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If you’re looking for the best easy, creamy cucumber salad recipe, this is it! It’s the perfect easy summer salad that highlights fresh garden cucumbers. Healthy, creamy cucumber salad with sour cream and dill takes just 10 minutes and a handful of simple ingredients, and can also be made ahead of time. It’s similar to creamy cucumber radish salad and just as fast as three bean salad, with a zesty addition from crisp onions. You’re going to love it!
Growing up in a Russian-speaking family, lettuce-based salads were less common. This sour cream cucumber salad, on the other hand, made a regular appearance with my family. (This dish is popular in many cultures, as well as here in the USA, but definitely so in Russian and Eastern European culture, where sour cream is used in… pretty much everything, haha.) The salad makes a cool, crunchy side dish that pairs with lots of different mains, and was one of my favorite healthy salads as a kid. However, if you prefer less creamy salads, smashed cucumber salad is another delicious alternative.
Why You’ll Love This Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe
- Tangy, herby flavor
- Cool, crunchy, refreshing texture
- Super simple ingredients
- 10 minutes from start to finish
- Delicious with cookout favorites like grilled chicken, burgers, pork, or steaks!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This section explains how to choose the best ingredients for cucumber salad with sour cream, what each one does in the recipe, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card below.
- Sour Cream – Makes up the base of the creamy sauce in this salad. Cucumbers and sour cream are a classic combo, but see below for alternatives.
- Fresh Dill – This is a creamy cucumber dill salad, so I say fresh dill is a must! You can use dried dill if that’s all you have, but fresh tastes much better. If you do substitute dried, use 1 teaspoon dry for every tablespoon of fresh dill.
- Olive Oil – Use extra virgin olive oil, or any neutral oil you like.
- Lemon Juice – Fresh juice is so refreshing in this creamy cucumber onion salad, but you can use bottled lemon juice for convenience.
- Spices – Garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper.
- Cucumber – I used little mini cucumbers for my healthy cucumber salad, because smaller cucumbers are a little sweeter than the large ones, have more tender skin, and require less chopping (just slice). However, any cucumbers will work, including English cucumbers and Persian cucumbers. If it has a tougher skin, you may want to peel it first.
- Onion – I use a red onion here, but sweet onion would also be delicious.
VARIATIONS: Other dressing alternatives for cucumber creamy salad.
Instead of sour cream, you can also use mayo (with a small splash of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar for tang), or plain Greek yogurt.
How To Make Creamy Cucumber Salad
This section shows how to make cucumber salad with sour cream, with step-by-step photos and details about the technique, to help you visualize it. For full instructions, including amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
- Make dressing. Whisk together sour cream, lemon juice, olive oil, spices, and fresh dill in a salad bowl.
- Toss. Add thinly sliced cucumbers and onions to dressing and toss. Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 30 minutes to let flavors develop.
Storage Instructions
- Store: Cover and store sour cream dill cucumber salad in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- Meal prep: Slice cucumbers and onions, prepare dressing, then store separately and toss together just before serving — or up to a few days before.
- Freeze: Avoid freezing cucumber salad recipes, as their texture will become unappetizing.
What To Serve With Creamy Cucumber Salad
Making this cucumber salad recipe creamy means it pairs well with lots of summery dishes. Try it with these easy pairings!
- Chicken – Try this salad with air fryer chicken wings, baked chicken leg quarters, or cilantro lime chicken.
- Steaks – Sirloin steak, filet mignon, and New York strip steak all pair well with this cucumber creamy salad.
- Pork – Serve salad with pan seared pork chops, slow cooker pulled pork, or smothered pork chops.
- Grilled Mains – Everyone loves this salad with juicy burgers, grilled Mediterranean chicken kabobs, grilled salmon, or other healthy grilling recipes.
More Refreshing Cucumber Recipes
If you like this cucumber creamy salad, you’ll enjoy these fresh and easy recipes, too!
Recommended Tools
- Mandoline Slicer – This slicer makes prepping veggies for this salad even faster.
- Glass Bowls – I use these bowls for both mixing and serving cucumbers and sour cream.
Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe
Creamy Cucumber Salad (10 Minutes!)
The best easy, creamy cucumber salad recipe! It's ready in minutes, with simple ingredients like sour cream, lemon juice, onion, and dill.
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Ingredients
Tap underlined ingredients to see where to get them. Please turn Safari reader mode OFF to view ingredients.
Instructions
Tap on the times in the instructions below to start a kitchen timer while you cook.
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In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, dill, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic powder. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
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Stir in the chopped cucumbers and red onions.
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135 Comments
Kate
0Don’t recommend using avocado oil…. Use what the recipe states (olive oil). Thank you for the great recipe.
Anita
0Absolutely delicious. Day three on Keto – this tastes so creamy. Really quick to make. Thank you.
Tammy
0Hello, If I don’t have dill, is there any good substitituion?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Tammy, Dill is the key to this cucumber salad, so I don’t recommend skipping it.
Marie Alm
0FANTASTIC!!!!!
Marie Alm
0Hi. I scaled this down to use 1 English cucumber which is 3 1/2 servings for a 14oz cuc. Thanks for the servings adjuster! It is delicious!
Dianne
0Followed recipe suggestions. One of the best cucumber, sour cream recipes I’ve tried. Will be exploring her other recipes. Highly recommended!
Deborah
0Very nice recipe. I added a capful of apple cider vinegar and garlic all purpose seasoning for extra flavor because I used Armenian Metki white cucumbers. They need extra flavor but they’re delicious in recipes. Thank you
Ellyhfre
0It’s good but there’s too much writing before you get to The Amount of ingredients to be used very frustrating
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi, There is a ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the page that will take you right to the recipe.
peachy
0LOL … that’s what blogs are all about … the story! But almost all of them have a place to click to go straight to the recipe and bypass all the yakkity yak.
