This zesty and sweet Cucumber Strawberry Salad is light and refreshing and a lovely summer salad. The crispness of cucumber and the juicy sweetness of strawberries create a refreshing base, while the mint adds a freshness.

This salad is incredibly simple to prepare, yet sophisticated enough to impress at any gathering. Whether you’re hosting a backyard barbecue or your book club luncheon, you’ll think this Cucumber Strawberry Salad with Mint and Feta Cheese is the perfect choice.

What You Will Need to Make this Summer Salad

As gorgeous as it is delicious, this dish brings a splash of color to your table with its vibrant red strawberries, cool green cucumbers, and cubes of white feta cheese. It is tossed with a light lemony wine vinaigrette. 

Cucumbers

English cucumbers or smaller Persian cucumbers have a tender skin. They have fewer seeds and aren’t as bitter as the larger cucumbers often are so I like to use them in salads like this where they are one of the stars!

Strawberries

In addition to their beautiful red color and sweet flavor, strawberries are rich in antioxidants and have been shown to reduce the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

The MIND Diet, a diet known to help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease, recommends eating a minimum of 3 servings of these berries a week. I can’t think of a more perfect way to add them to my meals than this gorgeous salad, can you? 

Feta Cheese

The salty bite of feta cheese compliments the sweetness of the strawberries and cucumber. A little goes a long way and since this is a large salad I used a full 6 ounces. You end up with about a ½ ounce per serving which is just enough!  

I like a pure Goat’s milk feta when I can find it. You can use pre-crumbled feta but I found it blended in too much and the larger pieces stood out and gave this salad the salty bite I was looking for. 

Mint

If you are lucky enough to have an herb garden, head right out and trim off a bit of mint for this lovely salad. If not, most grocery stores carry fresh mint today so look for a bunch to bring home.

Please don’t use dried mint from your pantry – you really want (and need!) fresh mint for this salad.  Dried mint just won’t do it justice and you’ll be disappointed 🙁

If you have leftover leaves, add them to ice tea or lemonade, or place a couple of washed leaves in the wells of an ice cube tray, fill them with water, and freeze the tray. Use those cubes in your water, iced tea, or lemonade this summer!

Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is used to make the light vinaigrette for this dressing. Like the strawberries, olive oil is a big part of the MIND diet as well as the Mediterranean diet. I recommend it for most dressings and use it for sauteeing vegetables or fish. A drizzle of good quality extra virgin olive oil on a salad or crostini is amazing! 

White Wine Vinegar

A bit of acid is what the vinegar brings to this dressing. While lemon juice is a component, too much would be overpowering so I like to cut it with a bit of vinegar.

Lemon Juice

Fresh lemon juice adds a ton of flavor to this salad. I tried it originally without it and it just was missing something. The lemon brings out the strawberries’ sweetness and balances the feta cheese’s saltiness.

Honey

You don’t have to add honey, or any other sweetener, to this dressing, but I do add just a touch that helps build up and support the other flavors in the dressing and salad. Without it, it is a bit too tart. You can play with it and try leaving it out but try it with it too to see the difference it makes. 

How to Make it

This salad is simple to pull together. There is a bit of slicing and dicing that takes a little while. And hulling the strawberries! Honestly, it is one of my least favorite kitchen tasks. However, I found a fun trick that makes it so much faster.

If you hate hulling strawberries too, check out my video below on a fun and simple way to get those hulls out! 

Step 1 – Make the Dressing

A classic vinaigrette dressing, this is quick to pull together. 

• Place the oil in a small bowl or measuring cup.
• Add the vinegar, lemon juice, and honey and whisk until it is well combined.
• Stir in some chopped fresh mint and salt and pepper to taste.

Step 2 – Hull and Cut the Strawberries

Removing the stem and bitter inside of a strawberry is one of those things that, well, is just a pain. However, this simple technique makes it faster, and honestly a little bit of fun! And who doesn’t like having fun in the kitchen?

• Wash your berries well.
• Take a metal straw, place it at the bottom tip of the berry, and push it up toward the stem. If you aim right, you’ll remove the core and the stem! You may not get it all but a quick trim with your knife will get the rest. This tip saves a ton of time! 
• Then just cut the berries into bite-size pieces. I like to quarter them, but it depends on their size. For small berries, I might just cut them in half and really large ones, in eighths. 

Step 3 – Cut the Cucumbers

I prefer the flavor of an English Cucumber or a smaller Persian cucumber for this salad. I feel they are less bitter and you don’t have to take time scooping out the seeds. 

However, if you have a regular (American) cucumber, go ahead! You’ll want to scoop out the seeds and you may want to up the honey in the dressing to balance out the bitterness.

• Slice the cucumber in half, lengthwise, and then cut ~ ½ inch pieces. Again, you want this to be easy to eat so make sure the pieces are bite size. 

Step 4 – Dice the Cheese and Chop the Mint

I like using block feta and cutting it into the size chunk I want rather than crumbled feta. I think it holds up better in the salad and doesn’t disappear. 

I also look for either goat’s milk or sheep’s milk feta cheese. A traditional feta cheese is made with sheep’s milk or a blend of goat and sheep’s milk. They have a milder flavor than one made with cow’s milk and aren’t as salty.

So, dice the block of cheese into small, 1/4 – 1/2 inch cubes.

Step 4: Mix the Ingredients and Toss with the Dressing

It is best to mix this right before serving, or an hour or two at the most. The strawberries will become softer and turn a darker shade of red the longer they sit. 

Place the strawberries, cucumbers, feta cheese, and mint in a large bowl and toss them together. If you aren’t serving this salad immediately, hold off on adding the dressing. Cover the berries, cucumbers, and cheese, and place it in the fridge.

Right before serving toss it with the dressing. Season it with some kosher salt and black pepper to taste.

Variations

You can substitute goat cheese for the feta cheese. Goat cheese is delicious with strawberries. You’ll lose some of the “bite” and salty flavor from the feta cheese so you may need to add a little extra salt to balance the flavor.

Adding other berries to this would be fun and add another burst of color.

The recipe as written gives you about a 1/2 ounce of cheese. If you are cutting back on the amount of cheese you eat, you can reduce the amount of feta by half.

Storage Tips

If you have leftovers, wrap them tightly with plastic wrap or store them in a covered glass container. 

The salad will last for 2 – 3 days, but know the strawberries will start losing some color and turn a bit darker and the cheese may start to pick up some of the color from the berries. The salad is fine to eat, it will just lose some of its vibrancy!

This will not freeze well so it’s best to enjoy it the day you make it!

Other Recipes You Will Love

If you love strawberries, here are a few other recipes I think you’ll love!

Strawberry Gazpacho – just like the tomato version but made with strawberries. It’s a light and delicious summer soup!

Strawberry Balsamic Crostini – These are a bright and colorful appetizer. They will dress up any charcuterie board!

Strawberry Simple Syrup – Add a teaspoon or two of this to your afternoon iced tea or drizzle it over vanilla ice cream!