Green Cabbage Cucumber Salad

Easy Green Cabbage Cucumber Salad is loaded with fresh green cabbage, crisp cucumbers and fresh herbs. It’s the perfect side dish for potlucks, parties and barbecue. Made with sunflower oil and vinegar, inexpensive and may just become your new favorite side dish.

Simple recipes like Cabbage Pepper Salad and Cabbage Carrot Pepper Salad never go out of style and sometimes the simplest recipes are truly the best.

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Green Cabbage Cucumber Salad Recipe:

This salad is a very old recipe and very basic. I remember it since childhood when every wedding and every event had it on the menu. It was very popular back then and it’s still very popular until this day among Slavic families.

Cabbage cucumber salad is super good and eating cucumbers is something we love! It is incredibly easy to make and has the most common and easy-to-find or already-on-hand ingredients. It goes well with any meal or even with a slice of homemade bread.

Ingredients for Cabbage Cucumber Salad:

We love that the entire salad can be prepped ahead of time for simple family dinners or larger parties. It’s recommended to make it completely few hours before serving so that the cabbage softens a bit and all the flavors really meld in.

The list of ingredients is so simple and make a generous-sized side salad for a family of 6, but you can easily half everything for smaller families, or double the ingredients for a bigger crowd. This salad is perfect for Easter, Christmas or even Thanksgiving!

All the green-colored ingredients make this whole salad so vibrant and have spring and summer written all over it.

• Green cabbage – choose bright green that looks fresh and comes with tight and crisp, not damaged leaves.
• Cucumbers – small cucumbers or English work just as great; no peeling is required.
• Green onions – bring lots of flavor and can also be substituted for fresh chives if preferred.
• Fresh dill – finely chop dill to release its dill aroma, making this dish the very best you will ever taste!
• Sunflower oil – we love how light this oil is and it works great in this recipe. It an also be substituted for grapeseed oil.
• Distilled white vinegar – we use the very basic vinegar for acidity, but white wine vinegar works just as great.
• Salt and pepper – this salad loves salt and pepper so feel free to adjust the amounts to taste, especially after refrigeration.

How to Make Cabbage Cucumber Salad:

1. In a small measuring cup, combine and stir sunflower oil, distilled white vinegar, fine salt and pepper. Set aside for salt to dissolve.

2. Wash all vegetables & paper towel pat dry.

3. Discard soft outer leaves of cabbage and thinly slice onto a mandolin slicer or using a sharp knife. Discard or eat the core. Transfer shredded cabbage to a large mixing bowl.

4. Thinly slice halved cucumbers. (Slicing cucumbers with mandolin slicer takes seconds).

5. Finely chop green onions and fresh dill.

6. Drizzle salad dressing over the salad and toss well to combine.

7. Serve right away or refrigerate for couple hours for cabbage to soften before serving. Cabbage cucumber salad will stay nice and fresh for 2-3 days in refrigerator.

Green Cabbage Nutrition:

Green cabbage is good for you as it’s low in calories and loaded with nutrition. It comes with great health benefits and contains almost twice as much vitamin K as red cabbage, which regulates bone mineralization by increasing bone density.

Raw green cabbage also has a good amount of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a wonderful thing to have on hand to stay healthy and strong.

How to Select a Green Cabbage:

Select green cabbage the same way you would select red cabbage. Look for the one with tight and crisp, un-damaged leaves. Tight leaves are easier to slice, whether you’re using knife or mandolin. Limp leaves or damage that extends past the first leaf may indicate a bad cabbage.

How to Trim and Slice Green Cabbage for Salad:

You can either shred the cabbage with a mandolin slicer or by hand using a sharp knife. I personally ALWAYS use the mandolin slicer because it takes seconds and to ensure that the cabbage is shredded fine and uniform in size. If you prefer chunky cabbage, shredding by hand will work just fine.

To shred cabbage, peel back and discard the outer leaves even if they look good. Because these leaves had been on the grocery shelf, you don’t want to eat them. Rinse and pat dry the cabbage and cut it in half. Place the cabbage cut-side-down. Thinly slice the cabbage working around the edges. Slice nearly to the center core and discard the core. For mandolin slicer, cut cabbage into quarter.

What Goes with Cabbage Cucumber Salad?

This salad is so versatile and it works great with anything. We love this salad served as a side dish or a salad to Pork Ribs or Chicken Drumsticks along with Mashed Potatoes. It’s even great piled onto a Pulled Chicken sandwich.

Is this a Make-Ahead Salad?

Cabbage cucumber salad can be eaten fresh or made a day in advance. It keeps really well in the refrigerator for couple of days. The taste only gets better as the flavors meld in the refrigerator and cabbage softens a bit.

To store, cover with plastic food wrap and refrigerate the leftovers. Add more salt, pepper or vinegar to taste when serving leftovers.

More Cabbage Recipes to Explore:

We love crunchy, crisp and fresh cabbage salads around here and they always make the perfect quick and easy, make-ahead side dish.

• Cabbage Pepper Salad – a favorite for the holidays
• All-Veggie Salad – so vibrant and loaded with nutrition
• Cabbage Egg Salad – so rich in flavor and makes a great holiday side dish
• Cabbage Carrot Pepper Salad – the perfect make-ahead salad for a simple gathering or major events

How Long Does Cucumber Salad Last?

For the best flavor and quality, keep the green cabbage and cucumber salad covered with food wrap in refrigerator. It will last 2-3 days in the refrigerator. Cabbage does not freeze well, therefore, freezing cabbage salad is not such a good idea. Taste for salt and pepper when serving again as it almost always needs additional after prolonged refrigeration.

 

We first published this recipe in November 2018 and updated it in February 2020 with new photos, substitutions and more tips.