Tag: beginner keto diet foods

An easy Keto Cucumber Salad recipe with creamy dill lemon dressing perfect as a summer keto side dish to barbecue. Plus, this low-carb cucumber salad keto recipe is gluten-free and contains a dairy-free, vegan option!

Is cucumber salad keto?

While cucumber is a very low-carb keto friendly vegetable, most cucumber salad recipes are not keto friendly. The issue with authentic cucumber salad with vinegar dressing is the amount of added sugar. In fact, the vinegar dressing of a classic cucumber salad is made of one cup of vinegar with 1/2 cup of sugar!

That’s a tremendous amount of carbs added to your salad and it’s basically like eating teaspoon of sugar, and not a salad!

How to make keto cucumber salad?

Luckily, there is nothing easier than making a keto creamy cucumber salad at home. Of course, you can also make a keto cucumber salad with vinegar dressing, but I prefer the creamy version, much more filling and rich.

To make this easy low carb cucumber salad recipe you need:

• English cucumbers – these are the best to make cucumber salad. At the store, they look like long, thin cucumber often sold wrapped in plastic. They are the best for cucumber salad because they are seedless and have a sweet and mild flavor. You don’t have to scoop out the center of an English cucumber for salad, some people do, but another option to prevent the cucumber slices from diluting the recipe dressing with excess water is to pre-sweat them in salt!
• Salt – as mentioned before, it’s to remove the water from the cucumbers.
• Sour cream – you can also use plain Greek yogurt to lightened up the recipe or use dairy-free yogurt for a vegan keto salad.
• Mayonnaise- I used avocado oil mayonnaise for an healthy option. You can use egg-free mayonnaise if needed.
• Dijon mustard
• Fresh Dill
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Garlic clove
• Pepper

Preparing the cucumber

First, cut the ends of each English cucumber and discard them.

Should I peel cucumber for salad?

Now, fist question should I peel a cucumber for salad? Well, that absolutely depends on your taste buds.

For a crunchier salad, keep the skin on or half-peel the cucumbers. But for a softer, melt-in-your-mouth cucumber slice, peel off the cucumber entirely.

Also, another reason why some recipes peel off the cucumbers is that some persons find the cucumber skin difficult to digest.

Slicing thinly

You can use a mandolin or a sharp knife to slice the cucumbers into thin 1/4-inch (2 mm) thick slices. You can cut round slices, or precut the cucumber halfway lengthwise and cut cucumber moons – half circles.

Sweating the cucumbers

Cucumber is made at 95% of water and it tends to release water into salad or zucchini casserole recipes. The result of this water is a runny salad dressing, it bog down the salad and it’s not as tasty.

So to avoid that, place the slices of cucumber in a bowl and toss with salt. Set aside for 15 minutes until water drops appear on the surface of the cucumber slices.

Meanwhile, prepare the cucumber salad dressing.

Cucumber salad dressing

In a mixing bowl, whisk sour cream, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, erythritol, lemon juice, crushed garlic, pepper, finely chopped fresh dill.

Assembling the cucumber salad

First, pat dry cucumber with absorbent paper towel, then toss the salad with the sour cream dressing.

Refrigerate the salad for 1 hour before serving to enhance flavor.

Adjust with salt and pepper if needed.

How to serve keto creamy cucumber salad?

This cucumber salad with sour cream dressing is a delicious side dish to serve on a keto diet as a side to grilled meat or seafood.

It’s a pleasant summer salad for everyone, keto eaters or not, that is also gluten-free and perfect for summer BBQ gatherings.

You can also use this salad to make a keto vegetarian sandwich, served between two slices of keto bread.

Can I add onion to keto cucumber salad?

You can add thinly sliced red onion to make a cucumber onion salad keto recipe. But watch out with red onion. They are high in carbs, so don’t overdo it and keep the add-on to 1/4 -1/3 cup per salad.

Nutrition information

One serving of keto cucumber salad contains 4.2 grams of net carbs.

Jump to the recipe card for the full nutrition panel of this keto salad recipe.

More keto cucumber recipes

Below I listed some others keto cucumber recipes or keto salad recipes for you to try:

Did you made this creamy cucumber salad recipe ? Share a comment or review below to let me know if you enjoy it!

XOXO Carine