Here’s an ultra refreshing side dish: creamy cucumber salad with sour cream! The silky sauce with dill and shallots brings an irresistible flavor.
I grew up eating cucumber salad with vinegar: a tangy, savory sweet salad of thin crunchy cucumbers. The moment that summer hit, this salad was on the menu for Sunday dinners and potlucks. It’s so refreshing: in fact, it’s hard to stop eating! Alex and I have found a new variation that we’re big fans of: this creamy cucumber salad with sour cream! Adding a bit of sour cream makes an irresistibly creamy sauce. While it has a summery vibe, this delicious salad works any time of the year.
What’s in this creamy cucumber salad?
There are just a few ingredients you’ll need for this cucumber salad with sour cream. Here’s the breakdown:
- English cucumbers: English cucumbers have a mild-flavored skin that you don’t need to peel. They have a more delicate flavor than standard cucumbers and a prettier green flavor. If all you can find is standard, peel them.
- Shallots: Shallots have a milder flavor than red onion, making them the perfect delicate onion for this dish.
- Sour cream: All you need is ½ cup, and it makes a quick sauce!
- Fresh garlic: This brings big flavor to the sauce.
- Dried dill: Dried dill brings big flavor, and lets this salad be made year round.
This creamy cucumber salad with sour cream recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 2 medium shallots
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried dill (or 3 tablespoons chopped fresh)
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 2 large English cucumbers (2 pounds), or peeled standard cucumbers
Instructions
- Thinly slice the shallots (separate them into rings with your fingers). In a small container, stir together the shallots with the sour cream, white vinegar, dried dill, grated garlic clove, kosher salt, and black pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, thinly slice cucumbers and place them in a colander (if using standard cucumber, peel them first; English cucumbers don’t need to be peeled). Toss the slices with several larger pinches of kosher salt and rest 45 minutes. Remove them from the colander and pat them dry.
- When ready to serve, gently stir together the cucumbers and dressing (don’t stir too vigorously or it will cause bubbles). Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 2 hours; it gets watery if you refrigerate for too long with the sauce. If you’d like to prepare it in advance, refrigerate the components separately until serving.