Asian Cucumber Avocado Salad

This Asian-style cucumber avocado salad features crisp cucumbers and silky avocado tossed in an incredible savory and spicy gochujang vinaigrette. – easy to make ahead for gatherings and always a hit side dish!

We live and breathe cucumber salads this time of year and this little gem of a salad is ticking all the boxes!

You have mini cucumbers doing their thing being all cute and crunchy, silky diced avocado providing a little richness, and seriously the most AMAZING Asian-style vinaigrette that’s savory, spicy, and just a little sweet.

Put it all together and you have the most addictive salad of the summer. And I don’t say that lightly especially in the salad department.

This salad is light on the ingredient list and quicker to throw together than most salads since it doesn’t require a lot of heavy chopping action.

It’s just the overall salad winner of summer, okay?

This Cucumber Salad features…

• Crisp cucumber slices and fresh avocado
• A savory gochujang dressing
• Toasted sesame seeds and green onions
• Minutes to make with lots of make ahead options

Making the Cucumber Salad

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Gochujang
• Honey
• Soy sauce
• Rice wine vinegar
• Sesame oil
• Garlic
• Mini cucumbers
• Avocado
• Green onion
• Sesame seeds

What is Gochujang?

Gochujang is a fermented spicy red chile paste that’s commonly used in Korean cuisine for flavoring and adding heat to dishes. You can find it in the Asian aisle of most major grocery stores.

We like to use gochujang in this salad because it adds an amazing complexity of flavors plus a little boost of heat that goes so well with the cucumbers and avocado.

Not a fan of spicy? You can easily dial back the heat by using less gochujang or omitting it entirely.

Tips for Perfect Cucumber Salad

1. Cut cucumber and avocado into uniform size – ideally, you want the cucumbers in 1/4-in thick slices and the avocado in 1/2-in cubes for a cohesive salad.
2. Marinate salad – a 1-hour marinade gives the salad time to sit in that dressing and build lots of flavor.
3. Top salad with toasted sesame seeds – toasting the sesame seeds brings out a lot of flavor and adds the perfect final touch to this salad.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this salad.

• Use full-size cucumbers – if you can’t find minis, this salad will work great with 2 seedless cucumbers cut into 1/4-in half-circles.
• Add more veggies – try adding a diced sweet pepper, halved cherry tomatoes, or shredded lettuce.
• Use a different hot sauce – if you can’t find gochujang, add a few shakes of your favorite hot sauce or another chile paste.
• Make salad vegan – replace the honey with agave nectar for a vegan-friendly salad.

Make Ahead Instructions

Follow these instructions for time-saving make ahead tips.

• Make the vinaigrette – mix up the vinaigrette and store it in the fridge up to 1 week.
• Prep the veggies – cut the cucumber and green onion and store in the fridge up to 3 days. For best results, do not cut the avocado until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
• Marinate salad – once the salad is assembled it stores well in the fridge up to 3 days and actually builds more flavor the longer it sits in the dressing!

This is just one of those summer salads that absolutely NO one will be able to resist! The crunchy cucumbers and silky avocado have an incredible contrast of textures and the spicy gochujang dressing brings all the flavors in for a home run.

Truthfully, we eat this goodness straight from the bowl and you’ll soon see why!

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Watch this salad made step-by-step on Google web stories.

More summer salad favorites to try next!

• Vietnamese Noodle Salad
• Blueberry Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
• Cucumber Ginger Salad