My sister Kim gave me this recipe for a refreshing pasta salad with cucumbers that includes vinegar and sugar. My hubby adores this aspect of summer! Enjoy!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 2 hrs |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) package bow tie pasta
- 1 large cucumber, thinly sliced
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried dill
- ¾ cup white vinegar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta at a boil, stirring occasionally, until cooked through yet firm to the bite, about 12 minutes. Drain and rinse several times with cold water until pasta is cool.
- Stir pasta, cucumber, onion, and dill in a salad bowl.
- Whisk vinegar, sugar, water, vegetable oil, mustard, salt, and black pepper in a separate bowl until sugar and salt have dissolved. Pour dressing over pasta mixture and toss lightly to coat with dressing. Let chill for 2 hours before serving.
Reviews
The only thing I left out was the dill. Really good recipe, thanks!
Good salad. Yes there’s a lot of dressing but I made it on the side and added what I needed. I would say work with a little less sugar. It was a bit too sweet.
I made the dish just as the recipe said, and I took it to a family reunion today. I got lots of compliments and got asked for the recipe. I really liked it, and I loved the dill taste. A hit!
Delicious and versatile. As others have indicated, you can tweak this however you like and it works wonderfully–no need to cut down the amount of the dressing, just add more stuff! Additions I liked from other reviews were feta, mayo, and red pepper flakes, both for color and an extra zing, and extra dill. Might try red/yellow peppers, halved cherry tomatoes or small melon chunks next time.
Too much sugar Will not make again.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. I’ve been making it the last couple summers and everyone loves it. No changes needed. Sometimes I use a tri-colored penne pasta in place of the bow tie for extra color.
Very good. Will keep it in my favorites. So refreshing on a hot summer day!
I have made this salad many times and everyone enjoys the change from the common flavors of macaroni, potato and pasta salad. It is a refreshing salad with lots of flavor. Sweet and crisp.
Great recipe! Made this for a party and received tons of compliments. I used 2 cucumbers and more dill. I think next time I will use 3 cucumbers, definitely enough dressing for the additional cucumbers. I had to make this about 24 hours before the party and it held up great.
Good pasta salad! You could probably halve the liquid ingredients. There was a lot. I’ll probably reduce the water next time also.
Very refreshing and light salad. The only thing I do differently is slice my cucumbers a little thicker and then cut them into quarters. IMO it seems to be a little easier to dish up. Either way, it’s good!
totally disgusting.
This was absolutely delicious exactly as it is. Will make again this weekend. Very refreshing on a hot summer day!
Made this for the 4th of July party and it was a huge hit!! Everyone loved it and it was very refreshing salad. I did use organic sugar and did not have dill in the house, used a little thyme and parsley in it’s place.
I did not care for this recipe as written. I had to tweak it, because I didn’t want to waste organic cucumbers. I added ½ cup of mayo, and ½ cup of Crumbled Feta Cheese. I would also advise to cut the sugar and water by half.
This was SO good! I’ve never made anything like this before but definitely will again. I used a mandoline to slice the cukes and onions nice and thin and I think that was key. The only reason I took off one star is that the recipe made WAY too much dressing for the amount of other ingredients. Maybe with double the pasta and veggies it would work but not with this amount. Still, I will for sure make this again, with half the dressing.
This is an excellent summer salad. Just two little things… 1. Use a mandolin to cut the cukes nice and thin. (Watch the finger tips!) 2. If at all possible use fresh, not dried dill. I think fresh really adds.
This is great! I had no white vinegar, only apple cider vinegar so I cut back a little but everything else was on point and it came out perfectly
Sorry. Way way too much dressing and sugar. I hate wasting food but probably won’t eat the leftovers.
It’s great!! Very delicious. I also halved the dressing and used turbinado sugar instead of evil, refined, white sugar??? I’d make it again with about a quarter of the sugar called for.
We love dill cuke salads, and the dressing on this one is very similar to what I typically use. I did use Truvia instead of sugar and fresh dill (twice the amount of dried in the recipe) simply because I had it on hand. I do like the additional texture that the pasta brings to this salad, and I can see adding some chopped red bell pepper for a little color and grilled chicken which would turn this into a nice (and make-ahead) summer main course.