Light and fresh white bean and cucumber salad is a wonderfully summery side dish. Made with cucumbers, beans, spring onions, parsley, and a vinegar dressing, this Greek-style salad is a great addition to picnics, potlucks, and barbecues. This recipe is super easy to make, and it’s vegetarian and gluten-free.
Cucumber Salad
A few years ago, Dennis came home from work with a bag of basil and a few Silver Slicer cucumbers. They were a gift from fellow vegetarian Liz, who is married to her colleague Anthony. Basil immediately finds its way into a batch of pesto. Had luck for the cucumber salad.
If you google “white cucumbers,” you’ll find tons of information telling you not to eat them. Although these cucumbers are meant to be white, they are perfectly fine to eat. Silver slicer cucumbers are light and juicy and their skin is not as thick as the green variety. I looked, but I couldn’t find them in any store.
My initial instinct was to just slice a piece and toss it in my usually large lunch salad, but as I was about to cut into one, I realized it was too unusual not to take a picture first. And then photographing it turned into building a salad around it. And thus, this cucumber salad recipe was born.
Cucumber salad is usually made with red onion and dill. I changed the dill to chives in my recipe, because Dennis doesn’t like dill. (I think it’s almonds, because it’s delicious.) And I used scallions instead of red onions, because neither of us like raw onions. (At least we agree on that!)
I added a pinch of mustard, because I like the tang it gives. I threw in some white beans for a little extra oomph and texture.
what do you want
- cucumber
- Sea salt
- White wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
- Chives
- garlic
- Dijon mustard
- Bell pepper
- Scallion (Spring Onion)
- White beans, such as cannellini or navy beans
- Parsley
- Stay red pepper
See recipe card for exact amounts.
How to Make White Bean and Cucumber Salad
This salad is super easy to whip up!
- First, you place the sliced cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle with salt. You should let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
- While the cucumbers sit, you whisk together the dressing ingredients.
- Then you toss the dressing together with the cucumbers and the rest of the salad ingredients. That’s it!
Salted cucumber
You may be tempted to skip the salting step, but this will help draw the water out of your cucumbers. If you skip the step, your salad may be a little too watery. You can rinse them after they’ve sat with the salt for 10 minutes or so, but it’s not necessary.
Recipe notes
It’s a good idea to refrigerate your salad for a few hours to combine all the flavors before serving.
Customize your salad
- If you want to use chickpeas instead of white beans, go for it!
- You can add diced avocado to the diced tomatoes for a little extra flavor if you like.
- If you have some sumac on hand, you can add it to the dressing or sprinkle it on top
Serve your salad
- This salad makes a great side dish for veggie burgers or sandwiches.
- It’s a terrific appetizer, too. Serve on small plates before meals.
- You can also cut the cucumber into small pieces and serve it on crusty bread slices.
White Bean and Cucumber Salad
Light and fresh white beans and cucumbers are a wonderfully summery side dish. It’s a great addition to picnics, potlucks, and barbecues.
Materials
- 2 the middle cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- ⅓ the cup White wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
- 2 table spoon Chopped chives
- 1 cloves garlic minced meat
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon Bell pepper Plus more flavor
- pinch Stay red pepper optional
- 2 scallions to cut
- 1 the cup Cooked white beans (eg cannellini or navy beans)
- ¼ the cup Chopped parsley loosely packed
instructions
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Place the sliced cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let it stand for 5 or 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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While the cucumbers are drying, whisk together the vinegar, chives, garlic, mustard, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
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Place the cucumber in a large bowl with the scallions and beans. Pour over the dressing and toss to coat. Gently fold in the parsley.
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Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving, so that all the flavors combine.
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Before serving, sprinkle with more red pepper flakes and black pepper, if that’s your thing.
Calories: 51kcal | Sugars: 9g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 0.3g | Saturated Fat: 0.1g | Polyunsaturated Fats: 0.1g | Monounsaturated fats: 0.03g | Sodium: 445mg | Potassium: 225mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 275IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 1mg
