Easy Spicy Cucumber Salad

1 week ago 109

This Easy Spicy Cucumber Salad is Asian-inspired with the most delicious sauce made with peanut butter, gochujang, chilli oil and a handful of other pantry staples. It’s totally delicious, takes around 5 minutes to prepare, and makes an incredible side dish to your Asian-style meals.

Hey! I’m Emily Roz — food content creator, recipe developer, and cookbook author behind Myriad Recipes and this spicy cucumber salad is inspired by my travels through Asia. It’s also viral over TikTok and social media in general, and for good reason!

I absolutely love China’s smashed cucumber salad – I ate it SO much when we traveled there. However, I also adore Korean flavours. So, if you’re like me and you love creamy spicy tangy dishes, then you’ll love this spicy cucumber salad. It’s vegan, dairy-free and totally inclusive for a variety of dietaries which I love!

For those of you who love cucumbers, check out my chicken cucumber salad recipe or my cucumber dill salad…both are firm favourites!

Ingredients and Substitutions

Peanut butter. I’m using crunchy peanut butter, but you can use smooth. Feel free to use an alternative nut butter if you’d like.
Gochujang. This korean fermented red pepper paste is one of my favourite pantry staples. It’s smoky, spicy, slightly sweet and totally delicious in this spicy cucumber salad. If you don’t have it, you could use sriracha.
Rice wine vinegar. We need a bit of acidity and rice wine vinegar is perfect. Feel free to use mirin if you’ve not got rice wine vinegar.
Sesame oil. For nuttiness and a binder, sesame oil is our guy!
Light soy sauce. Saltiness and umami is essential for this recipe. I love light soy sauce over dark soy sauce.
Garlic. Fresh garlic gives the asian style salad a bit of a kick, so if you’re a bit sensitive, feel free to use ¼ teaspoon garlic granules instead.
Sugar. We want to balance out the flavours with a bit of sweetness so I’m using sugar. But you could use honey or agave if you’d prefer.
Spring onion. This adds a bit of tang. You could alternatively use chives or finely chopped red onion.
Chilli oil. Everyone loves crispy chili oil !! I love laoganma and white mausu but feel free to use any crispy chilli oil you have!
Sesame seeds. I love the crunch and toasty addition of sesame seeds.
Cucumber. I’m using large british cucumbers, but you could totally use small Persian cucumbers if you have them!

How To Make Spicy Cucumber Salad with Photos

Step 1: In a large bowl or 32 oz food container, combine the peanut butter, gochujang, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, garlic, chilli oil and sugar. Stir to combine or add the lid to the container and shake until well combined. Taste and season according to your preferences.

Step 2: Next, add in the sliced cucumbers, sliced spring onion, and sesame seeds. Stir to combine or put back on the lid of the tupperware and shake until well combined and the cucumbers are fully coated in the spicy asian dressing.