Mediterranean Cucumber Salad

This Mediterranean cucumber salad is refreshing and light made with cucumber, tomato, parsley, and mint. Vegan, gluten-free, and paleo friendly, this salad is excellent to bring as a dish to pass at a picnic or as a complimentary side dish to a heavier main course.

The other evening I invited my best friend and her family to come out to our pool for a picnic and swim. Her kids are older than mine, both in middle school, but my boys absolutely adore them. They look up to her kids as if they were their very own big brother and big sister. I wanted it to be a fun and delicious night for all of us!

Her kids have a slightly more sophisticated palette now that they’re older. My friend offered to bring chicken and lamb skewers to grill. I was thrilled that she was taking the grilling pressure off of me! I’m never offended when other people want to eat meat around me. I was pleased that she was bringing something that she and her family would enjoy. Just like when i go to a picnic or party, I always bring a plant-based dish that I know I will enjoy.

Since my friend was bringing chicken and lamb skewers to grill, I decided to make a Mediterranean inspired salad to go with it, along with a quinoa protein salad, fresh fruit, and a light dessert.

This recipe was inspired by the Jerusalem Salad recipe on A Clean Bake. I changed the portions and tweaked it a bit to make it more kid friendly.

This mediterranean cucumber salad was the perfect compliment to the chicken and lamb skewers. I also knew it would travel easily, and was chock full of fresh and in season produce.

My only concern was the onions. I know the adults are all big fans of onions, but my kids turn their nose up at raw onions, and who can blame them really. It takes some getting used to.

My remedy to that dilemma was to set aside some of the cucumbers, tomatoes, and herbs to the side, and make a kid friendly version that was onion free. Without the onions, my kids had no problem taking this salad down.

Ingredients you’ll need for Mediterranean Cucumber Salad:

• 1 cucumber
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 bunch of mint
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 lemon
• 1 small onion
• vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

I used a long English cucumber. English cucumbers have fewer seeds, so this saved me the step of removing the seeds from an American cucumber.

Cucumbers, mint, parsley, and lemon are not on the EWG’s Dirty Dozen or their Clean 15 list. The Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen list, is a list of fruits and vegetables that have the highest amount of pesticide residue vs. the lowest amounts of pesticide residue to help shoppers determine which produce is best to buy organic. If you have the opportunity I would buy organic cucumbers, mint, parsley, or lemons, but wouldn’t be too concerned since they do not fall on the Dirty Dozen list.

Onions are on the clean fifteen list, so you can purchase non-organic onions without concern.

Tomatoes, however, do rank #10 on the EWG’s Dirty dozen list, which means it’s recommended that you buy organic.

HOW TO MAKE MEDITERRANEAN CUCUMBER SALAD – STEP BY STEP

STEP 1: Dice one small onion. In a small bowl soak the onions in white vinegar to quickly pickle. When the rest of the ingredients are chopped, drain the onions, and discard the vinegar..

Step 2: Dice the cucumber and tomatoes.

Step 3: Finely chop the mint and roughly chop the parsley.

Step 4: In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Step 5: In a medium bowl gently fold together the pickled onions, cucumber, tomatoes, mint and parsley.

Step 6: Pour lemon and olive oil dressing over the vegetables. Let marinate for an hour or so before serving.

Variations

If you have children who do not like raw onion, fold the cucumber, tomatoes, mint, and parsley together first. Set a portion aside for the kids before folding in the onion. My kids also don’t like dressing, so I left the dressing off their salad.

Another popular addition to this salad is feta cheese. I left feta off this salad to keep it plant-based, but a 1/2 cup of feta for those who like it makes a nice addition.

You can also swap out the herbs, using dill instead of mint, or cilantro in place of parsley.

Tips for Making Mediterranean Cucumber Salad

This salad is best when consumed the day it is prepared. Chopped cucumber can get soggy if left overnight, especially if it is dressed.

If you’d like to prepare this salad in advance, leave the dressing off, and dress the salad before serving.

If you have a larger crowd, or you’re bringing this salad as a dish to pass at a picnic or party, you can double the amounts to serve up to 12 people.

Or you can double the amount of each ingredient, leaving out the onion and dressing, and have a kids and adult version of this salad for your picnic or get together.

CHECK OUT THIS OTHER SALAD RECIPE!

• Farro Salad
• Black Bean Quinoa Salad
• Summer Berry Salad

If you’ve tried my Mediterranean Cucumber Salad recipe, please rate it and let me know how it turned out. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for more plant-based family recipes your whole family will enjoy!