler optional
- Sharp chef's knife
- Large bowl
- 2 large wooden spoons
Ingredients
For the Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons high-quality olive oil
- 1 ½ tablespoons white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey or 1 ½ teaspoons granulated white sugar, see Notes
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper more or less to taste
For the Cucumber Tomato Salad
- 1 large English cucumber approximately 12 ounces
- 2 medium red tomatoes approximately 4-6 ounces each
- ¼ of one medium red onion halved, thinly sliced; approximately 2 ounces
- 10 leaves fresh basil thinly sliced
Instructions
For the Vinaigrette
- Add 3 tablespoons high-quality olive oil, 1 ½ tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon honey, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper to small mixing bowl.
- Whisk ingredients together vigorously until mixture is fully incorporated. Set vinaigrette aside.
For the Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Peel 1 large English cucumber, then slice cucumber in half lengthwise, creating 2 long moon-shaped halves. Slice each cucumber half into roughly ¼-inch-thick half circles and place cucumber slices in large bowl.
- Slice 2 medium red tomatoes in half vertically, creating 4 tomato halves. Cut away and discard seeds. Chop each tomato half into roughly ½-inch pieces and add chopped tomatoes to bowl with cucumber slices.
- Add red onion slices and sliced fresh basil to bowl with cucumbers and tomatoes.
- Pour prepared vinaigrette into bowl, covering salad ingredients as evenly as possible. Use 2 large spoons to gently toss ingredients together until well-blended and fully coated in vinaigrette.
- Serve prepared salad immediately, or cover bowl with lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes, then serve chilled.
Notes
- The cucumber and tomato pieces can be as small or as large as you like. I prefer to make everything bite-sized from the beginning but there's no right or wrong here.
- Chill: Chilling the salad is totally optional, but if you've got time, I recommend it.
- Make it Vegan: Use sugar instead of honey. Make sure your sugar is 100% vegan and not processed with bone char.
- Leftovers: Refrigerate leftover salad in an airtight container up to 4 days. Note that the cucumber and tomatoes will begin to break down over time and the tomatoes especially can become mushy and mealy.
Nutrition
Serving Size: 1serving | Calories: 134cal | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 298mg | Potassium: 356mg | Total Carbs: 9g | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Net Carbs: 7g | Vitamin A: 865IU | Vitamin C: 15mg | Calcium: 29mg | Iron: 1mg