Cucumber Dill Salad with Mint and Feta

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This recipe may go down in history as one of the most flavorsome salads you can make. Seriously! The incredible burst of vibrant, fresh flavors in this delicious Cucumber Dill Salad are something to behold. Any time you load up a Salad with fresh herbs and aromatics such as Mint and Dill you’re going to get some great flavor. However, try adding both Mint and Dill to the Salad and topping it off with creamy Feta Cheese and you’re in flavor heaven!

I love an easy Salad that can be thrown together in minutes

From start to finish, this Cucumber Dill Salad with Mint and Feta will take you no longer than 15 minutes to make. There is very little preparation to do other than slicing the vegetables. The most labor-intensive element of this dish is, in fact, an optional one. That is pickling the Red Onions

The picking time doesn’t take too long at all either. Kick off the prep for the meal by getting the Onions swimming in some Salt and Vinegar, then move onto prepping the remaining ingredients

You can prepare the Cucumber by slicing it into thin, whole pieces. Some recipes for Cucumber Salad may suggest using a Mandoline (super sharp kitchen devices used for thin cutting), however it really isn’t necessary. Just use a sharp knife and cut the Cucumber to your desired thickness and it’ll be great

In fact, I much prefer the thicker slices as the ingredients will hold up a lot better in the Salad. We’re adding a very simple dressing to the dish, but it is still a dressing that will start to break down the Vegetables. Cutting them too fine will make for an unpleasant texture. Therefore, we recommend going old school and cutting with your trust kitchen knife!

The inspiration from this salad came from simply having leftover Mint in the fridge

Most recipes these days don’t require the full quantity of herbs that you buy from the grocery store. I always find that whatever recipe I’m making I’m still left with at least half the bunch of herbs unused. Doesn’t matter if it is Cilantro, Basil, Parsley, Mint, or Dill. There’s always some leftover once I’m done

Why is that exactly? It seems like a tremendous waste when you think about it. I do think the grocery stores could do a better job by providing half portions of herbs to avoid wastage. I hate throwing out any food, especially beautiful herbs

That’s exactly where the inspiration for our Cucumber Dill Salad with Mint and Feta came from. We had a bunch of leftover Mint after making this equally tasty Tomato Mint and Couscous Salad (LINK). Knowing full well the power of pairing Cucumber and Mint from my cocktail sipping experiences, this seemed like a great use

The dish just developed from there. Adding Dill to the Salad seemed like a logical choice given the equally strong flavor it brings to a dish. It offers a great contrast in flavor to the Mint, yet still leaves a lasting fresh flavor on the palate

Finishing the whole dish off, why not add some Cheese? Feta Cheese is a very popular combination with Cucumber, typically done a lot out of those Mediterranean countries and perfected in Greek cuisine. From there, the dish took form and oh boy, the flavors! Seriously, this Salad may look subtle and delicate, the flavors are so far from it. Big, bold, and delicious

Dill is a very powerful herb; we recommend being a little cautious with the volume you add

I love Dill, but even I will admit it is such a powerful flavor, which makes it somewhat of a difficult ingredient to work with. Too much Dill can completely overpower and dish and ruin it. We recommend when mixing the ingredients that you add the Dill last. For the portions in this recipe, we’re recommending half the quantity of Dill (½ cup) compared to Mint (1 cup)

Add the Mint and Dill to the remainder of the ingredients, mix well then give it a taste. We’ve found this quantity of Dill to Mint is about right, allowing the Dill to shine in the dish without overpowering the other ingredients. As always, we recommend trying for yourself and adjusting the quantity as necessary

Remember, it’s always easier to add more to a dish as you go. If you add too much it’s much more difficult to scale back the flavors

Make a simple dressing

The dressing is so easy to make! It is literally just equal parts Lemon Juice to Olive Oil, plus a pinch or two of Salt for flavor. The dish doesn’t need a lot of dressing, just enough to start to break down the vegetables and herbs as they are all mixed

For our Cucumber Dill Salad dressing we used one large Lemon, which produced about 2 tbsp. of Juice. So, we just replicated that amount of good quality Olive Oil and mixed it all together. Add all of the ingredients into a big salad bowl along with the dressing and toss well to incorporate

It is best practice to let the Salad sit in the dressing for a couple of minutes to serve. Given the Onions are taking 15 minutes to pickle, you’ll find that once the other ingredients are prepped and added to the dressing, you’ll have about 5 minutes left, which is the perfect amount of time for the dressing to do its thing before it’s time to eat!

Cucumber Dill Salad with Mint and Feta Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 large Cucumber
• ½ Red Onion, finely sliced
• 1 cup of Fresh Mint
• ½ cup of Fresh Dill
• 2 Radishes
• ½ cup of Feta Cheese
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp. White Vinegar
• 2 tsp. Salt
  
  

Instructions

1. Place the Red Onion slices in a bowl along with the White Vinegar and 1 tsp. of Salt. Mix well then set aside for 15 minutes to pickle
2. Combine the Lemon Juice, Olive Oil, and 1 tsp. of Salt in a large salad bowl. Whisk well to combine
3. Slice the Cucumber and Radishes into slices using a sharp knife (no Mandoline required) then add to the salad bowl along with the Mint and Dill. Mix well to combine then taste for seasoning. Set aside
4. After 15 minutes of the Onions pickling, you are ready to serve. Place the Cucumber Salad onto individual serving plates and garnish with Pickled Onions. Crumble over the Feta Cheese and serve immediately
   
   

Recipe Notes

• Dill is a very powerful herb, which is why we only have half the quantity of Dill to Mint ratio in the recipe. Once the ingredients are combined we recommend tasting and adjusting the quantities to your preference
• Try adding Couscous or Barley to the Salad for a more robust meal
  
  

We hope you enjoy this recipe for our wonderful Cucumber and Dill Salad with Mint and Feta. The combination of flavors is simply outstanding! It’s a simple way to use any leftover Mint or Dill you may have in the refrigerator from prior meals

For more vibrant and delicious Salads why not head over to our Salads page. We’ve got loads of delicious recipes, including some of these favorites of ours:

• Tomato and Lentil Salad with Basil and Goats Cheese
• Easy Asian Cucumber Salad
• Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts
• Easy Summer Salads

Happy Cooking!