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Get It NowIf 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 cucumber salad recipes, smashed cucumber salad is another delicious alternative.
Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe: Why You’ll Love It
- Tangy, herby flavor
- Cool, crunchy, refreshing texture
- Super simple ingredients
- 10 minutes from start to finish
- Healthy dose of vegetables
- 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.
- Fresh Cucumbers – 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: Use a different creamy dressing!
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 Cucumber Salad With Sour Cream
This section shows how to make creamy cucumber salad, 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 the dressing. Whisk together sour cream, lemon juice, olive oil, spices, and fresh dill in a salad bowl.
- Toss together. Add thinly sliced cucumbers and onions to dressing and toss. Serve immediately, or refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes to let flavors develop.
VARIATION: Drain the cucumbers in a colander first.
This is not required and I usually skip it, but it’s a good idea if you’ll be making the salad ahead of time. Simply place the cucumbers in a colander over the sink, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for 15-30 minutes. Pat dry with a paper towel, then proceed with the creamy cucumber salad recipe as written.
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 recipes, filet mignon, and New York strip steak all pair well with this cucumber creamy salad.
- Pork – Serve salad with a cast iron pork chop, 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 With Sour Cream
The best easy, creamy cucumber salad recipe with sour cream, lemon juice, onion, and dill. Make it in just 10 minutes!
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.
Did You Like It?
Leave a rating to help other readers, or get the recipe sent to your inbox.
Nutrition facts are provided as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see our nutrition policy.
© Copyright Maya Krampf for Wholesome Yum. Please DO NOT SCREENSHOT OR COPY/PASTE recipes to social media or websites. We’d LOVE for you to share a link with photo instead. 🙂
157 Comments
Nori
0Made this last night as just a great snack side!! And I’ll have to tell you…. it’s amazing! Easy and fast to make. I shared with my Mom and daughter and they both loved it!! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Tammy
0Hi love the recipe. I’m new to keto. And thought onions were not keto friendly. help …lol
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Tammy, Onions are acceptable on keto, but you’ll want to stay away from sweet onions.
Alex Coyle
0This dressing recipe is the tastiest I’ve had in any cucumber salad! Definitely five stars for this recipe!
Joan Hornung
0Hi Maya. I just found you today, looking for a better way to cook hard boiled eggs! My husband and I are trying to slowly change our foods as we are both starting with some health issues. The eggs are great for him for a smack or a quick breakfast but we have been totally frustrated with the peeling! (sometimes lost a big part of the egg!)
I just tried your technique and wow – much better! Looking at this recipe and some others I am so excited. We live in Florida and need some nice cool HYDRATING type salads for sure. I have been dehydrated several times since moving here from up North – it is NO fun…sickening. I’m looking forward to trying much more. Thank you for your work and help. It IS MUCH appreciated.
Rita Bradley
0one of the best cucumber salads I’ve tasted and very easy to make. I also modified part of the salad by adding chopped avacado and shrimp. Great dinner to enjoy without cooking.
Shoba
0I love cucumbers, Can I add yogurt instead of sour cream ?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Shoba, Yogurt is higher in carbs, but the recipe will work fine using yogurt in place of sour cream.
Cherie
0I had a surplus of cucumbers from my garden and I need to discover ways to use them up. What a great recipe. I will make it again and again! Very yummy!
Lisa A
0Very easy to make. Great flavor. Cool and refreshing salad. Great recipe for our low carb lifestyle. Thanks for the recipe for our new favorite summer salad.
nic
0I like it as a base I add a teaspoon of white wine vinegar and a teaspoon a sugar thanks for the recipe.
Judy
0Delicious! Nice and light. We really enjoyed it. I made 1/3 of the recipe, by using 1 long cucumber. I think that using a mandoline made it so much nicer. I also salted the cucumbers so that some of the liquid drained out. I didn’t want to lose any of the flavor! So now I have a lot more fresh dill left. Any suggestions on how to make use of it? Thanks so much, Maya! Another winner.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Judy, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I have a few other recipes with fresh dill including, Tzatziki Sauce, Salmon Stuffed Cucumbers, Creamy Cucumber Radish Salad, and Salmon Cucumber Bites.
