My husband makes fun of me because I have an uncanny ability to remember seemingly minute (and perhaps useless) details related to important life events. Like, he’ll say,
“Sara remember the time we went on that amazing date and I got you that super awesome gift and shared all of the inner most parts of my soul with you?”
And I’ll instantly know what he’s referring to and say
“Um, ya, you mean that one time when I was wearing that gray sweater and my red heels and I had my hair up, but not all the way up, but casually-messy up, and you wore those one pants with the hole in the knee and the flip-flops I bought you in Cali and on the way to the car I dropped my chap-stick?”
And that’s when he just stares at me.
I’m convinced this talent will some day win me lots of money on a random game show or something, but in the mean time it can also provide us with some good recipes. See I remember a family bbq from about 2 years ago. I know where we were, but I can’t even list the people that were there. What I do remember, and I remember it well, was that my sister-in-law Monica showed up (and yes, I do know what she was wearing) with a little plastic container of awesome cucumbers.
Husband: “Hey Sara, remember that really important family bbq we had where all of those earth-shattering things happened?”
Sara: “Um, ya, you mean the one where Monica brought those awesome cucumbers? Totally remember that.”
I’ve remembered that for two years and even though that was the only time I tasted them, I found myself craving them a few weeks ago. So I got the recipe from her and here we are! See? I knew my talent was useful.
These are tangy and sweet with a little bit of a kick. It makes a great side-dish for summer bbq’s. There’s something incredibly refreshing about cold cucumbers, right? And if you have cukes coming out of your ears garden, then this is especially for you. Aside from eating them plain, we love these on salads or added to lettuce wraps or just plain from the fridge. They’re unique and you have to make them to see why I love them so much!
A mandoline will be your best friend here, but you can certainly slice by hand if you’d like. You can do peeled or unpeeled cucumber and you can leave them whole, or cut them in half. Your choice.
Next, place the cucumbers in a colander and sprinkle them with salt. Salting cucumbers draws out the moisture. If you don’t do this step, then all of this moisture will come out in the final dish and water it down. I actually salt my cucumbers before making tzatziki as well because otherwise it tends to get watery after sitting in the fridge. I like to set my colander in a pan to collect the moisture and just leave that whole set-up in the fridge for a bit.
While your cucumbers are draining you can prepare the simple marinade. Heat up rice vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes in a pan and after it’s reduced add some minced red onion. Honestly, you can leave out the pepper flakes if you don’t want any heat. I obviously left them out of this batch, because honestly I forgot. But I don’t like a lot of heat and these taste great sans pepper flakes as well.
You’ll want to let these sit and marinade for a while before you eat them. They get better with time, so give yourself at least a few hours chill time. They’re also great the next day, and even several days later. They become more like pickle-texture they longer they sit (which I like!)
It’s a great side-dish for any bbq meal, or just along side grilled chicken or steak. Try it out at a pot-luck and listen for the oohs and aahs.
Sweet and Spicy Marinated Cucumbers
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 lbs cucumber about 3 medium, thinly sliced (peeled or unpeeled)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt if using table salt, use only 1 teaspoon
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar seasoned or regular
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes optional if you don't want any heat.
- 2 tablespoons minced red onion
Instructions
- Place cucumber slices in a colander sitting over a bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss well. Let sit for 1 hour refrigerated. Toss the cukes a few times while they drain if you remember. While cucumber slices are draining, prepare marinade.
- Combine vinegar, water, sugar and red pepper in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cook until reduced to a 1/3 cup (about 10 minutes). If for some reason you boil for too long, just add a little water until you have 1/3 C. Remove reduction from heat and add onion. Let mixture cool to room temp.
- When cucumbers are done resting, pat them dry with a few paper towels and then combine with the vinegar reduction. Chill for at least a few hours before serving. They improve with time!
Notes
- Note: I have successfully made these with sugar substitute (like Truvia) as well.
- Tip: Sometimes I like to double the marinade to make them extra flavorful!
Questions & Reviews
Made this tonight for dinner with tacos. It was perfect. We told my roommates 4 y/o son that it was garden candy and he gobbled it up. This recipe is definitely going in my regular rotation of side dishes. It’s simple but SO tasty!
We used to make this back in the 1940s, when I was just a kid.
My friend just emailed me a very similar recipe-it must be fate for me to make it, yum!!!
This looks great – thanks for sharing!
I made this last time and it was very delicious! I think the cukes I purchased were a bit too soft to begin with so they were a tad soggy today in the salad, but overall delicious. I broke off the plastic tab on the rice vinegar bottle and couldn’t open it, so I had to substitute apple cider vinegar instead.
I made these last night–so good they barely made it to the table!
In leu of the hot pepper flakes and sugar, I use Sweet Thai Chili sauce and a touch of Sesame Oil. (no cooking required.) Great summertime salad!!!
What is unique about rice wine vinegar..?
Another great tip on the cucumbers: if you de-seed them first (I use a teeny little spoon) and then salt them and let them sit for 20 minutes or so, it will completely get rid of the moisture in the cucumbers. (:
I was looking for a side dish to go with Asian Wraps and I came across this recipe. This recipe is so simple and delicious. I reccomend this recipe, indeed.
Just FYI: google cucumber kimchi. It’s very similar to this and extremely popular in Hawaii.
I ended up changing a lot of things to meet the ingredients I had. I ended up doing half cucumber and half zucchini. I was worried about the bitter of the zucchini but was happy with the sauces diversity that complimented it well. I ended up using balsalmic vinegar with a tad of honey and brown sugar with the white sugar and onions. Turned out fantastic!!!! Will make sure to get the original ingredients next time to try!
Sarah, I make a recipe like this too and it’s one of my favs, I also throw in slivers of red bell pepper and black sesame seeds – so yummy!
Just made these today and they came out great! I always love the cucumber salads at thai restaurants and this is very similar. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
My husband loved this! It was good but a little too spicy for me. That’s okay though because he loves things really spicy! Will make again. Thanks for a great, easy and light recipe for cucumbers!
Yummo! I made this tonight with steamed pot stickers from costco and edamami (soy beans). This was delicious! I added the edamami to the cucumbers and it was awesome. Kids loved it too… Thank you for a great recipe!
I found this on pinterest. I add extra onion and pepper flakes. Love it!
Loveeeed it. My husband thought it tasted just like what they serve at a very-awesome Chinese restaurant nearby! Thank you. Love your site.
I think it came out too sugary, next time around I’ll use a little less. The first few bites were awesome but then it became almost like a job to eat the rest of it. Overall I liked it, just needs a little less sugar 🙂 Thanks!
made these tonight and only failed to check my cucumbers and make sure they weren’t bitter. To my dismay, both of them were too bitter to eat! Bummer will have to try again later!
Also great made with a minced jalapeno instead of red pepper flakes.
@kim I’m making them(right now) and used sea salt. I can’t speak for the white vinegar but the sea salt is fine, just use a little less than the recipe calls for. I didn’t and I think I’ll have to rinse off my pretty salty cukes when they’re done sweating
can I make this with white vinegar and sea salt?
The salt doesn’t matter, but you’ll have to experiment with the vinegar. I do think the rice vinegar adds the best flavor though.
Thanks for the recipe, it was delicious! Fresh and sweet with some zing. Loved it!