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This 5-ingredient cucumber avocado salad is a healthy keto recipe for a quick lunch or side to BBQ meat. This easy keto salad recipe is also a keto vegetarian recipe perfect for those looking for meat-free recipes on their keto diet.
How to make cucumber avocado salad?
A cucumber avocado salad is one of the easiest salads to make for a quick light lunch or to serve as a side to grilled meat.
All you need to make a simple cucumber salad with avocado are:
- English cucumber – feel free to peel your cucumber if you like, but keeping the cucumber skin adds texture and fiber to your salad.
- Ripe avocado – make sure your avocados are not overripe, with no dark spot on the flesh, or it will add a bitter aftertaste to your salad.
- Cherry tomatoes – cucumber, tomato, and avocado salads are the best! Of course, for fewer carbs, you can skip the tomatoes, but the combination of the three keto vegetables tastes amazing.
- Pine nuts – that the secret ingredients to add a crunchy, nutty flavor to this keto avocado cucumber salad! You can replace it with any seeds or nuts you like, but pine nuts are very low in carbs and add the best taste to this salad.
- Fresh herb of choice – Italian flat parsley or mint or cilantro.
Chop vegetables
Cucumber
First, trim the cucumber ends and chop them into cubes. Feel free to peel the cucumber entirely, halfway or not at, based on your preferences. Place the chopped cucumbers onto a large bowl. Set aside.
Tomatoes
Then, chop the tomatoes in quarters and add them into the mixing bowl with the cucumber cubes.
Avocados
Next, cut the avocados into cubes.
To do so, slice the avocado lengthwise until your knife hits the pit. Remove the knife, rotate both avocado halves clockwise to split. Remove the pit.
Then, using the tip of the knife, draw lines in the avocado flesh to form cubes – see picture below.
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Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh from the avocado. It will form cubes of different sizes that you cut recut into smaller pieces on a chopping board if desired.
Add into the salad bowl.
Serve the salad
Before serving the salad, toast pine nuts and prepare the salad dressing you love choosing one of the low carb keto dressing recipes suggested below.
Toast the pine nuts
Finally, toast the pine nuts in a frying pan with a drizzle of garlic olive oil or no oil at all, both options works. Stir fry for 1-2 minutes until roasted and golden brown.
Stir in the hot pine nuts into the salad just before serving.
Parsley
Finely chop herbs just before serving the salad. If you don’t like flat Italian parsley, you can use other fresh herbs that marry well with avocado and cucumber, like:
Serve the salad immediately with the dressing on the side.
How to store cucumber avocado salad?
You can store this gluten-free keto salad in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day. After that time, the avocado color and texture change.
It gets darker and bitter, so you can’t store this salad much longer.
Can I make ahead my cucumber avocado salad?
Yes, you can make this salad the day before. But, if you are making this cucumber avocado salad ahead, store the chopped vegetables in an airtight container in the fridge, and don’t cut the avocados more than a few hours before serving for best taste and color.
Also, to prevent the avocados from browning too fast, you can squeeze some lemon juice on them.
Which cucumbers to use in the salad?
You can use the three most common cucumber varieties to make cucumber salads, including:
- English cucumber – this variety is long, narrow, seedless, and perfect for cucumber salads.
- Persian cucumber – these cucumbers are smaller and a bit more expensive but taste great in salads.
- American cucumber – this variety often contains more seeds and can be bitter or watery. For salads, it is recommended to core American cucumbers to avoid a watery salad.
How to serve this keto salad?
This keto cucumber avocado salad recipe makes a delicious keto side dish for grilled meat or summer BBQ.
It’s also a delicious and fulfilling keto lunch served with a slice of toasted keto bread.
Other adds-on ingredients
Of course, you can play with flavors and add some more ingredients to this simple cucumber avocado salad recipe, including:
- Red onion – if you are on a strict keto diet, watching your carbs closely, don’t go overboard with red onion. They are on the high-carb side.
- Olives
- Feta cheese
- Goat cheese
- Cheddar
- Bacon bites
Salad dressing for cucumber salad
The best keto-friendly salad dressing options for your avocado cucumber tomato salad are listed below.
You can choose from a creamy ranch dressing or thousand island dressing, which boosts your fat macros if you serve this salad as a complete keto lunch.
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Otherwise, for a light salad dressing, pick a simple Italian vinaigrette or red wine vinaigrette.
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More keto salad recipes
If you love keto salad recipes as a light lunch or side dish, below are some other delicious low-carb salad recipes to try:
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Made this English cucumber avocado salad recipe? Share a comment or review below!
XOXO Carine
Recipe Card
Cucumber Avocado Salad
4.2gNet Carbs
A keto low-carb cucumber avocado salad ready in 15 minutes and that is also vegan-friendly.
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Trim the English cucumber ends. Keep their skin on or peel off if you prefer. Cut cucumber halfway lengthwise, then cut into small cubes. Set aside in a large bowl.
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Cut the cherry tomatoes in quarters. Set aside in the bowl with diced cucumbers.
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Cut avocados in half until you hit the stone. Then, with your hands, rotate both avocado parts to open. Next, remove the stone and, using a sharp knife, cut the flesh into cubes – see my picture above in this post for tips and tricks.
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Slide a spoon under the skin of your avocado to release the cut avocado cubes. Set aside in the mixing bowl.
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Just before serving, fry the pine nuts over medium heat in a non-stick frying pan. You don’t need to add oil, but you can add 1 teaspoon of olive oil if desired. Stir fry for 1 minute until the nuts are hot, roasted, and fragrant.
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Serve the salad immediately with hot pine nuts, freshly chopped herbs, and an Italian dressing or ranch dressing.
Nutrition Facts
Cucumber Avocado Salad
Amount Per Serving (1 serving (1 cup))
Calories 75.8
Calories from Fat 55
% Daily Value*
Fat 6.1g9%
Saturated Fat 0.5g3%
Sodium 9.1mg0%
Potassium 240.8mg7%
Carbohydrates 5.2g2%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 2.3g3%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 523IU10%
Vitamin C 13mg16%
Calcium 21.5mg2%
Iron 1.1mg6%
Magnesium 35.3mg9%
Zinc 0.8mg5%
Net Carbs 4.2g
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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