Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad Recipe and Ingredients

Din Tai Fung’s cucumber salad is Persian cucumbers salted to draw out moisture, rinsed and dried, then marinated for at least five hours in rice vinegar, sesame oil, mirin, sugar and grated garlic, and served cold with chilli oil. The salting is what makes it, and it is the step most copycat versions skip. This is the method, the ratios and the timing.

What makes the Din Tai Fung version different

Most home cucumber salads go soft within the hour. Theirs does not, and it is not the dressing that saves it. It is the salt.

Sliced cucumber is mostly water. Left alone in a dressing, that water leaks out, dilutes everything you made, and you end up with pale cucumber sitting in a puddle. Salting first pulls the water out on purpose, before the dressing goes anywhere near it. Rinse the salt off, dry the slices properly, and what is left will hold its snap for two days.

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The second thing is time. This is a marinated salad, not a tossed one. Five hours is the floor, overnight is better, and it is genuinely worth making the day before.

The third is restraint. Rice vinegar, sesame oil, mirin, sugar, garlic, salt. That is the whole dressing. There is no soy sauce in it, which surprises people, and adding some will bury the cucumber rather than help it.

Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Salting time: 30 minutes
• Marinating time: 5 hours
• Total time: 5 hours 40 minutes
• Serves: 6 as a side
• Cooking: none, it is a no-cook recipe

Ingredients

For the cucumbers

• 8 Persian or English cucumbers, sliced into ½-inch rounds
• 1½ tablespoons kosher salt

For the dressing

• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1½ tablespoons mirin
• 1½ tablespoons sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, grated
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

For serving

• ½ tablespoon chilli oil, adjust to taste
• ½ tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 Fresno chilli, minced, optional

Instructions

1. Salt the cucumbers. Slice into ½-inch rounds, put them in a bowl, sprinkle over the kosher salt and toss. Refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes. You will see water pooling in the bottom of the bowl, which is the point.
2. Rinse and dry. Rinse thoroughly under cold water to get the salt off, then pat every slice dry with a clean tea towel or paper towel. Do not rush this. Wet cucumber will water down the dressing and undo the salting.
3. Make the dressing. Whisk the rice vinegar, sugar, mirin, sesame oil, grated garlic and salt together in a small bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
4. Marinate. Add the dry cucumber to the dressing and toss so every slice is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, or up to 2 days. Overnight is the sweet spot.
5. Serve cold. Taste and add a little more salt if it needs it. Drizzle with chilli oil and sesame oil, scatter over the minced Fresno chilli if you are using it, and serve straight from the fridge.

Tips

• Grate the garlic rather than mincing it. It disperses through the dressing instead of sitting in bits on individual slices.
• Persian cucumbers are the closest to what the restaurant uses. English work well. Standard field cucumbers have more seeds and thicker skin, so scrape the seeds out and expect a softer result.
• If it tastes flat after marinating, it is almost always salt rather than vinegar. Add a pinch and taste again before reaching for more acid.
• Make it the day before. It genuinely improves, and it takes a job off the list.

What to serve it with

It is designed to sit next to something rich and cut through it, which is why it works so well against dumplings.

• Dumplings or bao, the obvious pairing and the one it was built for
• Anything fried, where the acid does the work a squeeze of lemon would
• A noodle bowl that needs something cold and sharp on the side
• Vegan pea salad if you want a second cold side that goes the other way, creamy instead of sharp
• Air fryer cucumber fritters for the other half of the cucumbers, since you rarely use all eight

Storing and making ahead

Keep it in an airtight container in the fridge, in its dressing, for up to 2 days. The texture is best on day one and day two, and by day three the slices start to give.

Do not freeze it. Cucumber turns to mush on thawing and there is no way back from that.

If you are making it for a gathering, make it the night before and hold the chilli oil until you serve. The oil separates and dulls if it sits in the fridge overnight, and it looks much better added at the last minute.

Frequently Asked Questions

What kind of vinegar does Din Tai Fung use?

Rice vinegar. It is milder and slightly sweeter than white or apple cider vinegar, which is why it sits behind the garlic and sesame rather than shouting over them. If you only have white vinegar, cut it with a little water and add a touch more sugar, though it will not be the same.

How do you make cucumber salad not watery?

Salt the sliced cucumber and leave it 20 to 30 minutes before it goes anywhere near the dressing, then rinse the salt off and dry the slices properly. That pulls the water out ahead of time instead of letting it leak into your dressing later. Drying is the step people skip and it matters as much as the salting.

How long does Din Tai Fung cucumber salad need to marinate?

At least 5 hours, and up to 2 days. Under 5 hours the dressing sits on the outside rather than going through the slices, so it tastes sharp instead of rounded. Overnight is where most people land.

Do you peel cucumbers for salad?

Not for this one. Persian and English cucumbers have thin, tender skin that holds the slice together and adds to the crunch. If you are using standard field cucumbers, the skin is thicker and a bit bitter, so peel those and scoop out the seeds.

Is there soy sauce in Din Tai Fung cucumber salad?

No. The dressing is rice vinegar, sesame oil, mirin, sugar, garlic and salt. Soy sauce is the most common addition people make to copycat versions and it changes the dish, darkening the colour and covering the cucumber rather than lifting it.

Can I make it without sugar?

You can, but it will taste sharper and less like the original. The sugar is there to balance the vinegar rather than to sweeten the salad. If you would rather not use granulated sugar, mirin already brings some sweetness, so try a little more of that first.

How many carbs and calories are in a cucumber salad?

It depends almost entirely on how much sugar, oil and chilli oil ends up in the bowl, and on your portion. Cucumber itself contributes very little either way. If you need exact figures, run your own quantities through a nutrition calculator, because brands and serving sizes vary too much for a printed number to be useful.

Is this recipe vegan?

Yes. Every ingredient is plant-based. Check the label on your mirin and chilli oil if you are cooking for someone strict, as a few brands add fish-derived flavourings or honey.

Why is my cucumber salad soft?

Almost always one of three things: the cucumbers were not salted first, they were not dried properly after rinsing, or they have been in the fridge past the two-day mark. Slicing too thin does it too, so keep to a solid ½-inch round.

The short version

Salt, rinse, dry, marinate overnight, serve cold with chilli oil. The salting is the whole trick and the waiting is the rest of it.

If cucumber is having a moment in your kitchen, the air fryer cucumber fritters use up what is left. And if the pull towards a snack at the same time every afternoon is the more interesting question, that is the other half of this site.

• Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad
• How to make Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad