Her easy cucumber salad sounds like a perfect summer dish.
Key Points
- Cucumber salads are hydrating and flavorful—perfect for summer meals.
- Giada De Laurentiis shares a cucumber salad recipe featuring bold Italian-inspired flavors.
- Cucumbers are versatile, refreshing and healthy, pairing well in salads, sandwiches or soups.
Cucumber salads are especially perfect for warm weather, and the crisp veggie makes an excellent canvas, as it readily soaks up a variety of flavors—from Spicy Cucumber Salad with Cilantro & Peanuts to salty-sweet Tropical Cucumber Salad.
Plus, cucumbers have a number of health benefits, including a high water content, which makes them a great way to add a little hydration to your meals. Giada De Laurentiis seemed to have the same thought when she shared a simple cucumber salad recipe.
The Italian American chef posted a reel on Instagram showing her rendition of a cucumber salad that she whipped up using just four ingredients (not including salt and olive oil). She starts by thinly slicing the cucumber using a mandoline before adding it to a glass jar. Then she follows up by adding a spoonful of Calabrian chili paste and colatura, an Italian-style fish sauce typically made with anchovies.
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De Laurentiis then squeezes in some lemon juice and adds salt (while she chose a seasoned salt, regular salt will also do the trick) and olive oil before placing the lid back on and giving it a good shake to combine the ingredients: “You’ve got to shake it … vigorously to get all the Calabrian chili into everything to kind of blend together,” she says.
The distinctive flavors of Calabrian chili and colatura make this recipe super appealing, plus you might get a little arm workout while shaking the jar. A flavorful and hydrating dish and some exercise seem like a win-win to us!
If you’re still craving some refreshing cucumber recipes, we have plenty of options that you can try out—and they’re not all salads. Whether they’re sandwiched between two slices of hearty bread, as in our Cucumber Sandwich with Cotija & Lime, or blended into a creamy soup, like our Vegan Cold Cucumber Soup, the summer veggie makes a great addition to any meal.
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