Cucumber and Tomato Salad Recipe
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Look familiar? If you grew up in a Russian or Ukrainian family, chances are you’ll smile looking at this picture. You’ve probably eaten this Cucumber and Tomato Salad or the creamy cucumber and tomato salad that I posted 3 years ago.
Mom’s garden cucumbers and tomatoes are ripening faster than we can eat them and they taste so so good! This salad is easy and delicious. If you can get your hands on the sunflower oil 
Ingredients for Cucumber and Tomato Salad:
4-6 medium (2 lbs) tomatoes
4-5 small (1 lb) cucumbers, or 1 english cucumber)
1 small onion, thinly sliced (~1/4 lb)
2 Tbsp Sunflower or Extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
1 tsp fine sea salt, or 3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp Pepper to taste
2 Tbsp Green onion for garnish (optional)
How to make Ukrainian Cucumber and Tomato Salad:
1. Slice tomatoes and cucumbers and place them in a large bowl. Thinly slice onion and add them to the salad bowl.
2. In a small ramekin, stir together 2 Tbsp sunflower oil, 1 Tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp fine sea salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
3. Just before serving, drizzle your salad with dressing and add more salt to taste if desired. Don’t add the dressing early or the tomatoes will be too juicy.
This is so easy and tasty. It always brings back memories for me. What is the staple salad in your family?
Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 4-6 medium, 2 lbs tomatoes
- 4-5 small, 1 lb cucumbers, or 1 english cucumber)
- 1 small onion, thinly sliced (~1/4 lb)
- 2 Tbsp Sunflower or Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
- 1 tsp fine sea salt, or 3/4 tsp table salt
- 1/4 tsp Pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp Green onion for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Slice tomatoes and cucumbers and place them in a large bowl. Thinly slice onion and add them to the salad bowl.
- In a small ramekin, stir together 2 Tbsp sunflower oil, 1 Tbsp vinegar, 1 tsp fine sea salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
- Just before serving, drizzle your salad with dressing and add more salt to taste if desired. Don't add the dressing early or the tomatoes will be too juicy.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Starkey is cute. Recipes are great and we’ll as your very helpful hints. Going to try your cucumber and onion salad next. I look forward to your next recipes.
Thank you, Candice! I hope you enjoy this one as well. 🙂
Hi Natasha,
I am new to your food Blog.
I love how simple and delicious food u prepare. But
I wanted to ask you if you have vegan recipes. My teenage girl is buying frozen vegan food. I preferred her to do vegan food from scratch.
Thank you for your time.
Olivia
Hi Olivia, thanks for checking out my blog and recipes. You can check out my diet recipes here.
What are the amounts of ingredients in your strawberry cake. How much whipped cream or sugar etc
Hi Linda, we have our strawberry recipes here. Which one are you referring to?
DOOZGE DOBRE!
Ha ha! I’m so glad you enjoyed the salad!
Hi! Do you use fresh lemon juice with the salmon Dijon recipe? Also what do you suggest I serve with salmon? Potato? Rice? Salad?
Martha
Yes, we prefer freshly squeezed lemon. We serve it with Potatoes or rice. Sometimes just salad. 🙂
Hi. This salad is so simple and delicious!👍🏻 Thank you Natsha!
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
This recipe made me smile. My mom makes this salad still. It is super easy to make. We are Russian and the way my mom makes this is with some salt and sour cream. These days we use Vegenaise and sometimes we add green onion. =0)
I’m glad the recipe brings back fond memories! Thanks for sharing Marina!
Greetings Natasha.
First of all i have to say that i admire your website and value all you’ve done for society.
I posted a Facebook status saying i feel that the cucumber is the first to blame when a vegetable salad goes bad.
Later on i received a lot of angry comments about me being a “VegDummy” as they put it, saying the tomato is the real criminal in the vegetable salad and that its because of it the salad tastes terrible the next day.
I searched the web and couldn’t find a helping hand. I figured a fruit and vegetable expert as yourself could put an end to the ongoing madness.
Which of the two ruins the salad faster?
Please don’t be politicly correct and say it is the lettuce. Just lay it on me as it is.
Yours Truly,
Ben.
Hi Ben, I don’t think one is worse than the other. I try to avoid adding salt to a salad that has cucumbers or tomatoes until just before serving. Surprisingly, with this salad, several of my readers liked it even better the next day (leftovers) – go figure! 🙂 I love both cucumbers and tomatoes so I can’t say anything bad about them. lol. I definitely would not store lettuce overnight though – that wilts after just a few hours in a salad.
In other words, the cucumber is to blame.
Thanks for taking my side Nat!
Love,
Ben
Thank you so much for posting this. I make this for us at least once a week. He loves it and always eats the entire salad in one sitting. Best way to throw together an easy serving of vegetables!
You’re very welcome! It sounds like you’ve discovered a favorite. It’s a favorite in our house too 🙂
Yes … seeing this recipe made me smile (my Mum’s parents were of Prussian descent and my Nanna used to make it- sometimes with cream). A variation I like is to use apple cider vinegar and Spanish (purple) onion, sometimes grating the cucumber and slicing the tomatoes too.
It’s amazing how food can unlock so many sweet memories :). Thanks so much for sharing your variations! 🙂
quite good and your being experienced in it.
I’m happy to hear that!
