Simple Tomato, Cucumber, And Onion Salad Recipe

This simple tomato, cucumber, and onion salad is by far one of my absolute favorite recipes for summertime. It combines all the best fresh flavors of the garden into one delicious side dish.

While the word “salad” might scare some people off, I promise you there is no lettuce involved in the making of this side dish. It’s mostly on the healthy side with a flavor that is bright and refreshing. You can feel a bit less guilty about eating this salad recipe as opposed to some of the more typical Midwestern “salad” recipes out there (*cough* Apple Snicker Salad *cough*)!

Although the summer is the best time to make this recipe because you can find the ingredients inexpensively and readily available right in the garden, I will often mix it up during the cold months as well. It’s nice to enjoy the fresh flavors of summer to really get me dreaming of warm sunshine and the smell of growing plants!

This recipe makes a good-sized batch as it is written. However, it’s easy to scale up the recipe to make a double batch to bring along to your next cookout or family BBQ. (Besides, it’s nice to have something other than the typical pasta salad and deviled eggs at times!)

So if you are looking for an inexpensive, refreshing summer recipe that is created mostly from ingredients you can harvest yourself, try making this tomato, cucumber, and onion salad. It’s one that even both of my teenage kids enjoy eating!

How To Make Tomato, Cucumber, And Onion Salad

*Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the full recipe, including exact measurements and amounts. You can also print out the instructions. I go into a bit more detail about the recipe here first, just in case you need it.

There are a lot of tomato, cucumber, and onion salad recipes out there that all have a slightly different take on things. This recipe creates a salad that has a lot of liquid for the vegetables to soak in. This is on purpose. When I serve up the salad, I include a good amount of the liquid as well as part of the dish to enjoy along with the vegetables.

In addition, if we eat all of the vegetables in a couple of days, I will simply cut up a few more cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions and throw them back into the brine for a second round of the salad without all the work of making everything from scratch again. It’s a win-win in my book!

If you don’t like it being so watery, feel free to cut the dressing in half or adjust it as you see fit. If you are looking for more of a traditional summertime “salad” recipe that does include lettuce, try My 7-Layer Salad.

Ingredients – Tomato, Cucumber, And Onion Salad

• Water – The colder the water the better.
• Vinegar – Use distilled white vinegar that has a 5% acidity level. This is another alteration from most recipes out there.
• Vegetable oil – You can also substitute a light-tasting olive oil if you prefer. It will change the overall flavor just a bit.
• Sugar – Regular granulated sugar
• Salt – Table salt
• Pepper – Black

• Cucumbers – Any type of peeled cucumbers works well for these, but I prefer slicing varieties that have very few seeds. Pickling cucumbers also work well. It just takes a lot of them in order to get a good amount since they are smaller. If the cucumbers you are using have grown a bit too large, simply remove the seeds and middle prior to cutting. Bigger cucumber seeds aren’t always the most pleasant to eat. In addition, the middle can be a bit watery the larger the cucumber is.
• Tomatoes – Again, any type works well for this recipe but the best is cherry tomatoes or paste varieties. These types typically have more flesh and less juice. Also, they keep their shape well and don’t turn to mush quite as quickly as larger slicing tomatoes can.
• Onion – White or red onions all work well for this recipe. I typically use white onions just because that is what we have on hand most often.

Instructions

First start by making the liquid or brine. Mix together your cold water, vinegar, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and pepper in a measuring cup or bowl. I like to use my 2-cup measuring cup because I can mix all of the ingredients at the same time without dirtying up a bunch of cups or bowls. (Product Link: Anchor Hocking Glass Measuring Cups)

Mix the ingredients well until the sugar and salt have completely dissolved. It might take a few minutes for that to happen since you are using cold water as opposed to warm. Once dissolved, set aside. The oil will naturally separate as it sits. Just give it a good mix before adding it to your vegetables.

Chop Up Your Veggies – Tomato, Cucumber, And Onion Salad

Next, peel your cucumbers. You can try doing this with unpeeled cucumbers but we found the skin to be tough and not very pleasant to eat with the other softer vegetables. Add the peels to your compost bin or give your chickens a little snack if you are worried about it being wasteful.

Chop the cucumbers into one-inch-sized pieces and add them to a large bowl. Some recipes call for slices of cucumbers, but we found that the slices get really soggy and limp quicker than the chunks do.

Next, wash and cut up your tomatoes into one-inch-sized pieces. For cherry tomatoes, cut them in half. For larger tomatoes like paste or slicing tomatoes, remove the stem and core. Add the chopped tomatoes to your bowl.

Now it’s time to cut up your onions. I like a bit larger pieces so I chop them into about half-inch-sized pieces. You can really cut them however you like but I wouldn’t go too small for this recipe. You actually want to get a nice piece of onion in your spoon when eating the salad as opposed to it being more of a seasoning.

Mix It All Together

Once the onions are added to your bowl, it’s time to mix the dressing to re-incorporate the oil and pour it over the vegetables. Give everything a good stir to coat all the vegetables in the dressing. Cover and chill it for at least two hours before serving.

The cucumber, tomato, and onion salad is typically the crispiest and freshest the day of making. But it will still be tasty the following day or two. The vegetables will simply be a bit softer in texture after the initial day (which I actually like).

And since there is a lot of liquid typically left over after you eat all of the vegetables, you can easily cut up a second batch of cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions and toss them in to have a second salad all ready to go!

Until next time, thanks for stopping by!
– Chelsea

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