Sarra Ina Garten’s creamy cucumber salad is thinly sliced hothouse cucumbers and red onions drained overnight, then tossed with strained whole-milk yogurt, sour cream, champagne vinegar, and half a cup of fresh dill. It serves 8, takes only about 20 minutes of hands-on work, and the rest is waiting for the cucumbers and yogurt to drain in the fridge.
This recipe comes from Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook (2008). In the headnote, she writes that she finds traditional cucumbers bitter “even after they’re peeled,” so she uses hothouse (seedless) cucumbers instead. She also swaps the usual sour cream-only dressing for a mix of yogurt and sour cream, which she says “makes this classic recipe lighter and sweeter.” Ina calls it “a perfect summer salad to go with salmon for lunch or grilled chicken for dinner.”
The technique that sets this apart from every watery cucumber salad you have ever made is double-draining. Both the sliced cucumbers AND the yogurt get drained separately in the fridge for at least 4 hours before they touch each other. The cucumbers release their water into a colander while the yogurt thickens in a sieve. Skip this step and all that liquid floods the bowl overnight, turning your creamy salad into cucumber soup by the time you serve it.
Ina Garten Creamy Cucumber Salad Recipe
Course: Salads, SidesCuisine: American, Eastern European-inspiredDifficulty: Easy8
servings20
minutes160
kcalA summer side from Ina’s Back to Basics cookbook that stays creamy instead of watery thanks to one overnight trick. Hothouse cucumbers and whole-milk yogurt both drain separately before meeting in a bowl with sour cream, vinegar, and a generous pile of fresh dill.
Ingredients
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4 hothouse (seedless) cucumbers, thinly sliced (3 to 4 pounds / 1.4 to 1.8kg)
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2 small red onions, thinly sliced in half rounds
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Kosher salt
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4 cups (960ml) plain whole-milk yogurt
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1 cup (240ml) sour cream
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2 tablespoons champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
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1/2 cup (25g) minced fresh dill
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1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
Directions
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Drain the cucumbers: Mix the sliced cucumbers, red onions, and 1 1/2 tablespoons salt in a large bowl. Pour into a colander and set it over a bowl. Wrap the colander and bowl together in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid that collects.
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Drain the yogurt: Pour the yogurt into a sieve lined with a paper towel and suspend it over a separate bowl. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Discard the liquid that collects.
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Press the cucumbers: Roll the drained cucumbers in paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and press lightly to remove any remaining moisture.
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Combine and chill: Place the pressed cucumbers and drained yogurt in a large bowl. Add the sour cream, vinegar, dill, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper. Toss well, cover, and refrigerate for a few hours to let the flavors blend.
- Serve: Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and serve cold.
Notes
- Hothouse cucumbers are not waxed, so they do not need to be peeled. Ina specifically recommends them over traditional cucumbers because they are less bitter and less watery.
Do not rush the draining step. Four hours is the minimum. Overnight produces the best results because both the cucumbers and the yogurt lose significantly more liquid, which keeps the finished salad thick and creamy for days.
Use whole-milk yogurt, not low-fat or nonfat. The fat is what gives the dressing its body. Low-fat yogurt produces a thin, runny coating that slides off the cucumbers.
FAQs
Why does Ina drain both the cucumbers and the yogurt?
Cucumbers are mostly water, and even seedless hothouse varieties release a surprising amount of liquid when salted. If you skip the drain and toss them straight into the dressing, that water leaches out over the next few hours and floods the bowl. By draining the cucumbers separately for at least 4 hours, you remove the excess before it can dilute the dressing.
The yogurt drain serves the same purpose. Standard whole-milk yogurt contains whey that thins out over time. Straining it through a paper towel-lined sieve thickens it closer to Greek yogurt consistency, so the dressing clings to each cucumber slice instead of pooling at the bottom.
Can you skip the draining step?
You can substitute Greek yogurt for the regular yogurt and skip draining the dairy, since Greek yogurt is already strained. But you still need to drain the cucumbers. No shortcut exists for that step because the salt draws out moisture that would ruin the texture no matter what dressing you use.
If you are truly short on time, salt the cucumbers and let them drain for at least 1 hour instead of 4. The salad will be slightly wetter than the original, but still far better than skipping the drain entirely. Press them firmly in a towel before combining to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
How is this different from Ina’s tzatziki?
Ina’s Easy Tzatziki with Feta from Foolproof (2012) is a dip, not a salad. She grates the cucumber on a box grater instead of slicing it, which creates a thick paste rather than distinct slices. The tzatziki also includes garlic and crumbled feta, giving it a more assertive flavor.
This cucumber salad is milder and works as a side dish you eat with a fork. The thin-sliced rounds hold their shape and the dressing is creamier because of the sour cream. For a full mezze spread, serve the tzatziki as a dip with pita and this salad on the side, or pair both with Ina’s Hummus for a table that covers three different textures.
Can you make creamy cucumber salad ahead of time?
This salad is designed to be made ahead. Ina says to refrigerate it “for a few hours to allow the flavors to blend” after combining, which means the earliest you can serve it is about 6 hours after you start the draining process. Most home cooks make it the night before and serve it the next day.
It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days. The cucumbers soften slightly over time but the flavor stays good. Beyond 3 days the onions start to turn sharp and the texture breaks down. Add a final sprinkle of salt and pepper right before serving because chilled food always tastes underseasoned.
What should you serve cucumber salad with?
Ina says this is “a perfect summer salad to go with salmon for lunch or grilled chicken for dinner,” and she is right. The dill, yogurt, and cucumber combination is a natural match for any fish because those flavors echo each other without competing.
For a salmon dinner with two sides, pair this with Ina’s Dill Potato Salad and you have a complete summer plate built around dill as the through-line. The creamy cucumber salad plays cool and light against the sturdier, mayo-dressed potatoes, and both can sit in the fridge until you are ready to eat.
