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I know what you're thinking already- "How does this friggin' goof keep coming up with cucumber salad recipes?" Well, Mommy, since this Vietnamese cucumber salad is ready in 10 minutes flat, is totally vegan, and uses ingredients you can grab at literally any Asian grocery store, you are about to be hella thankful that all I do night and day is dream up doper and doper ways for you to fall in love with cucumbers.
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Vietnamese cucumber salad (AKA dưa chuột trộn or dưa leo trộn in Vietnamese) is designed to be that cooling, herbaceous sidekick to richer dishes. It's actually a pretty ordinary staple on tables all over Vietnam and Southeast Asia as an economical and refreshing contrast to grilled meats, spicy vegan Vietnamese curry, fried vegan spring rolls, or heaping bowls of steamed Vietnamese sticky rice.
Here in my wee vegan corner of the internet, I am not going to tell you to eat animals with it, but I am going to suggest you and your favorite animal friends wear matching bonnets & jumpsuits and share some of this salad on a picnic, as long as that's cool with you.
The combo of cool cucumbers, bird's eye chilies, mint, cilantro, crunchy peanuts, and that killer tamarind-lime dressing transforms into a balanced, ridiculously flavorful side that you need in your life ASAP.
Cucumber, my least favorite vegetable until now. This cucumber salad is delicious!
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🥰 Why you'll adore this Vietnamese cucumber salad recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Look. All of my vegan Vietnamese recipes are completely cholesterol-free and cause no harm to lovable living beings. But this is also one of the gluten-free vegan recipes you can use to even lure your most skeptical non-veg friends to the plant-based dark side.
🔥 Customizable Heat: Bird's eye chilies bring serious spice. But you're in total control of how hot this gets. If you hate spicy things, you can even leave them out completely and still have a super flavorful salad on your hands.
😉 Perfies for Lazy Bums Like Me: This salad comes together faster than most people can decide what to watch on YouTube (Spoiler alert-it's this). No cooking, no waiting, just chop, toss, and you're dunzo.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all of my vegan recipes, this one's been tested and loved by hundreds of recipe testers who volunteer with me from around the world.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
🥒 Vietnamese Cucumber Ingredients
The Cucumbers
You're gonna want to grab Persian, English, or Japanese cucumbers for this. Why? Because they are pretty much the MVP of crunch, having thin skins (no peeling needed, thank the gods) and fewer seeds. Less seed-goop means less water, which translates to a crispier, more generally lovely salad. They use a similar kind of cucumber in Vietnam (called dưa chuột or dưa leo).
Big ol' watery regular cucumbers are okay in this. Just be a good little cucumber-guy and peel off their thick skins, and scoop out that sucky, seedy center before you start slicing if you resort to those.
Bird's Eye Chilies
These tiny assassins (ớt hiểm) are pretty much the spicy chili of choice in Vietnamese cuisine. They are dramatically spicier than a humble jalapeño and much smaller and thinner fleshed. Can't get your hands on them anywhere? Sub them out for Thai chilies, or a few slices of serrano pepper. Another good swap would be hari mirch, the slender green chili used more often in Indian cooking.
Vegan Fish Sauce
If I am not using my own vegan fish sauce recipe, I rock the vegan fish sauce from Ocean's Halo in a lot of my Southeast Asian recipes. But you can also sub it out with some homemade vegan nước chấm or some of my vegan shrimp paste to taste.
Tamarind Concentrate
Tamarind concentrate is an essential weapon that gives this salad (and other Vietnamese salads like bánh tráng trộn) its distinctive sour-tangy flavor. If you don't have tamarind concentrate, you can use tamarind paste (just use a bit more since it's less concentrated) or in a pinch, just add extra lime juice, or some rice vinegar in its place.
Sriracha
Chili oil or chili garlic sauce will also work, but my homemade sriracha is kinda the winner here. Otherwise, if you want to just grab one from the store, Huy Fong, Fix, and Ninja Squirrel are the sriracha brands I mess with. Read the labels because a few sriracha brands actually contain fish which is mean and dumb.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯 Other Asian Cucumber Salads You Might Dig
Thai Cucumber Salad
My Thai cucumber salad recipe is sweet, spicy, and, like this one, also gets topped with coarsely chopped peanuts and fresh herbs.
Ensaladang Pipino
Filipino cucumber salad has a vinegar dressing. It's the perfect cooling side dish to serve up with vegan tokwat baboy or tofu sisig.
