I’m a big believer in using quality ingredients and then getting out of the way, and this Cucumber Radish salad lets the fresh, crisp and vibrant flavors of cucumber, radish, celery, mint, chives, and dill shine. A touch of creamy goat cheese gives it that extra special creamy finish.

close up of cucumber and radish salad in a bowl.
Photo Credits: Andrea Gralow


You can practically taste summer in every bite of this refreshing Cucumber Radish Salad. Pack it in a picnic, bring it to a potluck, serve it for dinner along with Grilled Salmon Burgers or your favorite Grilled Chicken Kabobs.

This 20-minute salad is loaded with crisp, cool ingredients, which means it also also balances spicy flavors beautifully. If heat is your thing, serve it with Grilled Harissa Chicken for a colorful meal that both heats you up and cools you down.

Sliced cucumbers, crispy radishes, and cool and crunchy celery form the foundation of the vegetable salad recipe. Fresh dill, chives and mint along with a simple vinaigrette create the rest of the vibrant, summer flavors in this colorful Cucumber Radish Salad. I finish the whole beautiful, cool, crisp and colorful salad with a tangy, creamy goat cheese. 

If fresh flavors are your jam and you’re looking for a Mediterranean Diet friendly salad recipe look no further! 

Table of Contents
  1. Cucumber Radish Salad Ingredients 
    1. For the Vinaigrette: 
    2. For the Salad:
  2. How to Make Cucumber and Radish Salad 
  3. What to Serve with Cucumber Radish Salad
  4. Refreshing Summer Salads
  5. Cucumber Radish Salad Recipe
ingredients for cucumber radish salad including radishes, goat cheese, chives, mint, dill, olive oil, celery, cucumber, white wine vinegar, honey, sumac, and kosher salt.

Cucumber Radish Salad Ingredients 

This salad is a gardener’s dream! It uses so many fresh vegetables and herbs you’ll think summer is endless. Don’t worry, though, if you’re thumb isn’t green. A quick trip to the farmers market or your nearest grocery store will yield equally beautiful results.

For the Vinaigrette: 

  • Extra-virgin olive oil and white wine vinegar are the basic ingredients for most vinaigrettes and that remains true for this recipe as well. I keep my cupboard well-stocked with olive oils. I like a strong olive oil for dressings and vinaigrettes so my go to is our Spanish Hojiblanca olive oil.  Should you find yourself out of white wine vinegar, swap in freshly squeezed lemon juice. 
  • Shallots: I love the soft oniony flavor shallots bring to vinaigrettes. 
  • Honey: A little sweetness from the honey balances the acidity from the vinegar and the peppery notes from the olive oil. I prefer the herbal notes of our Greek Honey, because the flavor is rich and deep, but use whatever honey you love.
  • Sumac: This lovely spice adds a smokey, slightly sour background note to the salad. I like to use Sumac in dressings and vinaigrettes, on chicken or even sprinkled over Loaded Hummus
  • Kosher salt: This is the original flavor enhancer. I like Kosher salt because it has a cleaner, softer flavor, but you could also use a scant 1/2 teaspoon of table salt instead.

For the Salad:

  • English cucumber: I prefer English cucumbers because the skin is thin and the seeds are small so I don’t have to peel them. However, if you have a standard slicing cucumber just peel the skin if it seems tough or bitter, slice it lengthwise and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds, then slice into half moons. 
  • Radishes: These colorful gems are underappreciated in my humble opinion. Sometimes they are spicy and sometimes they are mild. Late season radishes harvested in the high heat of summer tend to be spicier, while early season cool weather radishes have a milder flavor. 
  • Celery: Celery provides a delightful extra crunch. 
  • Fresh Herbs: So often fresh herbs are treated like a garnish, and sometimes that’s a good place for them, but using them in larger quantities means the Dill, Chives, and Mint
  • Goat cheese (chèvre): Many cheeses could fall under the goat cheese category, but in the US chevre a soft goat cheese commonly found in supermarkets tends to dominate the title. It’s tangy, soft, creamy and easy to crumble. You can even fry like in this Za’atar Goat Cheese recipe and eat as a snack or drop them in a bowl of Tomato Soup
cucumber and radish salad in a bowl with gold serving utensils.

How to Make Cucumber and Radish Salad 

This is not a complicated recipe. Make the vinaigrette, chop up some veggies and fresh herbs, mix together and finish with goat cheese. Here’s how to do it! 

  • Make the dressing: In a salad bowl, combine olive oil, shallots, white wine vinegar, honey, sumac and kosher salt.the dressing for the cucumber and radish salad in a bowl with a whisk.
  • Make the salad: Combine cucumber, radishes, celery, dill, chives, mint in the bowl with the dressing. Toss to combine. Top with crumbled goat cheese, freshly cracked pepper, and a sprinkle of salt. Serve immediately.sliced cumber, sliced radishes, sliced celery, minced dill, minced chives, chopped mint and crumbled goat cheese in a bowl before being mixed together.

What to Serve with Cucumber Radish Salad

This is the salad to make when it’s hot outside and you want to eat something cool, refreshing and colorful on the table. If you’re a gardener, cucumber radish salad is a great way to use up all of that gorgeous produce.

