This crisp salad of cucumber and peanuts has a lot of kick! Asian chili-garlic sauce infuses dressing with a ton of flavor. My mother adds rice noodles, turning it into a tasty addition for lunch or dinner. I favor it as is.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 hr |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon white sugar, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon chile-garlic sauce (such as Huy Fong Foods®)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (Optional)
- 2 medium cucumbers – halved lengthwise, seeds scraped out with a spoon, and thinly sliced
- ½ cup chopped peanuts
- 2 green onions, chopped
Instructions
- Heat vegetable oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; cook and stir until softened and lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Whisk vinegar and sugar together in a salad bowl until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in chili-garlic sauce, fish sauce, coriander, red pepper flakes, and cooled garlic until thoroughly combined. Stir in cucumbers, peanuts, and green onions until coated with dressing. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight before serving.
Reviews
This was a very nice summer salad and a nice way to use extra cucumber. I preferred it with a bit more spice (salt, white pepper and paprika) and a touch more heat, but everyone’s tastes will vary and it easy to adjust to your family’s tastes. found it was great with fish and lamb but it’s generally versatile and doesn’t have to be strictly with an Asian-themed meal.
Very good! Would definitely make it again With some adjustments.
The only thing about this salad is it needs a bit more flavor in the way of salt/pepper and maybe more coriander. It is a medium heat for us, but may be considered hot for those who don’t eat much spicy food.
This is a very good lighter salad with just the right amount of spice. I made the recipe exactly as written. Easy to make.
I loved this recipe, so easy and quick! I diddn’t have fish sauce or coriander so I substituted soy sauce and added mustard. I also added some strips of red bell pepper for color. It turned out wonderful and went great with my brown sugar, honey, soy and mustard glaze that I made for my salmon!
I made it according to the recipe. The cucumbers were crisp and the Asian tang was a flavorful change from creamy dill cucumber salads. We had it with ribs and potato salad. My husband was not a fan of the Asian flavors and that is why I gave it a 4. He thought they were too much. So I happily get the leftovers!
Absolutely loved this! Added peanuts very last minute. Served this with Chef John’s spicy shrimp cakes. Will be making this again and again.
I added some pickled red onion and a drizzle of sesame oil. I love the influence of Asian flavors in this type of recipe.
I usually use another recipe on this site for a similar salad, but I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I made this one instead. I wouldn’t change a thing. It was delicious!
This is very tasty and refreshing! I added a drizzle of sesame oil to boost the Asian flavor even more.
I made this for the first time when some Chinese friends were visiting..Xiao’yan must have chowed half of it ! Loved it ever since !
I love Thai and often crave the unique flavors. I LOVED this so much! It’s just like the delicious salads at Thai restaurants and with just the right kick. To turn this into a great meal for my family, I doubled the batch exactly, then added a rotisserie chicken, most of a bunch of cilantro and one very large tomato. PERFECT! I will definitely be making this again when looking to use summer’s bounty of cucumbers!
Very tasty! Even good the next day!
Added sesame oil, uncooked ramen noodles , shredded rotisserie chicken.
This is a delicious, zingy salad that is a nice change. SO easy to make and so full of flavor!
Too spicy, and I usually like the extra kick. Next time I will omit chili garlic sauce. Kind of quiet too; next time I will add thinly sliced red onion and cilantro. I will also substitute jarred minced garlic for cooking the garlic.
Very good and to add s little color we added shaved carrots
Absolutely LOVE this salad! I used a combination of peanuts and about a tablespoon of peanut butter. I will make it again and again!
I didn’t have Asain Garlic Sauce and I made my own. Don’t skip the peanuts bc it changes the entire dynamic of the recipe.
Tasty and spicy. I mostly followed the recipe except used 1/2 tablespoon of fresh coriander and a teaspoon of organic peanut butter (made from just peanuts) in the dressing instead of chopped peanuts because that’s what I had. Next time I will use more of both: maybe a full tablespoon of fresh coriander and a tablespoon of peanut butter (if I don’t have peanuts). The peanuts are an important part of the taste. We ate this as a side salad to burgers, and it was very good. I imagine it would also taste great on rice.
These were okay. It had a balance issue with it but didn’t want to mess with it. I didn’t have peanuts so that was the only ingredient missing and also altered the chili garlic.