Asian Spicy Sesame Cucumber Salad Recipe
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This Asian spicy sesame cucumber salad is so crunchy and addictive! The dressing is simply mouthwatering!
Once you taste one of these thin spicy marinated cucumber slices, you’ll automatically reach for more! When the spicy red pepper flakes and the crunchy sesame seeds hit your mouth, you’ll rejoice in unique flavor of this Asian cucumber salad!
The authentic Asian dressing of sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and sugar permeates the thin cucumber slices, making them taste truly marinated and so unique! The taste is so complex, with a combination of sweet, sour, salty, tangy, spicy and crunchy – more, please!
I love to get this cucumber salad in Japanese restaurants as an appetizer before sushi :) Making the cucumber sesame salad yourself costs a fraction of what you pay in a restaurant! The restaurants serve you a puny bowl for around $5… you can get enough cucumbers to feed a crowd for this much! Since the cucumbers are sliced so thin in this salad, one cucumber really goes a long way!
I like to make this cucumber sesame salad spicier than a typical restaurant version. They just sprinkle a few red pepper flakes mainly for the show and you can barely taste them. Since you are the one making the salad, you can control how much pepper you are getting and how much sesame too! I like to be generous with the red pepper flakes and sesame seeds because that’s exactly how I like it – spicy and crunchy! When you make food yourself, you are the boss!
This spicy Asian cucumber sesame salad is super easy to make. All you need to do is slice the cucumbers as thin as possible, then dress with a simple dressing and sprinkle with red pepper flakes and sesame to taste. If you have a mandoline slicer, this would be a good time to put it to use. If not, just use the knife and slice the cucumbers as thin as you can. I own a mandoline but was too lazy to take it out, so I used the knife – that’s why my slices on the pic are not as thin as they could have been, but who cares :)
Another great thing about this cucumber sesame salad is that you can make it as few hours ahead. Most salads have to be eaten immediately, but this salad actually benefits from a few hours of marinating. If not eating right away, just cover and put in a refrigerator, so the dressing will truly permeate the cucumber slices, yum!
If you like this spicy Asian cucumber sesame salad, you will also love these recipes:
Homemade California Sushi Rolls Recipe (make California rolls at home to go with this cucumber salad!)
Middle Eastern Tomato And Cucumber Salad (so colorful and refreshing!)
Easy Cucumber Dill Salad (another way of getting your cucumber fix!)
Homemade Sweet & Spicy Dipping Sauce (restaurant-style dipping sauce at home!)
Asian Spicy Sesame Cucumber Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers as thin as possible.
- Put the dressing ingredients in a cup: rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce and sugar. Whisk with a fork to combine.
- Put the cucumber slices in a bowl, pour dressing over them and toss to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and red pepper flakes and toss to combine.
Nutrition
Looks delish! What type of cucumber did you use? Can I use Persian cucumber? Thanks
You can use any type of cucumber, including Persian! My favorite one to use is English cucumber.
Very yummy cucumber side dish! I served this with Asian turkey lettuce wraps!
Have a surplus of cucumbers from garden and this is the perfect recipe to use of some of the surplus. Also used this recipe as a base for baked cod. Place salad on plate and top with baked cod fresh from the oven. Taste really pops.
Tried this spicy Asian cucumber salad today and OMG is it delicious! Just what the doctor ordered. My mind is popping with ideas on things to do with it, lettuce wraps and topping for crispy fried tofu come to mind. Not that it needs to do more than move from my plate to my mouth but hey… when you find something YUMMY a girl’s just gotta embellish with it. Am I right? Thanks for sharing this.
I’m thinking zucchini would also be good in place of cucumbers.
Can I double or triple this
Of course, just double or triple all the ingredients.
I made this for the first time tonight with a couple of changes. I didn’t add sugar and I added a big of red wine vinegar as well to make it extra tangy. It turned out delicious!! It’ll be even better the next day I reckon.
Can I make this a day in advance?
yes
HELP>>>>>>>>. I cannot find rice wine vinegar !!!!!!!!!!! What can I use as a substitute please?????????? Anxious to make this.
You can substitute with apple cider vinegar.
Loved this! So easy, cool and tasty. I used the leftovers to spice up so ham sandwiches. Soooo good.
So good! I couldn’t wait for it to marinate, I ate the entire thing right away! I also added thinly sliced white onion ?
Good recipe but a bit bland – don’t need more heat but I added a little more rice vinegar, canola oil, and salt. I liked the red pepper in the dish. I would make this again. Thanks!!
This recipe was 10/10 for me I absolutely loved it ! Everything was on the spot with the spices it tasted very delicious can’t wait to try it again and give out recipe thank you!
absolutely love this side dish
OMG but I love this recipe! They don’t last very long in my house!
Oh my this is delicious! Eating it right now! I can’t find the calorie count or nutrition, can you help me?
I just updated the recipe card to include nutrition info.
why it’s so addictive? 😋
Using a mandoline slicer for thin slices would be great, but even with a knife, it still looks amazing. Thanks for the straightforward recipe!