I’ve been on a lunch kick with this marinated cucumber salad. It’s super flavorful, gets better the longer it marinates, and makes for a great side dish or lunch. Lately I’ve been eating it over a bed of rice alongside sliced avocado and pickled Calabrian chilies. It is such a satisfying and flavor packed lunch!
The best part of this marinated cucumber salad is that it’s one of those no-recipe recipes. It’s all about proportions, so you can easily make as little or as much of this as you like! Again, this gets better as it sits, so you can absolutely make a big batch of this at the beginning of the week and use it for quick and easy lunches. Alternately, it would make a great topping or side for fish or chicken dishes.
Marinated Cucumber Salad Ingredients:
- Low sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos if you want to keep it gluten free)
- Rice wine vinegar
- Toasted sesame oil
- Furikake seasoning to garnish (optional)
- English cucumber
Note that this no-recipe recipe is all about proportions.
To make the dressing, add equal parts, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil to a bowl, and whisk to combine. To make a small batch of this for lunch, I usually use 1 teaspoon of each.
Set the dressing aside, then go to the cucumber. Add as much cucumber as you want. If you like your salads heavily dressed, add less cucumber. If you want a lighter dressing, add more cucumber. Slice the cucumber thinly. The thinner you slice the cucumber, the easier it will be for the dressing to penetrate the slices. This all comes down to personal preference. For lunch I usually use about 3 inches of an English cucumber.
Add the sliced cucumber into the dressing and toss to combine. At this point, you can eat it right away, or you can let it sit and marinate. I find that if you have time, letting the cucumbers marinate for at least 10 minutes makes a big difference.
Top the marinated cucumber salad with the furikake seasoning (it’s a Japanese seasoning that’s usually a mixture of sesame seeds and seaweed) if you’re using it. Furikake is widely available at most grocery stores now. Trader Joes even started stocking it recently!
It’s as simple as that!