Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts
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Peanuts add welcome crunch to this tangy and refreshing Thai cucumber salad.
This fresh and crunchy Thai cucumber salad adapted from Food & Wine is one of my favorite salad recipes. The juice from the cucumbers seeps into the tangy and sweet dressing, giving it a refreshing cucumber flavor, while the peanuts add protein and crunch. The salad is satisfying on its own for lunch, and it also pairs nicely with my grilled Thai curry chicken or honey lime sriracha chicken.
What you’ll need to make Thai cucumber salad with Peanuts
- The recipe calls for English/hothouse cucumbers, long, slender cukes with tender skin and tiny seeds. They’re a little pricier than garden variety cukes, but you can usually find them on sale in three-packs. Happily, they don’t need to be peeled, as they aren’t treated with a wax coating like regular cucumbers.
- Fish sauce is a salty, savory condiment often used in East Asian cuisine. It has a pungent smell, but when used in moderation, it adds rich umami flavor to sauces, marinades, and salad dressings. You can find it in the Asian food section of most supermarkets.
- Use good quality Virginia peanuts if you can find them. Grown primarily in Virginia (but also in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas), Virginia peanuts are large in size, flavorful, and extra crunchy. They are often referred to as “ballpark peanuts” because they are the kind sold at baseball games.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Begin by placing the red onions in a bowl of cold water. Let them soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients — this will mellow them out and rid them of that sharp, raw onion taste.
Next, seed the cucumbers by cutting the cucumbers it in half lengthwise and scooping out the seeds and the pulpy matter with a teaspoon.
Make the dressing by combining the lime juice, oil, fish sauce, sugar and garlic in a medium bowl.
Drain the onions, then add the sliced cucumbers, minced jalapeño, cilantro and peanuts to the bowl with the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
You may also like
- Thai Quinoa Salad with Fresh Herbs and Lime Vinaigrette
- Thai Crunch Salad with Peanut Dressing
- Asian Kale Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing
- Warm Asparagus Salad with Almonds & Ginger-Sesame Vinaigrette
Thai Cucumber Salad with Peanuts
Peanuts add welcome crunch to this tangy and refreshing Thai cucumber salad.
Ingredients
For the Salad
- ½ medium red onion, very thinly sliced
- 2 large English cucumbers, halved lengthwise, seeded and sliced crosswise ¼-inch thick
- ⅓ cup packed chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup salted peanuts
- 1 large jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (or use 1-2 Thai chiles for more heat)
- ¼ teaspoon salt (optional)
For the Dressing
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice, from 2-3 limes
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1½ tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Instructions
- Place the onions in a small bowl of cold water. Let sit for ten minutes, then drain well and pat dry with a paper towel.
- Make the dressing: In a large bowl, whisk the lime juice, oil, fish sauce, sugar, and garlic.
- Add the drained red onions, cucumbers, cilantro, peanuts and jalapeño pepper to the dressing. Taste and add the salt if necessary. Serve the salad within 30 minutes.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 238
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated fat: 2g
- Carbohydrates: 21g
- Sugar: 12g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 6g
- Sodium: 660mg
- Cholesterol: 0mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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I made this with the Thai lettuce cups and it was amazing! Very refreshing, I only had honey roasted peanuts, but it was still delicious. Thank you for such a yummy side!
An absolute hit whenever it lands on a table. A little more interesting than the average cuc salad and super simple to make. I had never soaked my red onions before and was thankful to learn this technique which gets used in other recipes now as well! I like to use a red chili instead of a jalapeño as my family loves the extra heat and the color contrast is just beautiful. Big thanks for this one, Jennifer!
This dish is delicious. Simple to make. I make it all the time in the summer when cucumbers are in. Also, make it when ordering take out as a nice side dish.
A quick and easy dish to make! I served it to my family and another time to our picky neighbors who devoured it! I haven’t changed any of the ingredients but one must add the peanuts. I forgot one time and it just didn’t have the delightfulness.
My family loves this recipe. We eat a lot of cucumbers and red onions marinated in salt and red wine vinegar. That’s good, but it was getting old. This makes a lovely variation that even my picky eater 14-year-old loved. I don’t like really sweet things so I only added a pinch or two of sugar and it was still great. It accompanied a simple dinner of rice and roasted chicken. The next day I took leftover rice and chicken and some of this salad for lunch. I heated the rice and chicken and then topped it with some of this salad. It was delicious and I love getting 2 meals out of one prep!
I was craving this salad which is truly delicious, but had to make it without cilantro and with white onion instead of red. Still tasted great and “hit the spot” however did miss the flavor of the cilantro so would not recommend leaving it out. The white onion was fine but not as pretty as the red. I used one red chile and half a jalapeno which worked well. We had the salad with bunwiches of grilled flank steak marinated in a concoction of soy sauce, garlic, fish sauce, red pepper flakes, black pepper, cumin, coriander, canola oil, dijon mustard, juice of half a lime, brown sugar – thrown together by my husband 😀 The salad is delightful Jenn, thanks!
Something different with the abundance of summer cucumbers. Very good.
I LOVE this recipe. The salad was so simple to make and it was delicious. It was so refreshing and tastes better than what you order in most Thai restaurants. 🙂 This recipe also works with stir-fried beef if you want extra protein. 🙂
This is excellent. I’ve never seen my husband eat so much salad! Thank you 🙂
Does the fish sauce have a fishy taste?
Hi Katie, yes, it does have a fishy taste, but once it’s combined with the other ingredients for the dressing, you really won’t taste the fishiness at all.
The recipe works well if you cut down on the amount of nuc-mam…just not as good. Might also suggest adding bean sprouts for appearance and nutrition…