Cucumber Salad With Roasted Peanuts and Chile

By Sue Li

Updated July 12, 2023

Cucumber Salad With Roasted Peanuts and Chile
Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
5(3,922)
Comments
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Easy to assemble but far from basic, this cucumber salad delivers a riot of flavors and textures with snappy cucumbers, velvety peanut sauce, crunchy cilantro-peanut topping and zingy chile oil. The details make all the difference: First, salting the cucumbers mutes the fruit’s subtly bitter notes while heightening flavor. Next, the simple peanut sauce adds richness to the cool cucumbers. (Make a large batch and store it in the fridge to drizzle over vegetables, chicken and salads.) Finally, a flurry of finely chopped peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes gets dusted over the salad in layers to disperse flavor.

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Ingredients

Yield:2 to 4 servings
  • 6Persian cucumbers (about 1 pound), cut lengthwise into thin spears, then cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
  • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
  • ¼cup salted, roasted peanuts
  • ¼cup cilantro leaves
  • 1teaspoon red-pepper flakes
  • 3tablespoons natural unsalted peanut butter
  • 2tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
  • 1teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1small garlic clove, grated
  • Chile oil, store-bought or homemade, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

152 calories; 11 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 5 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 446 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Toss cucumbers with ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a colander. Set aside to drain.

  2. Step 2

    Chop peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes together until very fine. Set aside.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Add up to 1 tablespoon water, if needed, to thin mixture. Transfer salted cucumbers to the bowl with dressing and toss to coat.

  4. Step 4

    To serve, place half of the cucumber salad on the plate, sprinkle with half of the peanut mixture. Repeat with the remaining cucumber salad and peanut mixture. Drizzle with chile oil, if using, and serve immediately.

Ratings

5 out of 5
3,922 user ratings
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Comments

Todd

Sweet lord and baby jesus, this is INCREDIBLE! Haha, I can't believe how good it is, I ate the entire bowl and called it dinner. Used regular cukes cause I couldn't fine the fancy ones, removed the seeds Used a grated jalapeno (no seeds) instead of the chili flakes. Used 1 tblsp soy sauce and 1 tblsp. fish sauce Used regular peanut butter and skipped the sugar Used cilantro AND mint Cried like a baby because it was so friggen good. Though I wouldn't eat it before a date (crazy burps, haha)

Tom Follery

I don't follow the recipe at all, but it didn't turn out as described. Bad recipe.

Alexa Weibel, Senior Staff Editor, NYT Cooking

Winelady! You are absolutely right -- thank you! We've since adjusted the recipe for clarity, suggesting that readers first cut the cucumbers lengthwise into thin spears, then to cut the spears into 2-inch segments. Looks like the food stylist cut the 2-inch segments on an angle, because they're fancy like that! This salad is delicious any way you slice it. (Seriously, I have made it three times in the last month!) Enjoy!

Britney

Everyone loved this salad at my party, with some people drinking the dressing by the end of it. Other comments warned it can be salty, since saltiness will depend on which PB, salt, and soy sauce you use. I use sea salt, Santa Cruz natural PB, and San-J soy. All quite salty so I went easy on the sea salt and soy. Was glad I did. Another comment recommended chopped mint as an addition and this was superb. I found the sauce to be sour with all of the vinegar, but a little maple syrup balanced things out. Freshly roasted plain peanuts put it over the top.

Molly Cohen

Amazing. I subbed dried parsley for the cilantro and it was delicious.

Sam A

The most incredibly delicious and easy lunch and it looks so fancy. I will be inviting people over just so I can share this salad (and impress).

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