This post may include affiliate links; for details, see our disclosure policy.
This refreshing German cucumber salad (gurkensalat) is a summer tradition: thinly sliced cucumbers and onions in a vinegary dressing.
Growing up, German cucumber salad meant summer. There wasn’t a meal that this cucumber salad couldn’t complement. Because of my dad’s German heritage, he called it gurkensalat. Alex’s family was decidedly less fancy, and simply called it “pickles”. Whatever you call it, a good cucumber salad can’t be beat in the summer. Here, we’re sharing my family’s gurkensalat recipe, tweaked a bit for our taste. It’s easy to prepare, and requires only a few ingredients. It’s a great accompaniment to a summer meal: perhaps some grilled salmon or burgers?
Or, try it creamy! Try our Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream.
How to make German cucumber salad
German cucumber salad is easy to make, but it does take a little patience. Here’s what you need to know:
- Slice the veggies at thin as possible. The trick to mastering this cucumber salad is to slice the onions and cucumbers as thinly as possible. If you have a mandolin, now would be a great time to whip it out. Otherwise, taking the time to slice the veggies thinly with a knife will work. Slicing the cucumber and onion thinly allows the salt to draw out most of the moisture, and gives this salad the most incredible texture.
- Let it sit! The other key component of German cucumber salad is time. Once the cucumbers and onions have been salted, they need time to rest to allow the salt to do its work. After you’ve drained them and added in the vinegar and sugar, the salad shout sit for another 15 minutes to let the flavors come together.
Video: How to cut an onion
What speeds up the prep in this German cucumber salad is your knife skills! You’ll need to know how to properly slice an onion. Here’s our step by step guide for how to cut an onion, including a video of me cutting an onion in our kitchen. Fast forward to the slicing an onion step: typically we slice our onions into half moons for this cucumber salad.
Serving suggestions
This German cucumber salad is perfect for summer meals! Here are some of our favorite mains that would pair well with this salad:
- Burgers like Ultimate Grilled Veggie Burger or Portobello Burger
- Grilled skewers like Veggie Kabobs, Mango & Veggie Skewers, Greek Skewers or Shrimp Skewers
- Sandwiches like Buffalo Cauliflower Sandwich or Grilled Eggplant Sandwich
Cucumber salads around the world
Cucumber salad is enjoyed in many nations of the world! Here are a few different spins using the hydrating cucumber as a base:
- Shepherd salad from Turkey features tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and olives, covered in a lemony vinaigrette.
- Greek salad uses much of the same ingredients, arranged in a flat layer on a plate with a simple oil and vinegar drizzle.
- Thai cucumber salad features red pepper, cashews and cilantro, covered in a dressing made with Thai red curry paste.
- Cucumber salad with sour cream from Poland features shallots, dill and a sour cream dressing.
This German cucumber salad recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.
German Cucumber Salad
This refreshing German cucumber salad (gurkensalat) is a summer tradition: thinly sliced cucumbers and onions in a vinegary dressing.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Raw
- Cuisine: German
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers
- 1 large yellow onion
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons white sugar
- Kosher salt
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers as thin as possible, using a mandolin if desired. Peel and thinly slice the onion. Layer the cucumbers and onions in a large shallow bowl, sprinkling salt between each layer and alternating onion layers between cucumbers. Let stand for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, then drain thoroughly.
- Transfer to a serving bowl. Add ½ cup white vinegar, 1 to 2 tablespoons sugar, fresh ground pepper and additional salt, if desired. Taste and adjust seasonings. Stir in a few ice cubes and let stand 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Looking for more easy side dishes?
Outside of this German cucumber salad, here are a few more favorite summer side dish recipes:
- Easy Three Bean Salad
- Watermelon Salad
- Blueberry Salad
- Simple Guacamole
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad
- Grilled Caesar Salad
- Greek Orzo Salad
- Perfectly Creamy Polenta
- Creamy No Mayo Potato Salad
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa
Last updated: March 2020
I was going to make this with cucumbers but the one in my fridge was rotten 🙄 so I used celery instead and it was so good! I skipped the first step (salting). I ALWAYS have celery in the fridge so this will be a great quick salad to whip up for summer.
Have you ever tried canning this recipe? I absolutely love this salad.
My Mother came from Austria as a child and made this recipe often. So happy to see this and will try to make it – looks like the exact recipe she made!
Thanks for sharing! We ate this salad growing up… it was the first thing that I learned to “cook”. My mom would slice and then let me layer and dress this. I loved helping. We always did a bowl of cucumbers and a bowl of tomatoes. My mother learned this recipe from our German neighbor, so we called them German pickles. She always made both but never combined them. Yum!
When I make them now I layer the cucumbers and tomatoes together and serve them as soon as they are dressed (no onions either). I think I will try the old way and see if my family likes it!
What a fun memory! Foods we ate growing up are so nostalgiac, aren’t they? Hope your family likes the old way when you try it out on them!
Thank you for the recipe! I too have fond memories of this salad. We always had it in summer using the fresh cukes from the garden, and it even had it’s own special bowl, a pink depression era glass bowl that had an imprint of cherry blossoms on it. Thank you for putting this online, this is one recipe my Mom did not write down, it was from her mother who was Austrian.
1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil enhances the dressing!