• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Sweet Little Bluebird
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Home
  • About
  • Crazy Cakes
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • Home
    • About
    • Crazy Cakes
    • Contact
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×
    Home » classic summer side dish

    Grandma B’s Cucumber Salad

    by Mary Neumann · 53 Comments

    68801 shares
    • Facebook
    Close up photo of Grandma B's Cucumber Salad
    Today I am sharing another childhood favorite, a summer tradition at my grandparents’ for each and every barbecue – Cucumber Salad! Crisp summer cucumbers and onions thinly sliced, marinated in a simple yummy vinegar, sugar and water dressing. A favorite sumnmer side dish.


    Grandma’s Cucumber Salad

    A traditional, old-school classic recipe. Refreshing, cool and crisp, perfect on hot summer days. This is the perfect side dish for any family gathering, picnic, BBQ or potluck – even better, it’s budget friendly! 

    Read great reviews from people who tried this recipe on Pinterest (photos)!

    More Reviews! And More.

    This is a photo showing cucumber salad in a white bowl.

     

    Every time my grandpa grilled steaks, burgers or hot dogs in the summer, this was always one of the side dishes. My great-grandma, (Grandma B), loved this salad, hence the name.

    Over the years I have changed the recipe a smidgen, adding tomatoes and dill for another layer of flavor. I also like mixing in a little red onion along with a white or Vidalia onion.

    This is a photo showing cucumber salad with tomatoes and dill added in a white bowl.

    Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best ones. This salad allows the garden fresh cucumbers and onions (and tomatoes) to shine.

    This is a photo showing cucumber salad with tomatoes and dill added in a white bowl.

    I love lots and lots of dill in the salad (optional). Fresh dill weed is best, but dry dill weed works well too.

    This is a 9 photo collage showing the ingredients and the salad being made.

    Grandma B’s Cucumber Salad

    Print Recipe  
    Save Recipe To Pinterest 


    Ingredients
    • 2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced thin
    • 1 small onion, sliced thin (use your favorite onion – Vidalia is great, sweet onion or white). I like to mix in a little red onion for color, I also love the taste.
    • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
    • 1 cup water
    • 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (use less or more to your liking)
    • salt and pepper to taste

    Optional

    • toss in fresh tomatoes (use your favorite – cherry, plum, fresh from the garden)
    • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried dill or 3 teaspoons fresh dill weed
    • English cucumbers are great for this salad
    Directions
    Place sliced cucumbers and onions (tomatoes if you are using them) in a medium size bowl.
     
    In a separate medium size bowl (or large 4 cup measuring cup), mix vinegar, water and sugar until sugar is dissolved.  Pour over veggies. If adding dill, toss in dill and mix well. Cover and place in fridge for two to three hours before serving.  Serve chilled. Salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

    This is a 5 photo collage. The first photo shows the cucumber salad in a white bowl. The second photo shows the ingredients on a table next to a picnic basket. The third photo shows cucumber sliced on a cutting board. The fourth photo shows sliced cucumber and onion in a white bowl, with the vinegar mixture being poured over top. The fifth photo shows the cucumber salad in a white bowl with tomato and dill added.

    Thanks for stopping by!
    Cheers!

     

    More classic summer side dish

    • This is a photo of the salad served in a large white serving bowl.
      Best Salad Ever (My Most Requested Salad Recipe)
    68801 shares
    • Facebook

    Dinner Made Easy with Slow Cooker

    Tried-and-true recipes to make cooking in your slow cooker simply & delicious!

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Carol

      April 10, 2019 at 4:22 pm

      Yummy. I will hsve to try it. I usually use sour cream in my recipe. I love the tomatoes in yours.

      Reply
    2. Maxine

      April 02, 2019 at 12:23 pm

      can you give me a suggestion how much salt and pepper to add? Love your recipes/

      Reply
    3. Don

      April 01, 2019 at 6:55 pm

      My Mom makes this all the time in the summer. The secret thing she does is puts salt on the cucumbers and let them sit for about an hour and rinses the salt off. She said that it makes them more crunchy.

      Reply
    4. Lorrie

      March 31, 2019 at 5:01 pm

      My Cucumber salad
      Cucumber chunks
      Diced fresh tomatoes or cherry tomatoes cut in half
      Thinly sliced red onions
      Top with Zesty Italian dressing.

      Serve alone or on top of a salad. Taste best served after 24 hours.
      Additional suggested items
      • Sliced black or Kalamata Olives
      • Sliced Peppercini’s
      • Crumbled Feta

      Reply
    5. Maria Litou

      March 05, 2019 at 4:08 pm

      You can also add olive oils and feta cheese and you have wonderful Greek salad,loved by all the tourists in the summer

      Reply
    6. Sherrie

      February 21, 2019 at 11:45 pm

      I love cucumber salad…….I add cider vinegar , sugar and dill to sour cream and fold through the thinly sliced cucumber and onion…….big hit with our family……😋🇦🇺

      Reply
    7. Fran

      February 20, 2019 at 12:23 pm

      My mom made always made cucumber salad at our weekly BBQ. Hers was cucumber sliced tomatoes and thin sliced red onion. All from our garden.. she would run the tines of a fork down the sides of the cucumber, looked pretty and absorbed the dressing. I do make this for my family now.Thanks for the memory.

      Reply
    8. Deb Prinz

      February 19, 2019 at 5:53 pm

      I grew up on this one too, loved it, still do, but ours always had the tomato in it!

