Easy Ensalada de Pepino – Spanish Cucumber Salad Recipe

Discover the perfect salad to refresh yourself this summer and surprise your guests with an explosion of Andalusian flavors in each bite.

Here we will introduce you to the ensalada de pepino, one of the tastiest and easier-to-make pepino recipes that you will find.

Keep scrolling down this article to learn how to make a cucumber salad, plus some extra tips to store, serve and customize this Spanish salad.

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Background of the Dish

The ensalada de pepino is created as a mix between Mediterranean and Asian cuisine.

In this Andalusian salad, the cucumber is combined with other typical ingredients of the region, such as tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, and onion, which provide a unique mix of flavors.

Some other salad tapas like the Ensalada de mango or the Spanish fruit salad are popular for the summer too, but this one stands out because it doesn’t have a fruity flavor.

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Things You’ll Need for Ensalada de Pepino

To make this ensalada de pepino you need cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, a garlic clove, vinegar, and olive oil.

As well as other Spanish salad tapas, there are some changes that you can make to the ingredients, but we will get into that later.

Ingredients

• 3 cucumbers
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 tablespoons vinegar
• 7 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper (to taste)

How to Make Ensalada de Pepino – Step by Step Guide

1. To start making the Spanish salad recipe, you have to wash and peel the cucumbers. You can do this with a vegetable peeler or a knife.

2. After that, cut the cucumber into thin slices (or thicker if you prefer to feel the crunchy texture of your salad with cucumbers).

3. Then, wash and cut the tomatoes into medium pieces. You can remove the seeds or leave them, it is completely up to you.

4. Now cut the onion in julienne style. You can use it raw in your salad, or put the slices in boiling water and then dry them in a strainer so they don’t have such a strong flavor.

5. For the next step, grab a bowl and put the vegetables, season them first with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Then, mince the garlic clove and mix it with the olive oil. You can skip this step if you don’t like garlic.

7. After that, pour the vinegar and garlic oil mix over the Spanish-style salad, making sure to coat all the vegetables with it.

8. Now you can serve the ensalada de pepino immediately or let it cool for a couple of minutes in the fridge before serving.

Substitution of Ingredients

As you can see on the cucumber salad ingredients list, you don’t need any fancy or weird ingredients, and all of them have an important role in nailing the ensalada de pepino classic flavor.

However, there are some small changes or substitutions that you can make to traditional Spanish salads like this one.

For example, you can always add more ingredients, like chopped bell peppers (it will give more flavor and colors too).

For a more Mediterranean version of this ensalada de pepino, you can add some squares of mozzarella cheese, or shred some manchego cheese on top.

Lastly, you can use any dressing or seasoning for this salad, although that would make it different from the traditional Spanish salad.

If you like cucumber, we encourage you to try the cucumber gazpacho or the Spanish cucumber avocado gazpacho for a refreshing aid during hot days.

Tips on Serving Ensalada de Pepino

What we love the most about this ensalada de pepino is that it is super simple to serve, and it is the perfect summer salad.

The freshness of the cucumbers and tomatoes make this salad an amazing side dish for any type of protein: a fish filet, a nice cut of meat, or even an egg omelet.

You can turn this ensalada de pepino into a main dish if you serve a larger portion, but we recommend adding some shredded cheese or cheese cubes to add more texture and flavor.

If you are planning a party or a nice dinner, you can prepare a salad bar with other Spanish salad recipes, like the Spanish tomato salad and the Spanish mixed green salad.

The Spanish potatoes with beets salad and the ensalada de espinacas are must-try salad recipes that are both nutritious and healthy.

How to Store Ensalada de Pepino

The only way to store this ensalada de pepino is to do it before adding the dressing.

The combination between vinegar and oil (and almost every other salad dressing) makes the vegetables get a bitter taste and a soggy texture if you don’t eat them right away.

With that being said, you can store the Spanish summer salad before dressing it: just make sure to dry the cucumbers and tomatoes with clean kitchen paper, then place them in a covered container and store them for up to 24 hours.

Tomatoes and cucumbers have a high amount of water in them, which creates a lot of texture changes when frozen, so you can’t freeze the Spanish green salad.

Recipe Card: Ensalada de Pepino

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