This Easy Spicy Cucumber Salad is Asian-inspired with the most delicious sauce made with peanut butter, gochujang, chilli oil and a handful of other pantry staples. It's totally delicious, takes around 5 minutes to prepare, and makes an incredible side dish to your Asian-style meals.
Hey! I'm Emily Roz — food content creator, recipe developer, and cookbook author behind Myriad Recipes and this spicy cucumber salad is inspired by my travels through Asia. It's also viral over TikTok and social media in general, and for good reason!
I absolutely love China's smashed cucumber salad - I ate it SO much when we traveled there. However, I also adore Korean flavours. So, if you're like me and you love creamy spicy tangy dishes, then you'll love this spicy cucumber salad. It's vegan, dairy-free and totally inclusive for a variety of dietaries which I love!
For those of you who love cucumbers, check out my chicken cucumber salad recipe or my cucumber dill salad...both are firm favourites!
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Ingredients and Substitutions
- Peanut butter. I'm using crunchy peanut butter, but you can use smooth. Feel free to use an alternative nut butter if you'd like.
- Gochujang. This korean fermented red pepper paste is one of my favourite pantry staples. It's smoky, spicy, slightly sweet and totally delicious in this spicy cucumber salad. If you don't have it, you could use sriracha.
- Rice wine vinegar. We need a bit of acidity and rice wine vinegar is perfect. Feel free to use mirin if you've not got rice wine vinegar.
- Sesame oil. For nuttiness and a binder, sesame oil is our guy!
- Light soy sauce. Saltiness and umami is essential for this recipe. I love light soy sauce over dark soy sauce.
- Garlic. Fresh garlic gives the asian style salad a bit of a kick, so if you're a bit sensitive, feel free to use ¼ teaspoon garlic granules instead.
- Sugar. We want to balance out the flavours with a bit of sweetness so I'm using sugar. But you could use honey or agave if you'd prefer.
- Spring onion. This adds a bit of tang. You could alternatively use chives or finely chopped red onion.
- Chilli oil. Everyone loves crispy chili oil !! I love laoganma and white mausu but feel free to use any crispy chilli oil you have!
- Sesame seeds. I love the crunch and toasty addition of sesame seeds.
- Cucumber. I'm using large british cucumbers, but you could totally use small Persian cucumbers if you have them!
For the full ingredients list with measurements and instructions, scroll down this blog to the recipe card.
How To Make Spicy Cucumber Salad with Photos
Step 1: In a large bowl or 32 oz food container, combine the peanut butter, gochujang, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, garlic, chilli oil and sugar. Stir to combine or add the lid to the container and shake until well combined. Taste and season according to your preferences.
Step 2: Next, add in the sliced cucumbers, sliced spring onion, and sesame seeds. Stir to combine or put back on the lid of the tupperware and shake until well combined and the cucumbers are fully coated in the spicy asian dressing.
Step 3: Your spicy asian cucumber salad should be saucy, peanuty, slightly spicy, and totally delicious! Enjoy!
Top Tips
- If you like a softer bite, slice your cucumbers as finely as possible. If you're more of a chunky sliced cucumber lover, then slice them slightly thicker.
- If you don't know how much cucumber salad you'll be making, make double the spicy asian dressing just in case you have to whip up another cucumber salad batch in short notice! If you end up not having to use it, it goes great with noodles to create a cold spicy asian salad!
- Storing the cucumber salad for a few days? Chill the cucumber slices for 20 minutes and then drain them before adding to the spicy gochujang peanut dressing. They’ll release a lot of water while they chill, and removing it from the salad makes it considerably less soggy.
What To Serve with Spicy Cucumber Salad
- Gochujang chicken recipes
- Scallion chicken
- Teriyaki meatballs
- Air fryer pork belly
- Blanket dumplings
FAQs
Bash them with a rolling pin or another heavy object so they burst open a bit. Then roughly slice them so you end up with chunky pieces.
Place in an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
To turn this into a meal, I'd add some shredded rotisserie chicken into the salad with edamame beans. Optionally, serve with rice or noodles for extra carbs.
More Salad Recipes
If you tried this Spicy Cucumber or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thank you!
Easy Spicy Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 tsbp gochujang
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- ½ tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 garlic clove minced
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon chilli oil
- 2 spring onion finely sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1 large cucumber thinly sliced
Instructions
- In a large bowl or 32oz food container, combine the peanut butter, gochujang, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, light soy sauce, garlic, chilli oil and sugar. Stir to combine or add the lid to the container and shake until well combined. Taste and season according to your preferences.
- Next, add in the sliced cucumbers, sliced spring onion, and sesame seeds. Stir to combine or put back on the lid of the tupperware and shake until well combined and the cucumbers are fully coated in the spicy asian dressing.
- The cucumbers should be coated in the gorgeous spicy sauce. Serve up as a side dish and enjoy!
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