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
Description
Marinated cucumbers burst with flavor, making a perfect side dish, or topping to a salad or other meat dishes. We love these on Asian lettuce wraps as well!
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!
These cucumbers are absolutely delicious! Love them!!!
Your pictures look absolutely stunning! I love the use of the mandoline so the slices are super thin. When I make pickles or anything similar I love to keep the slices as thin as the ones you showed! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
These are fabulous! Leave in the fridge overnight. Not sure I’ll ever eat pickles from a jar again. Thanks!
Never heard of cooking the vinegar sauce is there a particular reason for cooking the sauce?
Yep, you’re making a reduction. The sugar dissolves and then water evaporates to create basically a savory simple syrup.
Just made this last night to accompany our thai curry for dinner. It was fantastic! I used english cucumbers and my spiralizer for fun. Thanks for the great recipe! Definitely a keeper!
Which type of cucumber do you recommend? In the photos it looks like you’re using an English cucumber. Have you tried it with a garden cucumber?
You can really use any cucumber you like. I just use regular, standard cucumbers, and I make them all summer long with cucumbers from the garden!
They eat with like every meal in Thailand. Cept they use shallots instead of red onion.
I love Love this, thanks for sharing absolutely everything you did, it was just enough! I giggled at your memory and your husband’s reaction to it. I’m sooo excited to see this recipe because I’ve been craving cucumbers and I smelled and seen these cucumbers at the flea market and I was in ahhhhh, this recipe is everything I wanted. ! Thank you
Signed a sudden cucumber craver
I made these a few times in the last 2 weeks. Really good! Last night I used a habanero pepper with just a couple dashes of the crushed red pepper. Gave them some more kick!
You need to rinse off the salt after the cukes have sweat for a half hour or so. Also, I like to scoop out the seeds from my cukes before sweating them. That way they last longer in the fridge. Instead of using dried chili flakes, try adding a thinly sliced fresh green or red (or both) thai chili pepper. Careful, though — these are HOT.
After this is made and it has chilled in the fridge for a couple of hours, does it stay in the fridge or can you store it in your pantry? How long of a shelf life does it have? Thanks!
They need to be stored in the refrigerator, and they are good for… As long as they taste good 🙂
I made these yesterday. I used a touch of salt, season salt, and garlic salt to drain the water. I added the red onion to the cucumbers – both sliced razor thin. I slowly and gently boiled white vinegar, water, and a touch more than the recommended sugar (having used white vinegar). I added the red pepper flakes and also a very small pinch of ground Guatemalan coffee beans. I cooled the dressing in the fridge while my cucumbers and onions were doing their thing. After an hour, I combined the vegetables with the dressing and let it sit overnight. I ate some at lunchtime and – hikarumba – was it delicious! So refreshing and flavorful!
When you have tons of extra onions. Dice each onion and put it in a freezer bag. If chopping a lot then use a fan blowing slightly in your face to keep the tears away. 🙂 then place those freezer bags into a larger freezer bag and put in your freezer. I do this every year and it’s awesome! The double freezer bag is necessary to keep the overwhelming onion smell in your freezer.
Found this a couple weeks ago and I’ve made it 4 times!! So addicting and the perfect way to use up all the cukes I’ve grown this summer!!! Thanks for posting!!
I make this I salad and substitute Sriracha for the red pepper flakes – yummo!
What would be a good substitute for the sugar? Honey? Stevia?
Love,love,this site! Delicious, festive, & simple….just right for a working mom of 4!
I just made these but I will also rinse the cucumbers first and drain a second time. Too salty for me but great flavor.
Made a couple days ago, wish I had made a gallon!