      Reply
    9. Debbie Harker

      February 15, 2019 at 3:21 pm

      We have a very similar version of this everyday when we have fresh cucumbers and onions in the summer. My family likes it pretty sweet, so I use more sugar, and my husband likes the cucumbers crispy – so I don’t marinate, but make it just before serving.

      Reply
    10. Slava

      January 12, 2019 at 7:46 am

      Many thanks for this healthy and delicious vegetable salad!

      Reply
    11. Sharon Beverly

      October 11, 2018 at 12:48 pm

      I grew up on this salad! Sometimes my Mom made a sour cream based dressing for it and sometimes we had the vinegar based dressing. Both were very good.

      Reply
    12. dot

      July 02, 2018 at 5:07 pm

      Love Grandma B’s cucumber salad. Very easy way to print all recipes….thanks.

      Reply
    13. Anonymous

      September 10, 2017 at 7:55 pm

      We decrease the sugar in this, but have really enjoyed as a way to enjoy our summer cucumbers. Any idea how long this should keep in the refrigerator if keeping it around to snack?

      Reply
      • Sylvie

        March 05, 2019 at 9:53 pm

        I absolutely LOVE cucumber salad. Thank you for sharing all these great recipes with us.😊☺️🙂

        Reply
    14. marysweetlittlebluebird

      July 13, 2017 at 8:37 pm

      Thanks so much, Barbara, for looking our for me. This is another scrapper site that steals from bloggers, Looks like they have 4 or 5 Facebook pages that are directing traffic to the site. Hopefully enough bloggers will report them and the site will be removed. I reported today. Again – thank you!

      Reply
    15. Barbara Miller

      July 11, 2017 at 12:53 pm

      these folks stole your photo and post mmmbuzz.com/grandmas-cucumber-salad/

      Reply
    16. Anonymous

      February 16, 2017 at 7:04 pm

      My mother and grandmother made this except they used celery seed instead of dill

      Reply
    17. Anonymous

      January 25, 2017 at 10:26 pm

      Do i have to use dill weed

      Reply
    18. Anonymous

      August 06, 2016 at 7:20 pm

      Grew up on this salad. No tomatoes or sugar, just cukes, onions, salt, pepper and vinegar. Let set over night. Delish.

      Reply
    19. Anonymous

      July 09, 2016 at 1:40 am

      Just made this. I added a little celery salt to the recipe. With or without it this salad is so tasty.

      Reply
    20. Pamela S

      June 27, 2016 at 12:02 am

      I just made this and my husband LOVED it…adding it to our list of recipes to do weekly during the summer. Thanks.

      Reply
    21. Winifred Coyle

      June 26, 2016 at 1:15 am

      So my grandmother also made a cucumber salad that was a bit different. After slicing the cuke up thin we would take handfuls of the slices and squeeze them till they were all limp and much of the fluid was gone. Then we'd chop up some fresh curly parsley and some onion real fine add some salt, pepper and dill and sour cream. Mix it all together and chill in the fridge till ready to serve. I still make it today and my grandkids love it!

      Reply
      • Anonymous

        February 10, 2017 at 7:03 pm

        We didn't squeeze we salted them put in refrig for a couple hrs (or less). Then drained them. Then continued on with recipe

        Reply
    22. Barbara Turner

      June 25, 2016 at 6:30 pm

      This is exactly what I grew up on from my Mom and Grandparents in GA where I grew up! Thanks for the reminder! Gonna start making this again!

      Reply
    23. Barbara Turner

      June 25, 2016 at 6:28 pm

      This is exactly what I grew up on! Thanks for the reminder! Gonna start making this again!

      Reply
    24. Barbara

      June 25, 2016 at 5:44 pm

      I'm a W.Va. gal and we made this all the years I was growing up there. Only diff. was NO sugar, just cukes and onions. We Never added sugar to beans or spaghetti sauces either. It's a great salad though.

      Reply
    25. Anonymous

      June 11, 2016 at 1:17 am

      I have made this twice and we love it!

      Reply
    Newer Comments »

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Or, you can subscribe without commenting.

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi, I’m Mary, the face behind the food blog Sweet Little Bluebird. I am a Michigan girl, born and raised in Flint, and currently living outside of Atlanta, Georgia. I am married to a great guy from Northern California, together we have two sweet girls.

    More about me →

    Popular

    • Four image collage showing a photo of each recipe featured this week — Sugar Cookie Peach Cobbler, Rotel Chicken Pasta, Sheet Pan Taco Pizza, and Oatmeal Cream Pie Bars.
      Sugar Cookie Peach Cobbler — Weekend Potluck 730
    • Four image collage showing a photo of each recipe featured this week - Rhubarb Cake, Hamburger Steaks with Onion Gravy, No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Bars, and White Chicken Enchiladas.
      Rhubarb Cake — Weekend Potluck 729
    • Four image collage showing a photo of each recipe featured this week — American Goulash, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Ground Beef Lo Mein, and 3 Ingredient Garden Veggie Dip.
      American Goulash — Weekend Poltuck 728
    • Four image collage showing a photo of each recipe featured this week - Chewy Chocolate Chip Blondies, Easy Ham Fried Rice, Peach Cobbler with Crackly Topping, and Ham Dumplings.
      Chewy Chocolate Chip Blondies with Sprinkles — Weekend Potluck 727

    Amazon Associates Disclosure

    Mary Neumann of Sweet Little Bluebird is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • Disclosure
    • Privacy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Accessibility Statement

    Copyright © 2011-2026 · Mary Neumann · Sweet Little Bluebird · All Rights Reserved
    Copyright Protected Under The Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Any And All Use Of Photos Is Prohibited Without Written Permission.