Diane
0This is a great way to handle “too many” cucumbers! Your recipe was yummy, but I did bump up the lemon, olive oil, dill, salt, and garlic. I guess I just need a little more flavor, but of course you do say to adjust to taste. I also added some chopped fresh tomatoes. I love the added color and mix of flavors!
Erika
0Thanks for a tasty, nutritious recipe! I went a little heavier on the lemon and garlic powder but it would have been perfect just the way you suggested, too! Great way to use dill and cucumber in my garden. Thank you!
Lorena M Huerta
0Loved this salad!!! I am hooked, and it’s so easy to make.
Rachael
0How long can this last in the fridge? Is it any good after 2 days? Thanks
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Rachael, This recipe will last for several days in the fridge, however, the longer it sits, the softer the cucumber will get. It’s best enjoyed in the first couple of days.
Reagan
0Love taking this to potlucks. It’s always a hit.
Nicolas Murray
0You say further up in your article that this only has 2g of carbs per serving but in the nutritional information it says 7g per serving. Which is correct please?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Nicolas, There ae 7g per 1 cup serving in the recipe. The mentioned 2g are for a 1/2 cup of just the cucumbers.
John Karr
0Do you mean sliced cucumbers rather than chopped?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi John, Either way is fine. The images for the recipe are shown sliced. Depends on how large you want your cucumber pieces to be. Enjoy!
Mary
0This cucumber salad is awesome! Keeps well in frig for tomorrow’s lunch. Love it!
Angel Hancock
0Thank you, I’m learning so much.
Suze
0Very tasty!! You may want to add one more step to make it better… After slicing the cukes and onion, salt them and put in a colinder over a bowl and put in the fridge for a couple hours to drain. This removes alot of water that waters down the creamy dressing!
May
0I forgot to add- THANK YOU FOR THE NO SUGAR RECIPE.
May
0We have been eating this a lot lately. I assemble it a couple of hours before dinner, scaled 1/3 for one good size cucumber from the garden. I’ve used air dried shallots instead of onion, and rice wine vinegar instead of lemon juice. Penzeys fox point can be used in place of garlic/salt/pepper. I tend to add quite a bit more dill – love dill! Thank you for the recipe, it has helped us keep up with the bumper crop we are enjoying this summer!
Melissa
0How many cups in a serving?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Melissa, The serving size is in the Recipe Notes above.
Robert
0I like the Cucumber salad but it’s missing something. There needs to be another spice to compliment the rest.
Shirley
0This salad is so refreshing and quick to make. I found sitting overnight really have it now flavor from the onion which was delicious.
Kerry V
0I can’t Pin it – it keeps coming up with an error saying “something went wrong – You need to upload an image or provide the ‘image_url’ parameter”.
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Kerry, try pinning directly from this link: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/513832638737081142/
Wendy
0I made this last night and refrigerated for 30 mins. The flavor was great when I first mixed up. Then when I served it, there was alot of liquid. I drained it but the flavor was pretty flat as it became very diluted. Today was the same. . What can I do to prevent this?
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Wendy, some people have had better luck salting their sliced cucumbers and squeezing out excess water after 30 minutes.
Ann
0I tried it and followed the recipe to a T. Put in the fridge for the next day. The next morning I looked at it and it was very watery. I didn’t taste or look appetizing so I threw it out
Wholesome Yum
0Hi Ann, I’m sorry to hear that. Some people have had better luck salting their sliced cucumbers and squeezing out excess water after 30 minutes.
Janet
0This was the most flavorful cucumber dill salad I’ve ever had. It’s a keeper!! I added two extra tbsp of dill because I love dill but that’s the only change. Thanks for the recipe!
Jen
0Have you tried mayo as a non-dairy substitute for the sour cream? Would love to know how that turned out, this sounds wonderful! Thanks!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Jen, Sure you can use mayo if you prefer! You could also add a bit of lemon juice if you want it to be tangy like sour cream.
Tina Waldrep
0Quick, easy, refreshing. Served with dinner tonight. Hubby could have eaten the entire batch, but I insisted he leave some for me! This would be a great side to take to a summertime picnic potluck. It’s great for keto-ers and normies.
Kiracargue
0Love this, I add some shredded cheese and crumbled bacon once in a while to switch it up. My favorite summer salad!
Loriene
0I dont have lemon so I used 1tbsp balsamic vinegar and it worked! The best cucumber salad ever! It is so simple yet satisfying!