Nicole
0This was delicious! I get sick of salads as my side with burgers, etc. I had a fresh sliced cucumber that I didn’t want to go to waste so I whipped this up and halved the recipe for one large cucumber. I also prefer vinegar with cucumbers instead of lemon juice so I subbed that per other comments. So good!
CAROL
0The only thing I did differently was salt the cucumber and onions and let them sit for 1half hour. Squeeze out the water and add the sauce. The German version. Loved the sauce.
Michelle Ford
0Love it so rich and creamy!
Sharon A.
0I grew up with this salad and it definitely is an excellent side on a hot summer day. It’s an excellent side on a non-hot summer day as well. My mom never added garlic to this dish so that threw me off a bit and I prefer distilled white vinegar vs. lemon juice (just wasn’t the punch I was used to or looking for) but that’s the beauty of food; tweak any recipe to your liking! If you don’t like the first round, try it again and again until it’s how you prefer. Thanks, Maya for including this old-time favorite into the mix!
Kristen
0My kids are really picky eaters and they liked this, a great way to get them to eat their vegetables.
Kellie Hemmerly
0This was so easy to make and totally refreshing for a hot summer day. Crisp, light and simply perfect!
April
0Yummm! I love cucumber salad soooo much. This one was super creamy, but still light and refreshing – perfect for summer!
Donna j Robinson
0My husband isn’t a fan of sour cream so would mayo work well with this salad ?
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Donna, You can use mayo with a small splash of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar for tang.
Diana
0I would say to use yogurt instead of mayo.
Natalie
0Perfect summer salad Maya! Thanks!
Bernice
0Amazing! This is just how my grandma made cucumber salad. So simple and quick plus it’s delicious!
Lisa
0I thought it was good, although the onion was really overpowering. I would at least halve the onion.
Sharon
0Easy to make. Great with salmon croquettes. No leftovers though I doubled the recipe
Jen Ecklund
0This was so good! I was eating straight out of the mixing bowl…it barely made it to the dinner table!
Cathy
0Can you use dill seasoning in a tube if you don’t have fresh dill? Family loves this salad!!!!
Wholesome Yum D
0Hi Cathy, Yes, dill seasoning will work.
Kimberly
0Can’t wait to make this, sounds so good !!!
Marina
0Great,thanks!
Mary
0I took this to a family get together and everyone said this was the best cucumber salad they ever ate!
Connie Rieder
0Can you substitute red wine vinegar?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Connie, Yes, you could use that instead of lemon juice.
Chris Evans
0Connie may have an issue with lemon juice and is looking for a substitute. I am making this today and will follow the recipe, but I would guess that red wine vinegar could be substituted and will add the “brightness” to the dressing in a similar way that lemon juice would. It will change the flavor profile a bit, but each person looks for a flavor profile they like.
Jan
0I was making a grocery list. And I made a list of the items I needed from your list. Then I thought this salad had sour cream. It’s not on the your list of ingredients, nor do I know what size container I need.. I appreciate your writing out the directions. I dislike sites that make videos that last 15 minutes, when the food only takes 10 minutes to prepare. The hosts do all this unnecessary yakking. I’m preparing food, Get to the point. Thank goodness someone still knows how to write down a recipe.
sandy lalonde
0I can’t rate if I havent tried it. Need the last step.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sandy, There are only two simple steps to this recipe. The instructions and the video both explain both steps in detail. Enjoy!
William Vanover
0Great dish. Easy and tasty!
Francine Yerasha
0Very good
Mike
0Excellent recipe, very simple and great, light summer salad. Definitely make it again.
Ruth Lanteigne
0My favorite cucumber recipe! Uses ingredients from my garden and tastes both creamy and tangy and so fresh!
Pat
0This was really delicious and much lower in calories than using mayo.
Thanks!
Babe
0Hi I just love cucumbers, so i had to try this recipe. I also love Keto! Lol anyway I had no fresh dill I used dried and no red onion lol I used white but boy this did not disappoint!! Thx for the yummy and easy for the summer recipe!
Claire
0Great recipe! I’ve made it multiple times now exactly as written and it’s perfect. So refreshing and something different.
Sabrina
0Very quick and tasty. Added bonus – fresh dill smells divine!
Dana
0I love this recipe. It’s great. Since I really don’t like salad dressing at all, I use this recipe for tossed, and Caesar salads as a substitute as well.
Bre
0Delicious! Made exactly as written. I do not soak the cucumbers in salt to remove water, but make a tiny bit more dressing than salad, I mix a little bit of the dressing into the cucumbers and onion, let set for awhile and drain. It does pull excess water from the cucumbers. Then add the rest of the dressing.
Jen
0I just happened to have cucumber and red onion left over from other meals that I didn’t want to go to waste so I searched up this recipe. I had to use what was in the house, so I used dried dill, and vinegar instead of lemon juice, and added 1 tsp sugar… to get that nostalgic family recipe flavor 😉 It is so good! Will be a perfect lunch side for this week! Thanks for the recipe!
MBury
0Was looking for this recipe and I had all the ingredients. Haven’t made it in years, letting it marinate overnight before the big taste test. As for now, super easy and economical.
Arr
0This was so simple to make, and delicious! I made it with a pairing of seared salmon! My housemates loved it!
H. Idris
0They are amazing!!! Paired well with chicken curry Thanks a bunch for the great and easy recipe
Debra
0This Cucumber Salad was delicious. I had to use dried dill weed, I’ll make it with fresh next time. This will be a favorite “go to’ recipe.