Mom's Cucumbers and Onions Recipe - These Old Cookbooks (2024)

July 18, 2019March 18, 2023

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Mom’s Cucumbers and Onions is an old fashioned recipe featuring garden vegetables. The ingredients are simple – cucumbers, onions, salt, vinegar, sugar, celery seed and black pepper, but the finished result is the perfect accompaniment to any summer meal.

Mom’s Cucumbers and Onions Salad Recipe

Mom served vinegar cucumbers and onions at almost every summer lunch growing up on our farm. It’s one of those dishes that you really didn’t appreciate as a kid but you grow to love as you get older.

It had been a while since I’d made up a batch, so I texted mom to get a brush up. Her answer is classic, and I’m sure you’ve all received a recipe that resembled this in your day.

Here is her recipe word for word. “Slice cucumbers and onions in a bowl. Cover with water. Add salt. Mix. Let sit an hour or so. Drain. Add sugar, white vinegar, pepper and a little celery seed.”

No exact amounts of any ingredient, because honestly, she had never measured a thing when making this salad. It’s just a little bit or this and a little bit of that until the right taste was achieved. Many times, it’s for just this reason that recipes are lost over generations since they really aren’t ever written down.

Vinegar Cucumber Salad Ingredients:

• Cucumbers, peeled and sliced
• Onion, sliced thin
• Salt
• Water
• White Vinegar
• Sugar
• Black pepper, optional
• Celery seed, optional

See Also

Gluten Free Stir Fry Sauce Recipe (Paleo, Gluten Free, Keto)Old School Cafeteria Pizza RecipeBlueberry Buckle RecipeLoaded Veggie Salad Recipe

How To Make Old Fashioned Cucumbers and Onions in Vinegar:

For the full cucumber and onion salad recipe and ingredient amounts, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

Step By Step Instructions

1. Peel and slice cucumbers.
2. Add onions and salt in a large bowl, and cover with water for approximately 30 minutes.
3. Drain off the water.
4. Add sugar, vinegar, celery seed and pepper.
5. Let marinate before eating.

Storage Instructions

Store in an airtight container such as a glass bowl or jar or cover tightly with plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Recipe FAQs

• This is truly an old fashioned cucumber and onion salad in vinegar. Back in the day, you would find this on countless tables during the summer along side a full meal.
• The exact measurements of cucumbers and onions are truly varied.Most Moms and Grandma’s added a little bit of this and a little bit of that.
• If you prefer a tangier version, reduce the amount of sugar.
• Cucumber and onion salad gets better as it sits in the refrigerator because it becomes pickled cucumbers and onions.
• Keep adding to the bowl with additional cucumbers and onions as you pick them from the garden. You may have to keep adding the rest of the ingredients little by little too.
• Salting the cucumbers and onions helps remove excess water. Many versions of cucumbers and onions in vinegar skip this step, but it’s one that my mom always does, and so do I.
• If you like garden veggies pickled, try our Grandma’s small batch pickled beets!
• Looking for some more recipes to use up garden bounty? Try Kentucky Southern Squash Casserole, Sweet and Sour Coleslaw, Fresh Broccoli Casserole, Peach Batter Cake or this whole post on Garden Fresh Veggie Recipes.

Recipe Variations

• Try different vinegars such as rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Add herbs such as fresh dill.
• Different types of onions such as red onion or sweet onions taste great.
• Slice up tomatoes to add to the cucumber onion salad.

Old Fashioned Cucumber Recipes

Simple Sour Cream Cucumbers

Tomato Cucumber Salad with Dill Dressing

Soy Cucumber Salad

Easy Refrigerator Dill Pickles from Beyer Beware

Creamy Cucumber Salad from Southern Bite

What is good to eat with cucumbers?

Here are our top five entrees to serve along cucumber salad.

1. Marinated Grilled Steak
2. Old Fashioned Salmon Patties
3. Grilled Pork Shoulder Steak
4. Old Fashioned Bologna Salad
5. Cheeseburger Quiche

This post is sponsored by theGlass Barn, Indiana Soybean and Corn Farmers but all thoughts and opinions are our own.