This refreshing Thai cucumber salad features red pepper, cashews and cilantro, covered in a vinaigrette made with Thai red curry paste.

Thai Cucumber Salad with Cashews | A Couple Cooks

Our garden started out strong this year, but by the time growing season was in full swing, aside from herbs all we’ve gotten are cucumbers! So before cucumber season is gone, here’s a recipe we whipped up on a whim one night: Thai cucumber salad! It’s slightly spicy from the red curry paste, and a wonderful jumble of textures with the crunchy cucumbers and cashews. It’s a lovely end of summer salad before we (gulp) say hello to squash and pumpkin spices.

How to make Thai cucumber salad

This Thai cucumber salad is very simple to make: the only time investment is chopping the vegetables! For the cucumbers, we like the look of peeling off alternating strips of cucumber skin and leaving small strips on: it makes for a fun variegated pattern! Here the cucumbers are seeded and then chopped into half moons. The other fresh ingredients to chop are bell peppers and cilantro. And if you don’t have a go to method for cutting, we have a few great video tutorials to help!

Video: How to cut a bell pepper

Are you wondering how to cut a bell pepper but not sure the best way? Alex and I use a genius method for cutting bell peppers that doesn’t end up with seeds all over the counter! (Anyone have that issue?) We use this method all the time, like with this Thai cucumber salad. Here’s our step by step guide for how to cut a bell pepper, including a video of me cutting bell peppers in our kitchen.

And aside from this, we also have a video on How to Cut Cilantro that shows an easy way to chop this herb as well.

A secret ingredient: Thai curry paste

Outside of chopping the vegetables, the only other thing to prepare for this Thai cucumber salad is the Thai curry vinaigrette! It’s a simple mix of white wine vinegar, peanut oil, and Thai red curry paste. Thai curry paste has beautifully fresh flavors: garlic, lemongrass, and ginger. Grab a jar from the store in the international aisle, and it keeps for months in the refrigerator. Some Thai curry pastes are spicy and some don’t have too much heat. Our favorite brand of Thai curry paste is Thai Kitchen, and it doesn’t add much heat to the overall dish. If you can’t find it at your local grocery, here’s a link to Thai Kitchen red curry paste on Amazon.

Cucumber salads from around the world

Alex and I love cucumber salads: it seems like each nation has their own version! Somehow along the way we’ve made four different versions of cucumber salad. Here are a few we’ve enjoyed:

Shepherd salad from Turkey features tomatoes, cucumbers, feta and olives, covered in a lemony vinaigrette.
Greek salad uses much of the same ingredients, but arranged in a flat layer on a plate.
Cucumber salad with sour cream is traditionally Polish, featuring shallots, dill and a sour cream dressing.
German cucumber salad features thinly sliced cucumbers and onions marinated in vinegar.

Want more with cucumbers? See Top Cool Cucumber Recipes.

This recipe is…

This Thai cucumber salad recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free.