Tomato, Onion, and Cucumber Salad
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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 chunks, slices, and 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 , 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 in chunks, slices, or dice them. I’m doing chunks because it’s pretty that way.
Peel and cut your . However, if you prefer you can also skip peeling your .
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 and 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 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 , you can opt for too.
- Another option is using halves instead of 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
Low Carb Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
Ingredients
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 cucumbers
- 1 purple or red onion
- water
- white vinegar
- sugar
Instructions
- Peel and slice cucumbers, and chop tomatoes and red onion. Combine all in a large bowl.2 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 1 purple or red onion
- Mix up a dressing of equal parts vinegar, water, and sugar. I start with 1/2 cup each of my dressing ingredients.water, white vinegar, sugar
- Pour the vinegar dressing over the vegetables and refrigerate (ideally overnight).
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.
Oh, I love that too & make it all the time in the summer. The only difference is, I don’t add the sugar. I just do olive oil & balsamic vinegar for a tangy salad. It is SO good! We are growing our own tomatoes & they are starting to come in now. Love Summer!! Thanks for adding my button, you’re a doll. 🙂
Oh my gosh Christy we did it again!!! I made this exact salad yesterday from tomatoes and cucumbers I had just picked out of my garden, I kid you not. I about fell out when I opened your post. You are startin’ to freak me out – how are we always on the same wave length?? I told you we were separated at birth!
During the summer months here, a bowl of cucumbers and “spring” onions with vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper is always on the table. The tomatoes are just sliced onto a plate. Pickled beets and some pepper vinegar as well. What we called Goulash was butter beans, corn and stewed tomatoes (sweetened of course ) in a bowl with some hot pepper cut up if you were brave!
Bring on the garden!
I have a recipe for this as well, except mine calls for mustard seed and a scant pinch (and I do mean scant) of cayenne pepper, the dressing is then heated on the stove til the sugar dissolves and poured over the tomatoes cucumbers and onions. YUM YUM. And it just gets better as it sits.
I love any version of this salad but my family balks because the red or purple onions I use are always REALLY potent. I have read various tips on how to neutralize the slices a little bit, such as soaking them in milk or ice water, but none of those things seems to work. Does anyone know of a tried and true method of making those darned onions a little less zesty for my picky family? Thanks!
I read somewhere that you can tell how strong an onion will be by its SHAPE. A flatter onion will be milder than a round one or one that is tall and thin. I’m no scientist so I don’t know how reliable this is. Sweet Vidalias are usually flatter. I try to look for short, squatty onions in the store and I hardly ever get one that’s too hot/strong.
Thanks! I’ll give it a shot…nothing to lose!
This was and still is a summer dish at both my mom’s & mother in law’s but what is funny they both have different names for this dish. My mom & grandmother always referred to it as Goullash, my mother in law & her mother call it Thunder & Lightning.
Can I send a money order, rather than check, made out to Janice as well?
Whatever is best and most convenient for you is fine!
Gratefully,
Christy 🙂