This light and delicious Strawberry Cucumber Salad features ripe cucumbers and strawberries, creamy feta cheese, and a homemade vinaigrette dressing, resulting in a salad that is bursting with flavor.
Why You’ll Love it
- Fresh ingredients: Fresh strawberries and cucumbers are the simple star of the show in this salad, which is especially great if you have a lot of fresh produce in your garden to use up.
- Simplicity: Preparation for this salad is minimal. Simply combine all the ingredients right before you’re ready to enjoy it, ensuring it stays fresh and avoids any sogginess.
- Great as a side or main dish: You have the choice to savor it as is or include some grilled chicken or fish for a delightful, yet light, meal option.
» You might try this Mediterranean Cucumber Salad.
Ingredients You’ll Need
This salad is full of fresh ingredients, and will come together quickly.
- Cucumber – I like to use English cucumber because it has less seeds and is more firm. But if you’re growing cucumbers in your garden, any variety will do.
- Strawberries – Use the freshest strawberries you can find. The sweet, tart juiciness of the berries really makes this salad delicious.
- Feta cheese – I use crumbled feta in this salad, but you can also use any soft cheese you like that can crumble easily into the salad.
- Dressing ingredients – Olive oil, lemon juice and agave syrup (or use a honey or syrup substitute).
I use allulose as a sugar substitute. You can use Swerve, monkfruit, Erythritol or Xylitol. It’s really up to you. The reason I use allulose is because it’s a no calorie no carb sweetener like erythritol, but it doesn’t have the cooling effect. I get allulose directly through Wholesome Yum. I think you’ll really like it, especially if you also don’t like the cooling effect.
Learn more about low-carb sweeteners and conversion here.
Equipment Needed
- Large salad bowl – You will need a bowl large enought to hold 4 cups of fresh spinach.
- Small jar with a lid – I like to use pint jars with reusable lids to store salad dressing in the refrigerator.
Expert Tips to Follow
- You really should prepare this strawberry salad when you are ready to eat it, but you can make up the dressing ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to enjoy the salad, simply mix up the salad ingredients and add the dressing.
- It’s best not to dress the salad until you are ready to eat it, and even then to only add dressing to the portion you know you’ll be eating right away. Doing this will keep the salad from getting soggy before you can enjoy it.
How to Make Strawberry Cucumber Salad
Step 1: Mix the Salad
In your large salad bowl, mix together the cucumbers, strawberries, red onion, and feta cheese. Just toss it lightly together so it’s intermixed.
Step 2: Make the Dressing
Add all the dressing ingredients to a container or jar with a lid. Shake well to make sure the oil and lemon juice get emulsified together.
Pour it over the salad and toss to coat. You don’t want to do this until you’re just about to serve the salad, so it doesn’t start to wilt or soften.
How Many Carbs Are in Strawberries?
One cup of whole strawberries contains a total of 11 total grams of carbs. This total includes fiber, of which there is 2.9 grams in 1 cup. So there are 8.1 net grams of carbs in one cup of whole strawberries.
In case you’re wondering, that same cup of whole strawberries contains 1 gram of protein, .4 grams of fat, and 47 calories.
How many strawberries are in a cup? It varies depending on the size of the berry, but there are about 8 medium-sized strawberries in a cup, or 5 ounces of strawberries weighed. That give you the option of cutting the typical serving size in half and lowering the net carbs you’re getting.
Additions
This salad is great with just cucumber, strawberries, onion, and cheese, but if you’re wanting to turn it into a lunch salad instead of a side salad, there are a few great accompaniments to add.
Try one or more of these additions:
- Grilled chicken or fish
- Avocado
- Toasted walnuts
- Sliced red bell peppers
- Shelled edamame
- Other berries, like blueberries or raspberries
Questions About the Recipe
Why is my salad soggy?
You may have mixed the salad dressing into the salad too early. Try mixing up the salad dressing and leaving it in the refrigerator until right before you eat. The longer the dressing sits on the salad the soggier and limper the spinach will get.
How do you make cucumber salad not watery?
Cucumbers are made up almost entirely of water, so it stands to reason that they can make a salad watery if not treated properly. First, make sure you use a firm cucumber with less seeds, like an English Cucumber. Then make sure you don’t mix in the dressing until just before serving.
Do I have to peel the cucumber?
No, its not necessary to peel the cucumber when making this salad. In fact there are a lot of nutrients in the peel that you would be stripping away if you did peel it.
What to Serve This With
This salad is a great side dish, especially for a light summer dish, like salmon or white fish. It also goes really well with this buffalo stuffed chicken or a versatile pulled pork shoulder.
Here are a few of our favorites:
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Strawberry Cucumber Salad
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Small jar with lid
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 2 cups (74 g) fresh strawberries
- 1 English cucumber
- 1/4 cup (75 g) crumbled feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint chopped
For the dressing:
- 2 tablespoons (59 ml) fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons (59 ml) high-quality olive oil
- 2 teaspoons (15 ml) agave syrup or sugar-free syrup
Instructions
- Toss all salad ingredients together in a large bowl.
- Add all dressing ingredients to a container or jar with a lid. Shake well.
- Pour over the salad and toss to coat.
Notes
- The nutrition information is calculated with sugar-free syrup.
- Prepare this strawberry salad when you are ready to eat it, but you can make up the dressing ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator.
- It’s best not to dress the salad until you are ready to eat it, and even then to only add dressing to the portion you know you’ll be eating right away. Doing this will keep the salad from getting soggy before you can enjoy it.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Laura is dedicated to a low-carb lifestyle after losing 52 pounds on the keto diet. As many of us do, she struggles with her weight and has found that one of the only diet lifestyles that allows her to maintain a healthy weight is a low-carb diet. She shares her favorite low-carb recipes here that are both easy to make and full of flavor, so you don’t even miss the carbs.