This summer has been a delicate blend of heat wave and monsoon. I’ve had to come up with some creative family activities to keep the children (and us grownups!) from going stir crazy.
Thankfully, while the summer heat and humidity has not been good for my desire to leave the comfort of air conditioning, it has been great for our cucumber harvest. I’ve been working on figuring out new ways to use our abundance of cucumbers. This peach cucumber salad is a result of that project.
Peach Cucumber Salad With Basil Vinaigrette
This recipe is a perfect mixture of textures and flavors. With soft and sweet peaches, crisp and cool cucumbers, and a sweet and tangy vinaigrette this is a perfect summer salad. We also have a lot of mint growing in our garden, so sometimes I swap in mint for the basil.
Sometimes I like to add toasted pecans and/or crumbled goat cheese to the top for added crunch or creaminess. Make sure you wait until serving to add them though. They get too soft if they’re left on top of the salad for too long.
This peach cucumber salad is delicious as soon as you make it, but I’ve found that letting it marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours intensifies the flavors and makes it even better!
If you have a cucumber abundance like we do (or can pick some up at a great price while they are in season), give this recipe a try!
More Ways to Use Cucumbers
My super-simple cucumber onion salad is my go-to cucumber recipe, but after having that several times in a week, I wanted to find some new options. Here are some others we tried:
- Cucumber Melon Mint Smoothie – cool, hydrating, and healthy
- Cucumber Lime Veggie Smoothie – so much green power in this delicious smoothie!
- Infused Water with Cucumber
- Cucumber spiral noodles with strawberries and feta
- Lots of delicious Tzatziki Sauce with Greek meatballs
- Dipped into Smoked Salmon Dip and Radish Cream Cheese Dip
Up next… refrigerator pickles!
Peach Cucumber Salad with Basil Vinaigrette Recipe
Ingredients
For the Vinaigrette
- 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar
- 1 lemon (juiced)
- 1 TBSP honey or maple syrup
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 dash pepper
- 6 fresh basil leaves (or 10 mint leaves)
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients for the vinaigrette except the basil or mint and whisk to combine.
- Finely chop the fresh basil or mint and mix into the vinaigrette.
- Cut the peaches into bite-size chunks, discarding the pits.
- Cut the cucumbers in half and slice into ¼ inch slices.
- Place the peaches and cucumbers in a medium sized glass bowl.
- Pour the vinaigrette over the cut peaches and cucumbers and mix well.
- Cover and refrigerate several hours.
- Garnish with pecans and goat cheese before serving if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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What is your favorite cucumber recipe or usage?
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Wonder if I could add feta in place of goat cheese? What other type of cheese would you recommend?
Feta IS goat cheese.
Thank you so much for providing such great information. keep posting .
You say to mix it in a glass bowl. Would a metal bowl work too, or is there a reason to only use glass? I’ve been trying to decide if I should replace my metal mixing bowl set with a glass set.
I tried this tonight as a side for pulled pork. I have an abundance of cucumbers from my garden and fresh peaches from the store, so this was perfect. My combo from above was with basil, honey and lemon. I did add the goat cheese and toasted pecans. My advice is to use just the goat cheese – that creaminess is perfect with the bright and cool flavors. It’s incredibly easy and served as a great compliment to the spiciness and smokiness of the pulled pork I made. Thank you!
Yum! This is a really good recipe. Thank you:)
Wait a minute!!!
I’m surprised to hear that Wellness Mama is “into” air conditioning!
While I’ve personally not researched it, I have just never thought that it was good for a person to be in and out of AC over the course of the day. I know it’s more comfortable… BUT How can a person ever acclimate to the heat/humidity? Personally, it gives me a sore throat and often minor cold like symptoms. I don’t like it at all even tho, yes, it feels good. It feels like it messes with my immune system somehow.
It doesn’t make sense… How can a person eat local, organic, be sustainable, live a non-toxic life as much as possible… Yet use and support air conditioning? It’s an energy hog, expensive, uses weird chemicals in the machine itself… I don’t know. It’s living in a bubble, separate from one’s environment. No one ever had ac before the ac was invented. For the reverse situation, We have always had heat… Fire.
Not trying to poo-poo on anything here, it just bonked me on the head to read that!!! Please don’t get me wrong, I love Wellness Mama and everything you do. I think you totally rock… Just a little shocked is all.
What a delicious idea! I love fresh summer salads!