How To Drain Cucumbers For Salads and Dips

No watery cucumbers here! Learn how to drain cucumbers for salads and more so that your recipes turn out perfect.

If you’ve ever made a cucumber salad or side dish that ended up watery and disappointing, don’t worry. These tips are going to help you out so you get delicious results with your cucumber recipes. 

Video: Draining Cucumbers

Why Do Cucumbers Need Draining?

Did you know that cucumbers are 96% water? That’s even more than watermelon. It makes them super refreshing, but sometimes all that liquid can interfere with the end result of your recipe. So there’s a couple things you can do to avoid a watery mess and keep the great flavor.

How To Drain Cucumbers For Salad

If you’re making a cucumber salad and planning on eating it immediately, you don’t necessarily need to drain the excess water. But if you’re preparing it in advance, like to make for a picnic or cookout, you’ll want to add this step.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and you’ll see the little seeds in the middle. There’s a lot of liquid concentrated there. Use a spoon to easily scrape out those seeds and remove the mushy part of the cucumber.

Then you can slice or dice your cucumber as proceed with your recipe. So easy and takes almost no time at all.

You can use these cucumber slices for this classic Creamy Cucumber Salad with lots of fresh dill, and also for the Creamy Cucumber Salad with Mint. It’s also a great thing to do if prepping cucumbers ahead for dinners like this Salmon Poke Bowl or for this Crispy Chicken Salad.

How To Drain Cucumbers For Tzatziki

Now, for my tzatziki recipe, I actually do something different since I like shredded cucumber for this sauce so it mixes nicely with the Greek yogurt.

Go ahead and shred your cucumber. I usually use a box grater and don’t worry about peeling it first. Then arrange the shredded cucumber on paper towels, three sheets is usually the perfect amount. Spread the cucumber out and then roll the paper towel like a jelly roll.

Then you want to hold it over the sink and give it a good squeeze all over. The paper towels will absorb a lot, but it normally drips some liquid into the sink as well. Then, unroll and use your fingers or a spoon to scrape the cucumber into your bowl or dish to continue mixing up your tzatziki.

Using Salt To Drain Cucumbers

If you want to get even more water out of the cucumbers you removed the seeds from (or if you want whole slices and didn’t de-seed) then you can use salt and a colander to help pull the excess moisture out. This method does add a little to your prep time, but it’s worth it.

Put the cucumber slices into a colander and sprinkle with salt. If you’re using a lot of cucumbers, add them in layers and salt each layer. Put the colander in the sink or over a bowl to collect the liquid. Let them sit for about half an hour, pat them dry, and then continue with your recipe.

Using A Slotted Spoon (For Marinated Cucumbers)

There are some cucumber salad recipes that I consider to be marinated cucumbers. These are sliced cucumbers in a vinegar-based liquid. When I make those kinds of salads, I don’t do anything to drain the cucumbers of liquid before mixing them with other ingredients. Instead, I find that some water comes out of the cucumbers into the marinade liquid while some of the marinade is getting soaked up into the cucumbers. Then, when it comes time to serve the cucumbers, I use a slotted spoon to transfer the cucumbers to a serving bowl. That leaves much of the liquid behind, and is therefore a third way to drain cucumbers of their water. You can see an example of this kind of cucumber salad, where the cucumbers are marinated and then served with a slotted spoon, in this Cucumber Onion Salad Recipe.

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