Thai Cucumber Salad With Peanuts

Peanuts add welcome crunch to this tangy and refreshing Thai cucumber salad.

This fresh and crunchy Thai cucumber salad adapted from Food & Wine is one of my favorite salad recipes. The juice from the cucumbers seeps into the tangy and sweet dressing, giving it a refreshing cucumber flavor, while the peanuts add protein and crunch. The salad is satisfying on its own for lunch, and it also pairs nicely with my grilled Thai curry chicken or honey lime sriracha chicken.

What you’ll need to make Thai cucumber salad with Peanuts

The recipe calls for English/hothouse cucumbers, long, slender cukes with tender skin and tiny seeds. They’re a little pricier than garden variety cukes, but you can usually find them on sale in three-packs. Happily, they don’t need to be peeled, as they aren’t treated with a wax coating like regular cucumbers. Fish sauce is a salty, savory condiment often used in East Asian cuisine. It has a pungent smell, but when used in moderation, it adds rich umami flavor to sauces, marinades, and salad dressings. You can find it in the Asian food section of most supermarkets. Use good quality Virginia peanuts if you can find them. Grown primarily in Virginia (but also in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas), Virginia peanuts are large in size, flavorful, and extra crunchy. They are often referred to as “ballpark peanuts” because they are the kind sold at baseball games.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Begin by placing the red onions in a bowl of cold water. Let them soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients — this will mellow them out and rid them of that sharp, raw onion taste.

Next, seed the cucumbers by cutting the cucumbers it in half lengthwise and scooping out the seeds and the pulpy matter with a teaspoon.

Make the dressing by combining the lime juice, oil, fish sauce, sugar and garlic in a medium bowl.

Drain the onions, then add the sliced cucumbers, minced jalapeño, cilantro and peanuts to the bowl with the dressing.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.