Are you a fan of dill pickles? Then you’ll love this easy and delicious Crunchy Pickled Salad. Seven simple ingredients combine to create a mouthwatering pickle-flavored salad. The cold, fresh crunch is a perfect complement to a variety of dishes. It’s the perfect make-ahead salad for a hot summer day, or any time!
During the summer here in Los Angeles, we regularly see temps in the 90’s and 100’s. The last thing you want to do when it’s that hot is turn on the oven or a hot stove. That’s why I like to experiment with creating cold, no-cook dishes and salads that are quick and satisfying.
I created this salad during one of my kitchen experiments. It started with a simple family recipe for a Sephardic Jewish cucumber salad (cucumber, fresh dill, vinegar, oil and salt). After tweaking the dressing, I added some vegetables from the crisper drawer—organic red radishes and half a white cabbage leftover from another recipe.
The result is this delightfully flavorful salad—cold, crunchy, pickle-y, and easy to throw together at a moment’s notice. I call it my Crunchy Pickled Salad. If you like dill pickles, this is the salad for you!
I use Persian cucumbers in this recipe. They are smaller, thinner, and slightly sweeter than other cucumber varieties. Feel free to substitute pickling or Kirby cucumbers. You can also use English cucumbers, the long thin ones coated in wax (though I prefer the smaller varieties). Avoid regular fat cucumbers, as they are coated with wax and can be prone to bitterness.
My Crunchy Pickled Salad is vegan, parve, and gluten free. Increase the tartness by adding up to two tablespoons more of vinegar, if you like. Enjoy!
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Crunchy Pickled Salad
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Persian cucumbers
- 1/2 pound radishes (red or white)
- 1/2 white cabbage, shredded
- 1/2 cup fresh minced dill
- 6 tablespoons white wine vinegar (or more to taste - use a gluten free vinegar to make GF)
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (choose a mild-flavored olive oil for best results)
- 2 teaspoons salt (or more to taste)
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers into small rounds about ¼ inch thick. Do not peel them. Discard stems.
- Remove the leaves and stems from the radishes and slice them into thin rounds.
- Place the cucumbers and radishes in a salad bowl along with the shredded white cabbage.
- In a small bowl, whisk together fresh minced dill, white wine vinegar, olive oil and salt. Add more vinegar to taste for a more pickled flavor, and/or more salt if desired.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to blend.Refrigerate the salad for 30 minutes to let the flavors marinate. Serve cold.
- If you use red radishes, the red color may “bleed” a little and cause the radishes to turn pink. This does not affect the flavor of the salad, but if it bothers you, use white radishes instead.
Nutrition
This is a great summer salad. I prefer to leave out the cabbage, and add feta cheese and seeds (right before eating.) Use watermelon radishes if you’re going to photograph it for instagram.
I made this for my family when they came to visit for Rosh Hashanah. We all loved it! We all have different diets / dietary needs, but this was one we could all enjoy. Thanks!
Liked this recipe but I added a pinch of sugar to kick up that pickling effect as well as some pepper.
I made this last night for the first time and loved it. My bowl was not big enough to fit all the ingredients cpmpletely so I backed off on the full amount of cabbage and it still seemed like the proportions were right. My guests all liked it. I served it with beef ribs and grits. I also learned how to cut up the cabbage on this website–so thanks for that also!
My pleasure Jeanne, really glad you enjoyed it!
Hi,
first I have to excuse, I’m not jewish but a christian German. So I hope I don’t break in here.. My girlfriend and me we love salads very much and so I found this recipe on your website. Of course I had to prepare this salad at once… So simple but just great, perfect for hot summer days. Where we live you get these “persian cucumbers” everywhere, I guess they should be very similar and are just named ‘Minigurken’ (Mini-cucumbers).
Thank you very much for also other very interesting recipes. Shakshuka and Salmon is already one of our favorites.
Shalom and kind regards from Munich, Bavaria.
Carlo
In cuisine real competence never goes out of style!
Everyone is welcome here, Carlo! 🙂 Glad you’re enjoying the site.
i’m an atheist born into a Jewish family, so i grew up on really monstrous and super-garlicky pickles, crisp sour green tomatoes, pickled beets, chrein, sauerkraut … you get the picture. i make my own schmaltz, and gribenes are to-die-for. i also am passionate about kimchi — the hotter, the better. this salad sounds delish. thanks! (i also make a fab Baked Greek Salad.)
i found your site by searching for a pareve salad to make use of some gorgeous fresh radishes i had. thrilled to find something sugar free, easy to make, and beautiful. i’ve now spent lots of time on a saturday night checking out your site and noting lots of other yummy recipes to try. thank you
Delicious! All I had was purple cabbage (we’re doing a CSA farm share this summer, and that’s what we got a lot of this week), but it worked out great. Your other recipes look fabulous also. So glad I found this site!
This looks delicious! I was looking for a refreshing salad for the summer, and I think this one is a winner!
That looks so good for summer, nice and light and refreshing!!
Hey Tori! Just got back from Israel and I fell in love with the food there too! This salad looks pheNOMenal! I’m just getting into fermenting foods…this is just a few steps away from true pickling…you think it would taste just as good? Hmm…mabye I’ll just go ahead and try it both ways. Thx.
I made this recently, but with a few changes. I couldn’t find any red radishes this time of the year (not sure why) so I used Daikon radish. Also substituted Jicama for the cabbage since we were having corned beef & cabbage later in the week. Very delicious and fresh. Love the dilled dressing.
I recently made some thing similar with an oriental twist -The marinade was sesame oil (with a drizzle of toasted (dark) sesame oil at the end), rice vinegar, a splash of mirin, instead of cabbage a lot of thinly sliced white onion, garlic, shallots, green onion, cilantro as well as dill, and English cucumber and gorgeous red radishes – yes the color ran, but it was SO beautiful!
This is me again – I forgot a splash of Thai fish sauce.
Looks delicious. I do cukes this way, never though of adding cabbage and/or radishes. Yummy
This is my 3rd recipe I’ve tried of yours and I am thrilled with all three. This salad is so light and delicious! Its perfect for summer. Being diabetic, this recipe is PERFECT when watching sugar/carb intakes. Also, being a historian, I love the food history you include with your recipes! Thanks so much!!
I’ve never seen kosher white wine vinegar. Is there something that could be substituted?
Hi Fay! I’m pretty sure Kedem white wine vinegar is certified kosher for Passover, and it’s available in many kosher markets. Rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar (the white kind– not red or black) would work well as a substitute. Good luck!
I never use white vinegar, and only use organic apple cider vinegar. I thought Heinz white vinegar was Kosher.
I will try the recipe but you could also use fresh lemon or lime juice with some essence for an extra zing.
My friend recommended your site and the sweet and sour eggplant looks yummy.
Your recipes look wonderful. Thanks for your site.
Fay Tonnelli makes white wine vinegar its kosher 100%
Beautiful! What a great idea. This is perfect for summer meals.
This is sooooooo good.
It’s been hot here in Iowa, also, so this salad was perfect for supper tonight.
Thanks, Jan
So happy you were able to try this, Jan! Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I love this salad and make it all the time! I made extra this week so I can keep it for a couple of days but the olive oil started getting clumpy in the fridge. Any tricks on how to keep it this salad for a couple of days in the fridge??
Hi Aura, this is one of those salads that doesn’t keep very well, I’m afraid. It’s fine for about 24 hours, but after that it loses its crispness and freshness. Best to stick with a small batch that can be finished in a day or so.
Very refreshing salad for summer weather 🙂
It is indeed. Great for picnics!