Four ingredients. Slice the cucumbers, toss with salt and pepper, cover with apple cider vinegar, chill for at least two hours, drain, finish with flaky salt. That’s the whole recipe. It’s the cucumber side dish that shows up at summer barbecues and church potlucks — cold, sharp, crisp, and impossible to stop eating.
The draining step before serving is not optional. Serve them straight from the vinegar and they’re aggressively sour. Drain them and the cucumbers are tangy and bright, the kind of acidic that cuts through rich food. They also improve overnight — the vinegar mellows as the cucumbers release water into it, and the whole thing rounds out into something more complex than a two-hour version.
5 minutes prep · 2 hours minimum chill · Serves 4
Four Ingredients
- 2 cucumbers, sliced ¼-inch thick
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 16 oz (480ml) apple cider vinegar — enough to mostly cover the cucumbers
- To finish: flaky sea salt and more black pepper
How to Make It
Slice the cucumbers and place in a medium bowl. Toss with the kosher salt and pepper. Pour the apple cider vinegar over them — the cucumbers should be mostly or fully submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Drain completely before serving. Finish with flaky sea salt and a fresh crack of black pepper. Serve cold.
A Few Notes
- Drain before serving. The vinegar they’ve been sitting in is very sharp. Once drained, the cucumbers are tangy and well-seasoned — a completely different eating experience
- Overnight is better. The cucumbers release water as they sit, which dilutes and mellows the vinegar. The flavor evens out and deepens after a full night
- Reuse the vinegar once. Add a fresh batch of sliced cucumbers to the drained liquid and refrigerate again — it still has plenty of flavor
- English cucumbers (seedless, thin-skinned) release less water and stay crisper longer if you prefer a firmer texture
Make This the Night Before
This is a recipe that rewards being made ahead. The work is five minutes; the fridge does everything else. Make it the evening before anything you’re cooking for the next day and it’s ready, cold, already drained and finished with flaky salt whenever you need it. Tell me in the comments how long you marinated them and what you served them alongside. Rate the recipe, save it on Pinterest, and subscribe for more.
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Cucumber Salad in Apple Cider Vinegar
Sliced cucumbers tossed with salt and pepper, submerged in apple cider vinegar, and chilled for at least 2 hours. Drain before serving and finish with flaky salt. A four-ingredient fridge staple.
- Total Time5 minutes
- Yield4 servings 1x
Ingredients
The Salad
- 2 cucumbers, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 480 ml apple cider vinegar (16 oz / 2 cups) — enough to cover the cucumbers
To Finish
- flaky sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Marinate and Serve
- Toss and submerge: Slice the cucumbers about ¼-inch thick and place in a medium bowl. Toss with the kosher salt and black pepper. Pour the apple cider vinegar over the cucumbers — they should be mostly or fully submerged. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Overnight is better.
- Drain and serve: Drain the cucumbers before serving — don’t skip this, the cucumbers will be very sharp straight from the vinegar. Finish with flaky sea salt and extra black pepper to taste. Serve cold.
Notes
The cucumbers release water as they sit, which dilutes the vinegar slightly and rounds the sharpness. The 2-hour minimum gives the cucumbers time to absorb flavor and soften very slightly while staying crisp. Overnight marinating produces a more mellow, evenly flavored result. The vinegar from the jar can be reused once — add a fresh batch of cucumber slices and refrigerate again. English cucumbers (seedless) work well if you want less water released; regular slicing cucumbers are more traditional.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Salad, Side Dish
- Cuisine: American, Southern
Nutrition
- Calories: 25
- Sugar: 2
- Sodium: 360
- Carbohydrates: 5
- Fiber: 1
- Protein: 1