Oh how I miss Russia! Making this tonight!!! =)
I hope you LOVE it! 🙂
I love you Natasha! This was my all time favorite salad in Russia. Very simple to prepare, but if you don’t know you don’t know.
Soon I’ll be a Russian Chef thanks to your site.
That’s so great! Thanks for your sweet comment :). I’m so glad you love the salad. Isn’t it easy – I can never resist this salad in a food line :).
This was perfect. I have tried many different recipes and this has been the closest one to a what I had in Ukraine. Thanks so much. Now I just need to get some sunflower oil and try that.
I”m so happy to hear that! Yes, definitely try the sunflower oil. It makes all Russian and Ukrainian salads taste more authentic 🙂
This recipe was very good. My family has never ate anything like this and we all enjoyed it (including my 17 yo and 20 yo). Definitely would make again. Simple but good. Thanks for the recipe.
I’m so glad you liked it! Thanks for a great review!
Thank you for a great review Shirley, this sale never gets old at our house, especially during cucumber and tomato season 🙂
Yes, In Romania we will make this salad every day (even for breakfast with omelet). It is the old Greek inspired salad, of course without feta cheese. Great memories.
That doesn’t surprise me since we are from the same parts of the world. I am from Ukraine 🙂 It’s one of those salads I’ll never get tired of!
I like to make salads from sliced tomatoes, avocados, olive oil, salt to taste and feta cheese (the crumbled one they sell at Costco). So yummy!
Oooohhhh that sounds wonderful with avocados and feta. Wowza!!
Is that refined sunflower oil or non unrefined? I have both.. Want to use non refined but the flavor it too strong.
Oh snap, my sunflower oil label is in Russian and I’ve never payed attention. I’ll go look……It says unrefined. I’d say just add it to taste. 🙂
Oh, yes! This Soviet Union salad, honestly, is the best and I’ve made many.:)
I too always add vinegar and I like mine with dill! And because I do not have a Russian store nearby, I add a bit of sesame seed oil for that “unrefined” sunflower oil taste.:) Great photos as always, Natasha!:)
You know I’ve never tried the sesame oil but I always have it in the fridge for stir fry’s. I’ll have to try it. Thanks Olena! 🙂
Why do you keep it in the fridge?:)
Hmmm. You know, I don’t have a good answer to that (I’m blushing a little bit). Is it not supposed to be refrigerated?
🙂 Not really. Oils do not need to be refrigerated. No worries, I have been refrigerating Nutella forever until my friend pointed out to the label. No wonder it was so hard to spread.:)
Walmart sells sunflower oil.
I didn’t know that. I’ll look for it there since I’m almost out of mine. 🙂 Thanks for sharing1
But it is not “nerafinirovannoe” or is it? That’s what really makes this salad stand out, THE oil.:)
Yes, my oil says unrefined. I agree the oil makes the salad taste delicious. And more authentic.
I made this tonight with sunflower oil and dill. We typically make the sour cream one, but I think this one is my favorite. It was a perfect side to our juicy ribeyes. Thanks Natasha!
You’re making me hungry! We make the sour cream one just as often as we make this one. I haven’t decided which is my favorite, but this one is probably a little lighter on the waist line 😉
Yeeeeees! 🙂 My mom also put some fresh dill in this salad. And definitely sunflower oil is what will make it taste “russian” 🙂 🙂
I was a little bummed that we were out of Dill. Dill makes everything taste more “Russian” as well.
mmmm. that’s what I always have except I never added vinegar before, shud try next time.
Let me know how it tastes with vinegar :).
We eat similar salad almost every day during summer ( that’s when veggies taste the best ;)) , sometimes I add black olives (then no salt) and dill… kids like it with a little rice vinegar as dressing (they won’t do any oil or onions:))…
It’s very tasty either way and is a staple here…. Goes awesome with some fried potatoes (жареная картошка:))
Thanks for all your wonderful recipes!! 🙂
That actually sounds very tasty. I think the kids are on to something! 🙂
This is my go to salad. Sometimes I cut up the ingredients, and divide into 2 different bowls, one for the creamy (with mayo and/or sour cream), the other with the oil. 2 salads, doesn’t involve much time or thought. And if I happen to have avocado on hand, I toss that in for a little extra benefit.
Ooooooooooooooooooh AVOCADO?!! That’s brilliant! Thank you so much for sharing! Do you add it to both salads or just the one with oil?
Natasha… . you’re getting a big smile from me and that’s what
we had yesterday with steak from the grill ! ! ! Were is the Dill 🙂 🙂
I sure enjoy “Natashaskitchen” and your family. . . .
and congrats with Kraft Recipe Makers…………..
Irena
Our dill is a little overgrown and dried up. I new to replant!! It’s definitely good with dill too.
Oh memmories! I usually do mine with olive oil, but now I really want to make it with sunflower oil, I can feel the taste in my mouth LOL.
Sunflower oil really brings it home :).
Nice salad. Thank you.
You’re welcome Liz 🙂
The Russian salad. 🙂
Yep. Classic!
You’re right, this is very Russian – my mom makes this too 🙂 Mmmmm!!! This goes great with a meat & potato kind of dinner.
This salad never gets old :).
100% agree!! it never gets old 🙂
So true and it tastes great with almost any main dish.