Tip: I used my grater quick and easy!
Vanessa
0Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Vanessa, You can keep it in the fridge, but it does get watery with time.
Meribeth
0I made this tonight and my husband and I absolutely love this. We prefer the cucumbers cut in half rather than whole. Our game night salad next Friday!. Thanks, yummy salad.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked the salad, Meribeth! Have a great day!
Tracy
0Hi, I’m just wondering if there would be a big difference if I used dried dill instead of fresh? Would I have to change anything else?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tracy, The flavor is better with fresh but otherwise it’s totally fine. You’d need about 1/3 of the normal amount if using dried.
Donna
0Love this recipe. It’s so delicious.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked it, Donna! Thanks for stopping by!
Pd
0Thanks for this recipe. It not only is nutritionally low in carbs but it’s a great addition to people with CKD. Do you know how much potassium and phosphorous?
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0The only nutrition info I have is on the recipe card, but you can find more using an online calculator.
Carol
0Getting ready to make this. Recipe says chopped cucumber but picture shows sliced.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Carol, You can cut it any way you like!
Sara
0Getting ready to make this recipe it looks amazing! One question, would it be all right substituting Greek yogurt for sour cream? I know it’s a bit thicker but I just prefer the taste over sour cream. Thanks so much
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Sara, Yes, you can do that if you’d like!
Ray Henderson
0Made this tonight with grilled tilapia. It was a well received hit!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked the salad, Ray!
Teresa Leek
0The very best recipes are the simple ones, yum!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thanks, Teresa! Totally agree!
Joanne
0I recommend this delicious recipe. I can’t stop eating it. My Mom made a similar recipe during summer and it cools you off. Thank you for including nutritional information.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0I am so happy you liked it, Joanne!
KrYsztof
0this is a traditional central european salad. in Poland it’s called ” mizeria ” .
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0It’s one of my favorites! I hope you liked it too!
Susan
0If we omit the red onions, how does that affect the net carb amount? Onions are very high in carbs, so I am avoiding them, plus my kids hate them 🙂
Thanks so much!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Susan! You can omit the red onion. There are about 6 net carbs in a small onion and 6 servings in the salad. You can take off one net carb per serving. I hope this helps!
Becca
0I appreciate that you take the time to figure out the nutritional information. It’s hard but sometimes you have to try and eat healthy. Recipe was amazing! Thank you!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Becca! I am happy you liked it. Have a great day!
Billy
0This looks absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing this recipe! I love recipes that make use of dill in tasty ways. Can’t wait to try this one at home!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Billy! I hope you like it!
Alexys Smith
0I told my husband that I was seriously craving veggies and he came home that night with a nice variety including cucumbers. I can’t stand to eat cucumbers plain so I decided to try this recipe. It is absolutely satisfying! I can’t stop eating it! This one is going in my recipe collection. 🙂 Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you Alexys, I’m glad you liked it!
Deanna Wolnik224209
0Is there any reason why you did not add the measurements of the ingredients?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Deanna, There is a recipe card roughly a third of the way down the page. If you cannot see the card (which also includes a video), then you may need to run off your browser’s ‘reader mode’ to be able to view it.
Donna Almanza
0I just cut up my cucumbers for later. This has been in my family for probably 100 years. We do it a little different. We slice the cucumbers very thin, put salt and mix, let it sit for a half hour, squeeze out the water, salt again, let sit for 1/2 hour, squeeze out water, mix in sour cream. Delicious. I do like dill so I think I will toss in some dill.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Donna! I didn’t find squeezing the cucumbers necessary, but I’ve heard that is a technique some people use.
Tessa Hudson
0Yea mine came out pretty watery the first time,so I think I will do the salt soak this time too.
Otherwise the recipe is fast ,easy and yummy!
Doreen
0I am very new at doing this. Do you rinse the salt of onions and cucs after is let them sit with salt on them. And also can I peel my cucs
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Donna, You can peel your cucumbers if you wish. Salting beforehand is not necessary (I did not with my recipe) but if you want to try it, there should be no need to rinse them off with water after draining. They will probably not need the additional salt listed in the recipe.
Melissa | Bless this Mess
0So sorry you had to miss part of the festivities! But I’m not sorry that this recipe was born! It looks delicious!
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Thank you, Melissa! Agreed. 🙂