German Cucumber Salad (Gurkensalat)
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A classic German Cucumber Salad recipe, like the kind you’ll find in every German restaurant. Easy to make, healthy, delicious, and wonderfully refreshing!
Eating this cool and crunchy cucumber salad always reminds me of Germany. It’s commonly included as part of any Salatteller (salad plate) in German restaurants. A Salatteller will often feature a serving of carrot salad, radish salad, lettuce greens, potato salad and this cucumber salad. They’re the best salads ever!
While creamy cucumber salads are also popular in Germany, this oil- and vinegar-based version tends to be served more frequently in restaurants, at least where I’m from in southern Germany.
In Germany you can buy dry dill dressing mixes that come in small envelopes, often the Knorr brand. You add oil and vinegar and add it to your cucumber salad or leafy greens. But you can so easily make it from scratch – and it won’t have any of the fillers, additives and preservatives in it!
German Cucumber Salad Recipe
Let’s get started!
Peel the cucumbers and slice them the same width and place them in a medium-sized non-reactive bowl. I like to use my German mandolin for jobs like this to get uniform slices. Plus it goes a lot faster.
Place the sliced cucumbers in a bowl and toss with a heaping teaspoon of salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes then drain thoroughly.
Place the cucumbers in a medium-sized bowl.
To make the dressing, combine all the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and stir to combine.
Pour the dressing over the sliced cucumbers and stir to combine. Cover and chill for at least two hours before serving, stirring a couple of times. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Can be served cold or at room temperature.
Enjoy!
Be sure to also try our Creamy German Cucumber Salad!
Serve this German Cucumber Salad with any meat, poultry or fish. For example:
- Schnitzel
- Jaegerschnitzel
- Rouladen
- Sauerbraten
- Senfbraten
- German Goulash
- Frikadellen
- Bratwurst
- Lentils and Spaetzle
- German Goulash
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German Cucumber Salad (Gurkensalat)
Ingredients
- 3 medium cucumbers peeled and thinly sliced into rounds (if the cucumbers aren't waxed you can leave the peels on for more color)
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives optional - I don't always include these
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion more concentrated flavor than fresh onion
- 3 tablespoons neutral-tasting oil
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place the sliced cucumbers in a bowl and toss with a heaping teaspoon of salt. Let sit for about 30 minutes then drain thoroughly. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour over the cucumbers and stir to combine. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving, stirring it a couple of times. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Yum! This looks so delicious and tasty! I can’t wait to make this! Putting the ingredients on the list right now.
Love getting your recipes. I’m from München and we also slice our cucumbers very thin with mandoline, sprinkle salt. let sit 15 minutes, squeeze out water (usually in clean cotton kitchen towel), then a few very thinly sliced onions and then the oil & vinegar sugar (but less than your recipe) a bit of salt & pepper, refrigerate for 1 hour. The salt makes the cucumbers weep but will still exude water but not nearly as much after adding dressing Re-toss & serve. Think I’m going to make some for dinner.
You can use the vinegar, oil, onions, salt and sugar approach for other salads too. I am from Franken (north Bavaria).
We used it for yellow potato salad, tomatoes or wurst salad. For the wurst you can use any leftover lunch meats or even head cheese.
Almost exactly how my mother taught me. She also added some whipping cream and a splash of Maggi seasoning. My sister uses sour cream instead. I pinned several of your recipes including your bratwurst recipe . It’s difficult to find authentic recipes over here. Can’t wait to try it.
BTW I am from Bayern.
I am so happy I found this site!
My mom was from Fussen, Bavaria Germany.
As a child we always had cucumber salad and Bavarian potato salad with schnitzel. I do remember that when she made cucumber salad, she used a lot of salt on the cucumber slices and set it aside. then I remember her squeezing out the sliced cucumbers and a lot of water came out of them I remember she said the reason for the salt was to take the bitterness out of the cucumbers. I can’t wait to try your schnitzel cucumber salad and Bavarian potato salad.
Hi Andrea, I’m so glad you found us too – welcome! I hope you enjoy these recipes and look forward to hearing what you think.
