Cucumber Salad With Roasted Peanuts and Chile

By Sue Li

Updated July 11, 2023

  • Romulo Yanes for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Vivian Lui.
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
5(4,431)
Comments
Read comments

Easy to assemble but far from basic, this cucumber salad delivers a riot of flavors and textures with snappy cucumbers, velvety peanut sauce, crunchy cilantro-peanut topping and zingy chile oil. The details make all the difference: First, salting the cucumbers mutes the fruit’s subtly bitter notes while heightening flavor. Next, the simple peanut sauce adds richness to the cool cucumbers. (Make a large batch and store it in the fridge to drizzle over vegetables, chicken and salads.) Finally, a flurry of finely chopped peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes gets dusted over the salad in layers to disperse flavor.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:2 to 4 servings

  • 6 Persian cucumbers (about 1 pound), cut lengthwise into thin spears, then cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces

  • Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

  • ¼ cup salted, roasted peanuts

  • ¼ cup cilantro leaves

  • 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

  • 3 tablespoons natural unsalted peanut butter

  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce

  • 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

  • 1 small garlic clove, grated

  • Chile oil, store-bought or homemade, for serving (optional)

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 to 4 servings)

10 grams carbs; 152 calories; 5 grams monosaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 11 grams fat; 2 grams fiber; 446 milligrams sodium; 7 grams protein; 5 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Toss cucumbers with ½ teaspoon kosher salt in a colander. Set aside to drain.

  2. Step 2

    Chop peanuts, cilantro and red-pepper flakes together until very fine. Set aside.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Add up to 1 tablespoon water, if needed, to thin mixture. Transfer salted cucumbers to the bowl with dressing and toss to coat.

  4. Step 4

    To serve, place half of the cucumber salad on the plate, sprinkle with half of the peanut mixture. Repeat with the remaining cucumber salad and peanut mixture. Drizzle with chile oil, if using, and serve immediately.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
4,431 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Todd

Sweet lord and baby jesus, this is INCREDIBLE! Haha, I can't believe how good it is, I ate the entire bowl and called it dinner. Used regular cukes cause I couldn't fine the fancy ones, removed the seeds Used a grated jalapeno (no seeds) instead of the chili flakes. Used 1 tblsp soy sauce and 1 tblsp. fish sauce Used regular peanut butter and skipped the sugar Used cilantro AND mint Cried like a baby because it was so friggen good. Though I wouldn't eat it before a date (crazy burps, haha)

Tom Follery

I don't follow the recipe at all, but it didn't turn out as described. Bad recipe.

Alexa Weibel, Senior Staff Editor, NYT Cooking

Winelady! You are absolutely right -- thank you! We've since adjusted the recipe for clarity, suggesting that readers first cut the cucumbers lengthwise into thin spears, then to cut the spears into 2-inch segments. Looks like the food stylist cut the 2-inch segments on an angle, because they're fancy like that! This salad is delicious any way you slice it. (Seriously, I have made it three times in the last month!) Enjoy!

Nancy B

I thought the peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and garlic mixture was too heavy and too much for a pound of cucumbers. If I were to do this again, I would cut those ingredients in half. Although I was disappointed by the salad itself, the peanut, cilantro and red pepper flake topping was fabulous and I will make that to add to other salads. Three stars for the salad, but 5 stars for the topping alone. Thx. NYT!

Liesel

Double the cucumber. Delicious!

Dana

Terrific salad! I used half the sugar, salt and red pepper and it still had a nice bite.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.