Easy Cucumber Avocado Salad

Cucumber Avocado Salad is the perfect easy and light side dish. Made with fresh ingredients and a simple dressing, this is a great dish to bring to outdoor picnics and gatherings.

Avocados are my favorite and my best. (Is “my favorite and my best” something that is only used in my house? We are notoriously weird and random, so it’s possible.) I could eat all the avocados all the time, but I especially love them mixed in with other ingredients, like in my Avocado Tuna Salad.

In this amazing salad made with cucumbers, avocados, and tomatoes, we are combining really just a few ingredients to make this fast and simple salad. This would be perfect as a side dish if you are grilling up some hamburgers or chicken legs, but it would also go great with chicken tacos.

This is a perfect side dish that I encourage you to serve your kids, they might surprise you and gobble it up!

How to Make Cucumber Avocado Salad

This is a brief overview of how to make this delicious salad. For the full recipe with all of the measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

1. Chop the vegetables: The first thing you need to do is chop the cucumber, tomato, red onion, and cilantro.
2. Make the dressing: Now whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, honey, hot sauce and salt.
3. Combine: In a large bowl, toss the chopped vegetables with the dressing.
4. Add the avocado: Now very carefully stir in the avocado.

Cucumber Avocado Salad Dressing

It took me a few tries to get the salad dressing just perfect for this cucumber tomato and avocado salad. I wanted the zip of the lime juice, but it needed to be balanced just right with the sweetness of the honey. Finally, I wanted just the slightest heat from the hot sauce. What we are left with is the perfect dressing with ingredients that are kept on hand in your pantry.

Picking a Ripe Avocado

When you are picking an avocado you want to look for a couple of things, especially given that it is going to be tossed in a salad and not mashed into guacamole.

• Skin color: The avocado’s skin should be dark green, or almost black.
• Skin texture: The avocado’s skin should be bumpy rather than smooth.
• Softness: When you gently squeeze the avocado, it should have just a slight give. It shouldn’t feel overly soft or hard as a rock.

The key for this cucumber and avocado salad is to make sure that you don’t have a mushy avocado that won’t hold up in the salad or one that is so hard that it ruins the salad. Rather you want one that both holds its shape and is also creamy and delicious.

English Cucumbers

English Cucumbers are the ones that you see in plastic in the grocery store. They are long and thin. I love using them in this cucumber tomato avocado salad because their seeds are smaller, making them ideal for a dish like this. Additionally, they are a little less bitter than other cucumbers.

If you can’t find an English cucumber, just use a regular cucumber. The texture of the cucumber will be different and it will be just slightly more bitter than the English, but it will still work well in this salad.

Other Summer Sides

If you are having a backyard picnic or BBQ, here are some other summer side dishes that are mayonnaise free and are okay to sit out for a bit.

• Tomato Cucumber Salad: Though made with a lot of the same ingredients as this cucumber avocado salad recipe, this recipe has a completely different taste. It is amazing and my picky kids love it!
• Edamame Salad: If you are looking for something really different, try this easy side. It is simple to make, but unique and so good!
• Zucchini Salad: This recipe has literally won awards. It is delicious and a great way to eat your vegetables.

If you make this cucumber tomato avocado salad or any of my other recipes, leave me a comment and let me know what you think!