You can, of course, enjoy this vegetable salad exactly as it is but you can also dress it up with any of the ingredients below:

  • Toss in a can of rinsed and drained Great Northern Beans and a drizzle of Pesto.
  • Add a can of tuna or shredded chicken.
  • Spread Labneh on a plate, drizzle with olive oil a little aleppo pepper and pile this Cucumber Radish Salad on top of it.  

Make a meal out of it and serve this vegetable salad with Grilled Chicken Thighs, whip up a pitcher of Red Sangria and have some Frozen Yogurt for dessert. Don’t forget to invite your friends for dinner! You’ll be glad you did.

cucumber and radish salad in a bowl with gold serving utensils next to a bowl of radishes and cucumber and a bowl of crumbled goat cheese.

Refreshing Summer Salads

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Try our Greek Honey!

This 100% pure, unprocessed, raw honey adds a subtle sweetness and helps to balance the flavors in this recipe’s vinaigrette.

a jar of greek honey from the mediterranean dish.
5 from 7 votes

Cucumber Radish Salad

Summer Miller
close up of cucumber and radish salad in a bowl.
Cucumber Radish Salad is a colorful vegetable salad loaded with cucumber, radish, celery, fresh herbs and dressed in a simple vinaigrette.
Prep – 20 minutes
Total – 20 minutes
Cuisine:
Mediterranean
Serves – 6
Course:
Salad

Ingredients
  

Make the dressing:

  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon minced shallots
  • 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon sumac
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the Salad:

  • 1 large English cucumber, thinly sliced
  • 12 radishes, thinly sliced
  • 3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup minced dill
  • 1/4 cup minced chives
  • 3 tablespoons chopped mint
  • 4 ounces goat cheese (chèvre)

Instructions
 

  • Make the dressing: In a salad bowl, combine olive oil, shallots, white wine vinegar, honey, sumac and kosher salt.
  • Make the salad: Combine cucumber, radishes, celery, dill, chives, mint in the bowl with the dressing. Toss to combine. Top with crumbled goat cheese, freshly cracked pepper, and a sprinkle of salt. Serve immediately.

Notes

Nutrition

Calories: 152.7kcalCarbohydrates: 5.5gProtein: 4.3gFat: 13.1gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1.1gMonounsaturated Fat: 7.5gCholesterol: 8.7mgSodium: 286.1mgPotassium: 190.2mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3.5gVitamin A: 668.1IUVitamin C: 6.8mgCalcium: 57.2mgIron: 0.9mg
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Summer Miller is an award-winning cookbook author, journalist, and an IACP finalist in essay writing and memoir. Her recipes, food writing, and editing chops span both print and digital media. You can find her work at Simply Recipes, Eating Well, Saveur, Bon Appétit, and the Kitchn among others. She is the Senior Executive Editor at The Mediterranean Dish.
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5 from 7 votes (1 rating without comment)

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Comments

  1. Jennifer says:

    5 stars
    Love this salad, and so did my mom. My mom left out the goat cheese on her’s. I think it’s great with or without. Will be making this again

    1. TMD Team says:

      Thanks, Jennifer!

  2. Ron Fitzmartin says:

    5 stars
    Terrific to showcase radishes… loved it

  3. Brian Young says:

    I’m a new cook, so naturally things have to be spelled out for me. No where in this recipe do I see how much of each item I use. Do I just “wing it”?
    Correction:
    I just found it.

  4. Brian Young says:

    I’m a new cook, so naturally things have to be spelled out for me. No where in this recipe do I see how much of each item I use. Do I just “wing it”?

    1. TMD Team says:

      Hi, Brian. If you hit the “Jump to Recipe Button” right under the recipes title, you’ll be taken to the recipe cards located at the end of the post with all of those details. Enjoy!

  5. Cynthia says:

    5 stars
    Very easy to make and very refreshing and tasty. Big hit with my family.

    1. Summer Miller says:

      Hi, Cynthia! I’m Summer and I work here at The Mediterranean Dish! So glad you and your family enjoyed the salad. Thanks for taking the time to let us know. Your family might also like our Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad. It’s a big hit with my family.

  6. Bob Herring says:

    This was fantastic.
    Made it for company tonight and it was universally accepted with gusto.
    Al g with pan grilled shrimp with green sauce.

    1. TMD Team says:

      Great to hear! Thanks, Bob!

  7. MaggieM says:

    5 stars
    Every other bite, my family said “definitely make this again”…doesn’t get much better than this
    Literally, every recipe from your site has been fantastic!

    1. TMD Team says:

      Aww! Thank you so much, Maggie!

  8. Michael says:

    5 stars
    A+. I substituted dill for basil and feta for goat cheese. The result is wonderful.

    1. Summer Miller says:

      Hi, Michael! I’m so glad you like the salad. Your swaps sound great. I might try them myself the next time I make this!
      Take Care
      Summer

  9. Gay Shelton says:

    5 stars
    Fresh, light and very good!

    1. Summer Miller says:

      Hi, Gay! I’m so glad you like the salad. Thanks for letting me know.