I am of german descent but my husbands parents came to Canada from Germany in the 50’s. As I child I vaguely remember eating some type of salad with cucumbers. My first dinner with my inlaws, my mother in law served her cucumber salad. It was a creamy one. I fell in love instantly so I asked her for the recipe. Hers is pretty mucj like yours but uses sour cream instead of oil.
I tried your version and find it just as appealing.
Thank you, Christine, I’m glad you enjoyed it! I like both equally as well and make them interchangeably. Thanks again for the feedback!
You left out one important step. You need to salt the slices and let them sit for a few hours to get rid of most of the water. If you don’t, the salad will be very watery.Pour off the water before you add the dressing.
When pickling cucumbers for canning I follow the salting step for safety reasons because you don’t want water to dilute the vinegar mixture or it will lower the pH level, making it unsafe for long-term storage. This salad however will be liquidy anyway from the oil and vinegar and you’ll want to use a slotted spoon for serving regardless. You can certainly follow that step if you prefer, I just personally don’t bother.
I was thinking the same thing!
My mother is Austrian and makes salads to die for. The above salad is one she makes and sometimes she adds finely onions that she soaks in boiling water for about 30 secs to 1 min before adding to the salad. Both are fabulous.
Thanks for the tip, Judi!
I grew up with this also and still make it. We always put a little sour cream in to make it creamy. Sometimes I cheat and just use a good organic ranch dressing.
Also, Would you know if it’s possible to water bath can german carrot salad? Thanks LCF
Hi Lynda, for food safety reasons that would have to be pressured canned, not water bath canned, and that would likely make the carrots mushy.
We had a large party which had lots of leftovers. Can this be preserved by water bath canning?
Hi Lynda, unfortunately no, the texture would be very poor. Also, I don’t think the acidity level is high enough for water bath canning anyway.
Very interesting salad and I would try this version of the recipe. In past, I have tried another cucumber salad with greek yogurt. But I love the idea of making dill leaves dressing so would try it.
Thanks, Kirti. Yes, I love the yogurt version as well, they’re both excellent.
Our German recipe for creamy cucumbers was : place sliced cucumbers in salt water for an hour to tenderize a bit. Then add celery salt, a dash of sugar and 50/50 sour cream and mayo in amounts proportionate with the amount of cucumbers- to taste. If you add onions, marinate for a few minutes in white vinegar to take out bite.
Thanks for sharing your recipe for creamy cucumber salad, Ajperry!
My grandmother grew her own dill and parsley as well as cucumbers and tomatoes of course (along with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, beans, peas, cabbage, kale, beets turnips, poppies for poppyseed cake, strawberries and raspberries). Man, their garden was the best. Fresh garden grown ingredients are definitely a major enhanceement to the experience. She used to make the parsley version on Sundays in the summer once the cucumbers started coming in. and the dill version during the week. This year I finally managed to grow the ingredients for this salad for myself. I was just looking for something with the proportions for the dressing and this recipe popped up near the top. The salad turned out pretty much exactly like my Oma’s. The taste took me straight back in my mind to their little farm kitchen in the summers. Love how authentic foods can trigger such deep emotional responses. Thanks for posting.
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing your memories, Stefan, and I’m thrilled this salad was successful in taking you back. I’m likewise always amazed at how powerful food is for inducing those precious memories. Thanks again, Kimberly
I also grew up with this having parents that immigrated from Hamburg. One of my favorites as well as the other variations like the tomatoes only version or tomatoes and cucumber blend. Same basic vinegar and oil dressing. But no matter which variations one makes, never forget the sugar. Since there are many regional variants in Germany I noticed that in the North the common herb of choice was finely chopped parsley (curly) instead of the dill.
Hi Roland! I lived about 30 minutes from Hamburg for while and yes, as with all regions of Germany, north Germany has many unique dishes and its own variations of classic dishes. Yes, I love those German tomato salads as well. Here’s a very popular popular version with tomatoes and onions that I make every year with the season’s best tomatoes: https://www.daringgourmet.com/german-tomato-salad-tomatensalat/