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6 Comments Looking for a quick salad that goes with just about everything? This lettuce and cucumber salad is one of those recipes you’ll come back to again and again. It’s crisp, fresh, ready in just 10 minutes and perfect alongside grilled meat, fish or a simple pasta dinner. I love finishing mine with parmesan shavings, but you can easily make it your own with tomatoes, avocado or crispy bacon.
Table of contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ready in 10 minutes – perfect when you need a quick side dish.
- Made with simple ingredients – everything is easy to find.
- Easy to customize – add cheese, nuts, herbs or extra vegetables.
- Light and refreshing – especially delicious on warm summer days. (also check the salads for hot weather!)
Butter Lettuce
Growing up we almost always had butter lettuce on the dinner table. It was the classic side salad that went with practically every meal. Nowadays there are so many wonderful lettuce varieties available, but butter lettuce is still one of my favorites. It has soft leaves, a delicate flavour and works beautifully with crisp cucumber and a simple lemon dressing.
Recipe Ingredients
- Lettuce – you can use whatever kind of lettuce you like. I went with buttercup lettuce as I love the taste of it, but lamb’s lettuce, curly lettuce or whatever else will do as well. Romaine makes it crunchier while buttercup lettuce gives it a softer texture. A mix is always a good idea.
- Cucumber – you can chop the cucumber in cubes or turn them into ribbons as I did. English cucumbers work best since they have less seeds inside.
- Parmesan – I love adding some cheese to salads and parmesan gives it a salty taste without being overpowering. You can swap for another cheese if you prefer.
For the dressing
I went with a very simple dressing with mustard, lemon and olive oil, but you could swap for a honey mustard dressing or add some crispy chili oil for some spice.
How To Make The Lettuce And Cucumber Salad
- Step 1: Clean the vegetables and chop them smaller if applicable
- Step 2: Make the dressing by mixing the ingredients and adjust for taste with salt and pepper
- Step 3: Mix it all together and serve right away
Storage
Refrigerator: Store the vegetables and dressing separately for up to 2 days. Once dressed, the salad is best enjoyed immediately.
Freezer: This salad is not suitable for freezing because the lettuce and cucumber lose their texture after thawing.
Serving Suggestions
While this is a perfect side dish for a lot of different situations there are a couple of things that work particularly well with a lettuce and cucumber salad. I love serving it with roasted potatoes or crispy french fries. It also works very well alongside grilled chicken, roasted salmon or a good steak.
Variations to Lettuce and Cucumber Salad
Depending on what you want to use the lettuce and cucumber salad for there are plenty of variations to add to the mix. Here are just a couple of suggestions:
- Roasted tempeh
- Avocado cubes
- Tomatoes
- Toasted pine nuts
- Walnuts
- Feta cheese
- Radishes
- Red onion
Of course you can add just about any nuts you would like as well. This is truly a very versatile salad!
FAQ Lettuce and Cucumber Salad
Yes, but keep the dressing separate until serving so the lettuce stays crisp. Keep in mind that the buttercup lettuce does tend to wilt soon, so don’t let it sit for too long or use a stronger lettuce like romaine.
Butter lettuce, romaine, little gem, mixed greens and lamb’s lettuce all work well.
Absolutely. Try feta, goat cheese or simply leave the cheese out.
Besides lemon dressing you could use:
- Caesar dressing
- balsamic vinaigrette
- honey mustard dressing
- yogurt dressing
- ranch
Yes!
Try adding some chickpeas (roasted chickpeas are delicious!), grilled chicken, shrimps, tuna or a simple boiled egg.
More Delicious Salad Recipes To Try
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Lettuce And Cucumber Salad With Lemon Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 buttercup lettuce leaves separated
- 1 cucumber thinly sliced lengthwise
- 70 gr parmesan shaved
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp caster sugar
- sea salt and cracked black pepper
How to make the lettuce and cucumber salad
- Chop and clean the vegetables
- To make the lemon dressing, place the lemon juice, oil, mustard and sugar in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Place the lettuce, cucumber and parmesan in a bowl, drizzle with the lemon dressing and toss to combine.
Notes
- You cannot store the salad as the buttercup lettuce will wilt and the flavors are best enjoyed fresh
- You could leave out the parmesan if you didn’t want to use it but it does give the salad it’s ultimate taste so I would go for another salad if you don’t want to use parmesan
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
I want more good recipes.
does anyone know how many the salad feeds i need to know by tomorrow night at 6
That’s what it says on top of the recipe: as a sidedish for 4
Thanks for visiting my blog!
I love salads this time of year!
I just moved to Chicago from Utah and I’m not feeling this humidity…add an oven to that and I’m not sure if I could handle it!
And I loved the shaved cucmbers!!
This is on my menu this week! Thanks so much!
-Heidi
Gorgeous! I love salads and the simplicity of this one is perfection. Just bought some lively blue cheese and that would be a great drizzle over this as an alternative – you have me plotting.
🙂
V
I love salads in the summertime and this one is just beautiful to look at.