Serve this Simple Tomato Cucumber Salad as a side dish at your next summer BBQ! It’s refreshing, full of garden-fresh produce and incredibly quick and easy to make.
The easy homemade vinaigrette makes it feel extra special – a healthy salad the whole family will enjoy!
I know. Tomato Cucumber Salad. Not exactly revolutionary. But, come on. I’m not a trend setter. I’m not revolutionary. I pin outfits from 2012 and identify with the mom in Young Sheldon. So, this simple salad is right up my alley – quick and easy to whip up and everyone loves it. It’s so basic and old-fashioned and un-trendy that it feels insanely comfortable to me.
I whip this up for my family on a weekly basis once we start harvesting cucumbers and tomatoes because it’s one of our absolute summer favorites!
Ingredients you’ll need
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Tomatoes: Either cherry tomatoes or regular work. For regular tomatoes, you may want to discard some of the seeds if they are very watery. You could also use a variety of heirloom tomatoes for a super pretty salad!
- Cucumber: I like using English cucumbers for salad, because they have less seeds and a thinner skin. If your cucumbers have lots of large seeds, again, consider scooping them out before slicing the cucumber to add to the salad. A lot of seedy/watery vegetable parts contribute to a watered-down dressing. Also, if your cucumber has very thick skin, consider peeling it.
- Fresh herbs: Use any soft fresh herbs you enjoy. My favorites in this salad are parsley and basil. Chives or dill are also delicious!
- Red onion: I love it for a pop of flavor and color in the salad. If you are not a fan of raw onion, leave it out. Other alternatives are sliced green onions or plenty of chives.
- Vinaigrette: I use my recipe for white balsamic vinaigrette. Feel free to use your favorite vinaigrette instead!
How to make a Tomato Cucumber Salad
Now here is the point you can laugh at me for making such a big deal about this salad. Because this is how you make it:
1. Chop the tomatoes, cucumber herbs and red onion. Now comes the hardest part of this recipe: Adding the sliced and diced veggies to a salad bowl without dropping them all on the kitchen floor… Ask me how I know 🙈
2. Toss them in the dressing.
What! This is what summer cooking is all about. Being lazy. Being simple. Enjoying the time with your favorite people, eating from the abundance of summer fruit and veggies, and just making memories.
It won’t hurt if one of your kids’ biggest memories of summer is eating the same salad over and over again, trust me 😉
Recipe tips
- It’s a good idea to generally keep all the veggies roughly the same size when you chop them up. It’s also a good idea to chop them small enough to be considered bite-size for your youngest dinner guest. Just saves you extra work at the table later!
- To be very transparent for a minute here, I would usually just whip up the dressing in the salad bowl and then add the veggies and toss it all – no need to dirty an extra bowl or jar. But because I do this food blog thing here for a living (what!) I kicked my butt into gear and shook up the dressing in a separate jar. I mean, anything for the elusive pouring shot 🤷🏻♀️😉
Serving tips
I will say that this salad is best served right after you mix the veggies with the dressing. Both the cucumbers and tomatoes give off a lot of water once they’re in touch with the dressing/salt so you’ll end up with a pretty watery salad if you leave it standing around for long.
We love it as a side for grilled lemon garlic chicken or balsamic chicken, or with a nice steak, but it’s also delicious with a sandwich for lunch (or with spaghetti for dinner!).
Either way, THIS is summer in a bowl. And don’t let anyone tell you it’s not appropriate to make it several days in a row. Because it totally, absolutely, positively is.
PS If you try this recipe, please leave a review in the comment section – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Sign up for my email list, too!
Simple Tomato Cucumber Salad
Recipe details
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
- 1 pound tomatoes sliced (I used cherry tomatoes)
- 1 small red onion peeled, halved and thinly sliced
- bunch fresh soft herbs chopped
- 1 recipe white balsamic vinaigrette
Instructions
- Toss all ingredients in a bowl and serve immediately.
Notes
Ingredient notes
- Tomatoes: Either cherry tomatoes or regular work. For regular tomatoes, you may want to discard some of the seeds if they are very watery. You could also use a variety of heirloom tomatoes for a super pretty salad!
- Cucumber: I like using English cucumbers for salad, because they have less seeds and a thinner skin. If your cucumbers have lots of large seeds, again, consider scooping them out before slicing the cucumber to add to the salad. A lot of seedy/watery vegetable parts contribute to a watered-down dressing. Also, if your cucumber has very thick skin, consider peeling it.
- Fresh herbs: Use any soft fresh herbs you enjoy. My favorites in this salad are parsley and basil. Chives or dill are also delicious!
- Red onion: I love it for a pop of flavor and color in the salad. If you are not a fan of raw onion, leave it out. Other alternatives are sliced green onions or plenty of chives.
- Vinaigrette: I use my recipe for white balsamic vinaigrette. Feel free to use your favorite vinaigrette instead!
Recipe tips
- It’s a good idea to generally keep all the veggies roughly the same size when you chop them up. It’s also a good idea to chop them small enough to be considered bite-size for your youngest dinner guest. Just saves you extra work at the table later!
- To be very transparent for a minute here, I would usually just whip up the dressing in the salad bowl and then add the veggies and toss it all – no need to dirty an extra bowl or jar. But because I do this food blog thing here for a living (what!) I kicked my butt into gear and shook up the dressing in a separate jar. I mean, anything for the elusive pouring shot 🤷🏻♀️😉
Nutrition
More recipe information
Recipe first published on 08/08/2018. Updated with new photos, better recipe and better text on 03/22/2021.
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