This is the cucumber salad you’ve probably seen online: cucumbers smashed into craggy pieces, tossed in a salty, garlicky, slightly spicy dressing, and eaten cold. It’s fast, it needs no cooking, and it really is as crunchy as it looks.
The smashing step isn’t just for show. Breaking the cucumber apart, instead of slicing it, creates rough surfaces that hold the dressing. Salting them first draws out water so the salad stays crisp instead of turning watery.
Jump to recipeRead the history
About this dish
Cold, crunchy, garlicky and a little spicy. The smashed cucumber pieces soak up the dressing, which is salty from soy sauce, tangy from rice vinegar and nutty from toasted sesame oil.
It works as a snack, as a side for grilled meat or rice, and as a good way to use up cucumbers when they’re plentiful.
Prep 10 min plus 15 min resting · No cooking · Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients
- 4 Persian cucumbers, or 2 English cucumbers (about 1 lb / 450 g)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp sugar or honey
- 2 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
- 1/2 to 1 tsp chili crisp or red pepper flakes
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
Method
- Lay a cucumber on a cutting board. Press down on it with the flat side of a large knife, or tap it with a rolling pin, until it splits open. Tear or cut it into bite-sized pieces. Repeat with the rest.
- Toss the pieces with the salt in a bowl and leave for 10 to 15 minutes. Tip off the liquid that collects.
- Whisk the vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic and chili in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves.
- Pour the dressing over the cucumbers and toss. Chill for 10 to 15 minutes if you have time.
- Top with sesame seeds and green onion and serve cold.
Tips
- Persian or English cucumbers work best. They have thin skin and few seeds, so the salad stays crisp.
- If you’re using a regular garden cucumber, peel it and scoop out the seeds first.
- Taste before you add more salt. Soy sauce is already salty.
- Make it close to serving time. It’s best within an hour or two.
Storage
It keeps for up to 2 days in the fridge, but it softens as it sits. If you’re making it ahead, store the dressing separately and toss just before serving.
Variations
- Swap the soy sauce and sesame oil for olive oil, lemon, dill and Greek yogurt for a creamy, Mediterranean version.
- Add a spoonful of peanut butter to the dressing for a Sichuan-style twist.
- Serve it alongside grilled chicken, rice or noodles, or on its own as a snack.
Where the trend came from
The recent viral wave is mostly credited to Logan Moffitt, a social media creator nicknamed the Cucumber Guy, whose videos in 2023 showed him dressing and eating whole cucumbers in a container. They spread quickly, partly because the crunch sounds so satisfying on video, and millions of people made their own versions.
The dish itself isn’t new. Smashed cucumber salad, known in Chinese cooking as pai huang gua, is a long-standing cold dish in many regions of China, usually dressed with garlic, vinegar and sesame oil. Similar cucumber salads exist across East Asia, including Korea’s oi muchim and Japan’s sunomono. The viral version borrows heavily from these traditions.
Cucumbers themselves are among the oldest cultivated vegetables, grown for thousands of years in South Asia before spreading across the world. Cold, dressed cucumber salads show up in many food cultures, from Korean oi muchim to Eastern European salads with sour cream and dill.
