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Grandma’s Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe with Sour Cream made with sliced cucumbers in a simple creamy dressing is the perfect side dish for summer. Serve this delicious side salad with beef, pork, chicken or seafood for the perfect complement to any meal.
Table of Contents
When I was growing up, this sour cream cucumber salad was on the table very frequently during the summer months. Sometimes, my mom would make it and sometimes my grandmother would, but either way, it was always cool, creamy and completely delicious.
We had cucumber sour cream salad, or Mizeria, as Grandma called it, with ribs, steaks, onion soup burgers, grilled Italian Dressing Chicken and Polish breaded pork chops. That’s the great thing about this easy side salad — it goes well with pretty much anything. And, you can make it in just a few minutes.
Now personally, I like the taste of cucumbers, and it doesn’t matter how they’re prepared. I can eat them plain — well, with a little bit of sea salt. I also think the cukes add some awesome crunch to tossed salads, and I love them with a bit of vinegar and olive oil. And pickles? Wonderful!
Ingredients
You only need 6 ingredients for this old fashioned creamy sour cream cucumber salad. It’s made with sour cream, no mayo — and without dill. I love cucumber dill dip, and dill dip but I don’t like dill in cucumber salad!
- Cucumbers — use regular cucumbers or English cucumbers
- Sour cream — I use Daisy brand
- Vinegar — use white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- Sugar
- Sea salt and black pepper
What you don’t already have at home should be easy to find online or at your local grocery store.
How to Make Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe with Sour Cream
First, you peel the cucumbers and slice them nice and thin. If you’re using English cucumbers, hot house cucumbers or Persian cucumbers, you don’t need to peel them.
I usually peel the cucumbers anyway, no matter what kind I have.
You can use a mandolin slicer if you prefer. I don’t, since I personally don’t like super thin cucumbers in this salad.
Then, you sprinkle a little bit of sea salt and pepper over the cukes. You can use regular salt if you want, but I love sea salt, especially pink Himalayan salt, so that’s what I use. My kids love helping out with the seasoning, so I usually let them do this part.
Note — Cucumbers have a high water content. Many recipes call for salting the cucumbers to remove extra water before adding the sour cream. If you’re eating the salad right away, you don’t have to do this. My mom and grandma never did, so I skip this part.
However, if you want to make the salad ahead of time this step prevents the salad from becoming too watery as it sits. Just salt the cucumbers, allow them to drain in a colander, then rinse, and stir in the dressing.
Then, mix the sour cream, vinegar and sugar in a separate bowl until creamy.
After that, you just stir the tangy sour cream dressing with the cucumbers, and you’re done!
We never add onions to our cucumber salad, but you can add thinly sliced red or yellow onions if you like.
This quick and easy cucumber salad has been around forever, but you all know by now that I have a huge soft spot for classic retro recipes.
I like to serve them every now and then just so that my kids can taste the dishes that their parents and grandparents grew up with, and in this case, I also just love how it tastes.
How easy is this?! Anyone else grow up with this creamy cucumber salad? I’ve seen some recipes that call for dill, which sounds good too, but that’s not how my mom and grandma made it.
How to Store
Store leftovers in an airtight container or tightly covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Cucumbers release a lot of excess water, so leftover salad may get runny even if you salt the cucumbers, as I mentioned above.
Just drain the excess liquid before serving.
Variations
There are a couple ways to customize this creamy cucumber recipe.
Add your favorite seasonings to the salad. Besides, black pepper and sea salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika are all great options.
You can sub Greek yogurt for the sour cream.
Another great way to get some variety is to use a combination of cucumbers. Mix large cucumbers and smaller cucumbers for some texture difference, or use different cucumber types.
Add thin slices of red onion, green onions, and yellow onions for a delicious cucumber onion salad. Fresh dill weed also pairs well with fresh cucumbers — if you like dill.
Creamy Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 3 large cucumbers washed, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ cup sour cream
- ½ tablespoon vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Place the cucumber slices in a medium bowl, and season with salt and pepper
- In another bowl, mix the vinegar, sugar and sour cream together
- Stir sour cream mixture into cucumbers until well coated
- Refrigerate until ready to serve
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
If you’re looking for more summer side salads, try Easy Three Bean Salad, Instant Pot Potato Salad, Cucumber Tomato Salad or visit my salad recipes for more inspiration!
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Recipe first published in 2016 and updated in 2022
Never tried cucumber salad before, but I must cause it look very tasty.
It really is tasty! If you try it, let me know what you think. 🙂
I love a cucumber salad and this looks delicious! Hope you have a very special Fathers Day Weekend and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
I love cucumber salad. I make something very similar to this but with cider vinegar.
That’s another version that I like too. 🙂
Great light and cool side! Yum!Thanks for linking up to Merry Monday! Sharing on Twitter! Have a great week!
Kim
I love how simple this salad is!
That’s one of the things I love most about it! 🙂
I LOVE cucumber salad in the summer. Love this super creamy version.
Thanks so much! Even my picky eaters liked this. 🙂
This is totally the perfect summer food!
Dee, this is almost the way my mother and I have made this salad. The only difference is we heavily salt the sliced cucumbers and let it set for a few hours in the refrigerator. Then we rinse it really well, and squeeze out all the water from rinsing. Everything else, but additional salt, goes into making it, plus we add some paprika. Hungarians use paprika in most everything…LOL.
That sounds good! I love paprika, and I’ll have to try it your way next time. 🙂
This is my kind of salad (probably because it has some good ole fats in it!) And totally agree, sour cream is always on our dinner table, especially during the summer with baked potatoes!
Now, I’m totally craving a baked potato with sour cream! 😉
Oh I love cucumber salad but I haven’t had it in ages!! This is such a great dish for a Summer pot luck!
You’re right — It would be wonderful for a potluck. 🙂