Southern cucumber tomato salad with avocado

Fresh cucumber salad recipe

This cucumber and tomato salad is a great way to use up all of those tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs from your garden. This summer salad is bursting with fresh flavors. Made with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh herbs, avocado, diary free feta and a homemade vinaigrette.

This is the perfect end of summer simple recipe; it’s healthy, easy to make and doesn’t require heating anything up.

This simple salad is great to add to a summer meal or to cool you off on a hot summer day when it’s too hot to turn on the oven.

This perfect summer salad is also a great side dish to take on a picnic, or bring to a potluck or summer BBQ that uses up all of those garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

Ingredients

• Cucumber – English cucumber is my favorite because of its thinner skin. Make sure the cucumber slices are all about the same size.
• Tomato – home grown, or cherry or grape tomatoes would be perfect.
• Onion – I used red onion but white onion or sweet onion would also taste amazing. Whatever kind of onion you find at your grocery store or garden work.
• Fresh herbs – parsley, fresh dill weed, mint, basil or cilantro would taste great.
• Dairy free feta – this brings a nice creaminess to the salad.
• Avocado – this is optional but it tastes amazing
• Vinegar – a good white vinegar like a white wine vinegar is best. Apple cider vinegar. Red wine vinegar also tastes great. Lemon juice is also good to add.
• Olive oil – using a high quality, good olive oil will help bring this recipe to the next level, but use whatever you have on hand. Vegetable oil will also work.
• Sugar – this helps balance out the vinaigrette.
• Garlic – some fresh garlic adds an amazing pop of flavor.
• Salt and black pepper to taste. Celery seeds also taste good in this recipe.

Recipe tips

• If you’re using medium or large tomatoes, if you’d like fewer seeds and a less watery or soggy salad, just de-seed the tomatoes.
• Using a mandoline slicer will give you nice and even thin slices of cucumber.
• If you don’t like red onions, and you’d like a more mild flavor, use sweet onions like a vidalia onion.
• If you’re not using an English cucumber and the cucumber has a lot of seeds, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds, if you’d like less seeds and liquid in your salad.
• Fresh herbs really make this recipe pop, so don’t skip that step. Use whatever you have on hand. My favorite are parsley and basil combined. Mint or cilantro would also taste really good. If you don’t have fresh herbs, dried herbs also work like dried dill.
• Make sure to let this salad chill, covered, for at least an hour before serving.
• Violife vegan feta cheese is my favorite brand of dairy free feta.

Storing

Store this classic side dish in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.

This salad does not freeze well.

How to serve

This is the perfect side dish to a summer bbq.

You can also wrap this salad up in a romaine lettuce leaf for a lettuce wrap, or top off your Buddha bowl, veggie grain bowls or fresh salads with this. It makes every dish pop with flavor.

Additional ad ins

Some other great ad ins would be bell peppers, or even pickled beets. Red pepper flakes would also add a great bite of heat if you like a little spice.

Frequently asked questions

Which tomatoes are best?

In-season, home grown tomatoes are the absolute best for this recipe. If you don’t have those, then cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes work the best. Use whatever you have on hand.

Which cucumbers are best?

I prefer English cucumbers because of their thin skin. You can use whatever cucumbers you have on hand. If you use a thicker skinned cucumber, you can always peel it for a better texture, or cut the cucumber really thinly.

Can I make this oil free?

Yes, you can make this recipe oil free. Just leave it out. Taste the vinaigarette and adjust the seasonings. It won’t taste as rich, but it will still taste good, especially if you use fresh herbs and avocado in the salad.

Summer salad recipes to try next

• Grilled veggie pasta salad
• Southwest quinoa salad
• Vegan taco salad
• Vegan pasta salad
• Vegan summer rolls

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Tomato cucumber onion salad