Korean cucumber salad. Brighten up your meals with this mouth-watering salad loaded with authentic Korean flavors. The dressing made with sesame, gochugaru, vinegar and soy sauce brings in the classic element to the dish. A great way to add a refreshing touch to your healthy eating menu!
It’s a fact that classic Korean cuisine is loaded with unexpected combination of flavors and aromas. It’s definitely an amazing way to celebrate sweet, savory and spicy flavors – all in one dish. When creating an authentic Korean dish, the challenge is to bring in the right balance between all the flavors.
This Korean cucumber salad is a delicious way to jazz up your regular cucumber salad. Cucumber is one of my favorite refreshing summer veggies to add to a salad, and when combined with Korean flavors, it tastes absolutely amazing. In this recipe, I have attempted to level up the classic flavors with a few Korean ingredients.
How To Make Korean Cucumber Salad
The key ingredient of this recipe is obviously fresh cucumbers. You can either dice them or cut into circles. I prefer the refreshing circular discs. Apart from cucumbers, you will also need chopped spring onions or scallions, minced garlic, and thinly sliced onions.
To start with, place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix them together. Now, the dressing. This is the one element of the salad that adds incredible flavor to the dish. A combination of toasted sesame seeds, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil, Korean red chili flakes and soy sauce. All these ingredients are easily available from your local grocery store.
To toast sesame seeds, simply dry fry the seeds in a pan until slightly browned. This adds a crunchy texture to this Korean cucumber salad. While sesame seeds and sesame oil play a huge role in elevating the flavor quotient of the dish, vinegar adds the sour element and Korean red chili flakes make the salad super spicy.
Together, all the different elements of this Korean cucumber salad make it absolutely drool-worthy!
More Salad Recipes:
- Moroccan Carrot Salad
- Carrot Kosambari | Indian Carrot Lentil Salad
- Kachumber | Indian Cucumber Salad
- Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
- Baked Kale Chips Salad
- Chana Chat | Healthy Chickpea Salad
- Challas | Sarlas | Kerala Onion Salad
- Spicy Pasta Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Korean Cucumber Salad | Video
Ingredients
- 1 large English cucumber cut into thin discs
- 2 tablespoons chopped scallions spring onions
- 1 garlic peeled and minced
- ¼ cup thinly sliced onions
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon Korean red pepper flakes red chili flakes (gochugaru)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare both cucumber and dressing ahead of time and combine just before serving.
- Place sliced cucumbers, scallions (spring onions), minced garlic and onions in a bowl.
- Meanwhile, combine rice vinegar, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil and red chili flakes in a bowl.
- Just before serving, pour dressing into cucumber slices. Toss. Season with salt.
Video
Notes
- I used a combo of white and black sesame seeds in this recipe
- If you don’t have toasted sesame seeds on hand, you can fry the seeds in a frying pan over low heat.
Nutrition
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