Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Salad

A Southern staple at barbecues, family gatherings, and reunions, we love the juicy and refreshing experience of eating this fresh tomato, onion, and cucumber salad!

If I had to describe the flavor of this salad in one word, I’d say refreshing. This is the embodiment of everything a body craves on a hot summer’s day. Well, everything a body craves that doesn’t come with a little paper umbrella in the glass! This simple and easy tomato, onion, and cucumber salad recipe features juicy tomato chunks, onion slices, and crunchy cucumber tossed in a delicious vinegar and sugar dressing. 

I recommend making this colorfully crisp and tangy summer salad in advance to let it fully marinate in the dressing. Then serve it at your next summer gathering and prepare to win over your friends and family! You can also have fun with this salad and add some interesting additions, which I mention in the Recipe Notes section below.

Recipe Ingredients

• Two freshly ripe tomatoes (can be whatever you have on hand – heirloom tomatoes, grape tomatoes…)
• Two cucumber
• One purple or red onion (or sweet onion, the choice is yours)
• Sugar
• Water, and…
• White vinegar. Go for the cheap kind here, make me proud!

Cut up your tomatoes.

You can cut the tomato in chunks, slices, or dice them. I’m doing tomato chunks because it’s pretty that way.

Peel and cut your cucumber. However, if you prefer you can also skip peeling your cucumber.

Cut up your onion.

I slice mine and then cut the slices in half, still leaving pretty big pieces.

This way, those of you who don’t care for the raw onions can pick them out easily enough.

Dump all of that into a bowl. You can also opt to sprinkle these vegetables with sea salt and black pepper right now before adding the dressing.

Now we have to make our dressing.

For this, all we are going to do is combine equal parts water, vinegar, and sugar and stir it up.

I start with 1/2 cup of each but you can do more if you like. I wouldn’t do any less though.

This is me adding my sugar to the vinegar and water mixture.

Stir that up good.

Recipe Tip

Don’t worry if your sugar isn’t dissolved all of the way because we’re going to let all of this marinate in the fridge for a spell before we eat.

Pour this over your veggies and stir.

Cover and place in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

It will make more juice but I like to go give it a good stir after an hour or so.

Save some for me!

Storage

Store this tomato, onion, and cucumber salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.

Recipe Notes

• If you like, add some fresh herbs to your salad. Dried or fresh basil and oregano will give this salad recipe a Mediterranean feel, while I also like sprinkling fresh dill or parsley on top.
• Other fun additions to make to this salad include crumbled feta cheese, chunks of avocado, bell pepper chunks, and mozzarella balls.
• Instead of white vinegar, you could also use either red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. If you’re going for a Mediterranean-inspired salad, you can opt for balsamic vinegar too.
• Another option is using cherry tomato halves instead of tomato chunks.

Recipe FAQs

What do you serve with tomato, onion, and cucumber salad?

Serve this refreshing salad with any grilled or barbecued meat and a side of crusty bread. My suggestions include grilled chicken tenderloins, pork chops, or slow-roasted beef brisket. 

Can you make this salad ahead of time?

Yes, I recommend refrigerating the salad for a few hours before serving to let the vinegar sink into the vegetables. So you could definitely make this in advance the night before.

You may also like these other sensational salad recipes:

Cucumber Salad Creamy and Delicious

Fresh Fruit Salad with Lemon Honey Dressing

Cornbread Salad Recipe

Low Carb Broccoli Cauliflower Salad

 

 

Be more concerned about your character than your reputation because your character is who you are and your reputation is just what others THINK of you.

~Submitted my Southern Plate Reader, Emily. To submit your quote, and make someone’s day a little brighter, click here.