Spiralized Tzatziki Cucumber Salad

Last weekend, my friends Deb and Matt had us over for a Huskers watching party!  When the weather gets cooler and football season begins, it gives us yet another reason to get together… and who doesn’t love watching the Huskers play while sitting outside on their fabulous patio?  Such a great night!

I always try to bring something on the healthier side to bashes like this.  And, actually, unless it’s dessert, I really don’t make anything that I don’t consider to be healthy.  The group as a whole tends to be very pro-cucumber, so I knew this would be a hit… and an excuse to get out that new spiralizer of mine (still in love, y’all!)

This salad comes together quite quickly, with the help of a good spiralizer (this is the one I bought)… I even spiralized the red onions, just to see what would happen.  I think it made the dish even more perfect.  I call it my “tzatziki” salad because it tastes like that crazy good Greek cucumber sauce you get with gyros… you know, the one you want to eat with a spoon?  Well, grab a fork, this salad will fix your craving… 

Spiralized Tzatziki Cucumber Salad

Adapted from First Home Life Love

Makes 5 cups

INGREDIENTS

2 English cucumbers + 1 regular cucumber

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup light sour cream

1/4 cup fresh dill, minced

3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

2-3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1 tsp. sugar, salt and fresh black pepper (more to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Peel your cucumbers and cut them in half to prepare them to be spiralized.  If you don’t have a spiralizer, you can always simply thinly slice by hand or with a mandolin.

2.  Use the blade that creates noodle-like cuts, and spiralize your cucumbers, catching them in a large bowl.

3. Use the same blade to cut your onion, and great ready to see pretty pretty spirals…

4.  Place the onion and cucumber spirals in a large bowl.  Toss them, and break them up every once in a while (so as to make sure that it’s not just one big cucumber noodle.)

5.  In a medium bowl, make your sauce.  Mix to combine the sour cream, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and dill.  Whisk until combined well.  Note:  I added the full 1/4 cup dill, but tested it along the way… for some reason, I was nervous about all that fresh dill.  It was amazing in the end, don’t be afraid! 

6.  Add the dressing to the vegetables.  Note:  Do not mix the veggies and dressing more than 1 hour before you want to serve it.  Also, the dressing will thin out significantly due to the cucumbers having such a high water content.  You’ll have tons of dressing leftover, but it’s all good… I actually saved it and added it to another batch of cucumbers for a second round of salad!

7.  Refrigerate until you’re ready to serve (no more than 1 hour for best results.)  Note:  I ate the leftovers the next day and they were completely soupy and marinated and tasted amazing!