Cucumbers Give Your Mayo-Based Salads A Fresher Flavor

A well-made potato or pasta salad can steal the show at any barbecue. With their mayo-based dressings and vibrant additions of veggies ranging from tomatoes to celery, their quintessential flavors mark the very best days of summer. But if you've been to one too many barbecues this year and you're getting sick of those creamy salads, try adding cucumber to break up the richness and add a much-needed crunch.

There are plenty of ingredients that never belong in pasta salad, like leafy greens or pre-grated cheese, and this applies to most other mayo-based salads, too. Nobody wants to find a stringy piece of spinach in their salad, but a cucumber is just the opposite, acting as a delightful surprise. If you've ever had a salad with pickles, you're familiar with the satisfying crunch they bring. Pickles are great in some instances, but they can pack too much of a punch when mixed with tons of other spices and flavors. This is why cucumbers often make more sense, as their refreshing flavor adds a nice layer of simplicity to the salad. 

If you're looking to stick to the classics, try adding diced cucumber to a creamy dill potato salad. Cucumber and dill complement each other beautifully, creating a subtle illusion of a pickle without being overly vinegary. For this recipe, it's best to slice your cucumber into 1-inch chunks to create variation in texture and size. For a pasta salad, like this creamy macaroni salad, try swapping out the pickles for cucumbers. For a pasta or macaroni salad, it's best to dice your cucumbers before adding them like you would celery. 

While potato salad and pasta salad are summertime staples, cucumber goes well with other mayo-based salads, like tuna and egg. For a tuna salad, try cutting a cucumber into horizontal slices and then quarters before adding it to the mix. This breaks up all of the flavors and spruces up your tuna salad, creating an exciting combination to add to a sandwich. For an egg salad, try leaving the hard-boiled eggs whole in chunks instead of mashing them, and slice the cucumbers in a similar size. Or, if you'd rather not add cucumber to the salad as a whole, add slices of cucumber to the sandwich itself to see how you like it. Odds are, you'll never go without it again.