Oi Muchim
Gochugaru, sesame oil, garlic, scallions, and rice vinegar are all in a day's work for this super dope Korean cucumber salad recipe. It's the bomb banchan to go with vegan Korean fried chicken or vegan kimchi fried rice!
Sunomono
Delicate and refreshing with a light rice vinegar dressing and a wee bit of wakame. Japanese cucumber salad is all about that clean, crisp vibe that pairs with a vegan sushi bake, or something as simple as onigiri.
Grab my easy-yo-use app that builds your whole week with real, chef-tested vegan dinners in 30 seconds, customized to your budget, time, and taste, with a shopping list sorted by aisle.
📖 How to make Gỏi Dưa Leo
Get yourself into the heavenly realms of Vietnamese salad on your first shot by following these step-by-step photos with helpful tips. Or scroll down to the bottom of this page for the easy-to-print recipe card.
Step One
Cucumb and Get It:
In a large bowl, combine the sliced Persian cucumbers, shallots (or red onion), garlic, chilies, cilantro, Thai basil, and fresh mint.
Step Two
When You Whisk Upon a Star:
In a separate bowl or cup, whisk together the vegan fish sauce, sriracha, coconut sugar, tamarind concentrate, fresh lime juice, sesame oil, and salt for about 30 seconds until the sugar dissolves completely.
Step Three
Saladam Sobel:
Pour the dressing over the cucumber mixture and toss well.
✅ If you don't want to eat it immediately, chill the salad for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to absorb into the veggies and for the cucumbers to become tender.
Step Four
Brother From Peanuther Mother:
Give the salad a final toss, then transfer to a serving dish. Top with the roasted peanuts, sliced chili, cilantro, and optional stuff like green onions or perilla leaves before serving.
💡Serving Ideas
This vegan Vietnamese salad is basically designed to be the cooling sidekick to anything heavy you might throw down on the table, especially during summer when you could use the electrolytes.
Serve it alongside some Vietnamese noodles like vegan pho, mì quảng noodles, vegan bún bò Huế, or vegan bún riêu. It's a pretty classic little veggie side to serve with sliced French bread and a vegan Vietnamese curry.
It's also killer to serve with vegan bánh mì, spicy bò kho soup, gỏi cuốn spring rolls, or a big plate of lemongrass tofu where the cool, crisp cucumbers cut through all that savory insanity.
👉Top tips
- Slice 'Em Thin: Use a mandoline or a sharp knife to get your cucumbers thin. Not like, almost translucent, but maybe ⅛ inch if you can. Thick slices won't absorb the dressing, and the whole texture suffers.
- Dress It Just Before Serving: This delicious salad is best within 10-20 minutes of being made. So if you are going to meal prep it, store the dressing on the side.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Yeppers dot com. Regular cucumbers work fine, just peel them, slice them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon first. The seeds make the salad watery, so getting rid of them keeps everything crisp.
Absolutely! Add more bird's eye chilies, leave the seeds in for extra heat, or toss in a spoonful of Asian chili sauce such as sriracha, or sambal oelek to the dressing.
For suresies! Thinly sliced red bell peppers, shredded carrots, jicama, or halved cherry tomatoes are all awesome candidates.
✌️You'll love these vegan Vietnamese recipes too
Learn to make your fave Vietnamese street food bangers in this super-fun cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Vietnamese Cucumber Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups cucumber thinly sliced (Persian, or English cucumbers preferred)
- ½ cup shallots or red onions, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon garlic minced
- 2 bird's eye chilies (or to taste) thinly sliced
- ½ cup cilantro leaves roughly chopped
- ½ cup mint leaves roughly chopped
- ½ cup Thai basil leaves thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon vegan fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 1 tablespoon coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons tamarind concentrate
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- ¾ teaspoon salt or to taste
To garnish:
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts chopped
- 1 bird's eye chili sliced
- Cilantro leaves
- Perilla leaves optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the cucumbers, shallots, garlic, chilies, cilantro, and mint.
- In a separate bowl or cup, whisk together the vegan fish sauce, sriracha, coconut sugar, tamarind concentrate, lime juice, sesame oil, and salt until the sugar dissolves completely.
- Pour the dressing over the cucumber mixture and toss well to coat everything evenly. If you don't want to eat it immediately, chill the salad sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to absorb into the veggies and for the cucumbers to become tender.
- Give the salad a final toss, then transfer to a serving dish. Top with the roasted peanuts, sliced chili, cilantro, and perilla before serving.
Notes
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Kara says
This is a restaurant quality recipe,
Company loved it!
Cathy says
Cucumber, my least favorite vegetable until now. This cucumber salad is delicious!