This fresh-tasting Cucumber Salsa is quick and easy to make, and it goes perfectly with chips and fish tacos!
It’s Mystery Dish time again! If this is new to you, once a month one blogger chooses a list of ingredients, and a group of us creates a recipe using a certain number of ingredients from the list.
This month’s host is The Pajama Chef, and she put together this super fun list: Coffee (grounds or brewed), sour cream, farro, almonds, cherries, watermelon, cantaloupe, jicama, cucumber, tomatoes, infused or flavored olive oil, fresh herbs (any kind), cornmeal, and hot peppers (any kind).
Last month I had a hard time coming up with three ingredients to use together. This time around, I had too many ideas! With so many tasty fruits, vegetables, and versatile ingredients, the possibilities were endless. I decided on this tasty cucumber salsa, and I actually have a cocktail recipe coming up next week that I almost used in its place.
This cucumber salsa recipe uses four ingredients from the Mystery Dish list: Cucumber, tomatoes, herbs (cilantro), and hot peppers (jalapeño). I have actually been wanting to bring you a food processor salsa recipe since I got my Ninja recently. It is so dang easy to make salsa in that thing! It seriously takes about five minutes, and it’s cheaper, fresher, and better than store-bought salsa. (It’s funny that my first Mystery Dish post was all about not having a food processor, and look at me now!)
I liked the idea of cucumber salsa, but I was a tad nervous to taste it for fear that it would taste like, well, cucumbers. You know what it tastes like? Good! You don’t exactly taste cucumber, but it just tastes very crisp and fresh. I usually think fresh cilantro brightens up salsa, and the cucumber enhanced that. We got busy gobbling this down with chips as soon as it was done, but we restrained ourselves to save some for fish tacos for dinner.
For these salmon tacos, I just sprinkled the salmon with Cajun seasoning and browned it on both sides until it was medium rare. Then I arranged the fish in tortillas (gluten-free corn tortillas in my case), topped it with fresh cucumber salsa, and crumbled queso fresco on top.
What would you make using this ingredient list? Let me know in the comments!
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Servings |
-3
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- 1/2 English cucumber cut in half lengthwise and seeded
- 1 large tomato quartered and seeded (or substitute 2 roma tomatoes)
- 1 jalapeño ribs and seeds removed
- 2 cloves garlic minced or crushed
- 2 tablespoons cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Ingredients
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Rate this recipe!
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- Place all ingredients into a food processor, and pulse until evenly chopped. Add additional lime juice or salt to taste.
- Serve over tacos or with chips for dipping.
Using a food processor makes this recipe very fast, but of course you can dice all the ingredients by hand if you prefer.
You’ll also love this grilled pork with lemon avocado salad!
Elisa carlin says
This is fabulous! Is there a way to can this? How long will it last in frig.?
Connie Kreutzer says
I canned it last year. Turned out great! Processed for 10 minutes. Heated ingredients to a boil ,then simmered for 10 minutes first.
Melissa says
I was in Mexico in April, and after an excursion, a woman was out making fresh salsa for everyone. I had a bite and fell in love. Something about this fresh Mexican salsa was different from any I’d ever had. I took a close look and realized there were cucumbers in it. I made a mental note of the ingredients and when I got home Googled “Mexican cucumber salsa” I looked through what I found and your recipe seemed to match exactly what I saw. I made it and this is spot on! It took me right back! Thank you so much for sharing this. The proportions are perfect. The only thing I add is some green and red onion!
Tracy says
I am also wondering if you can can this salsa?
tonya says
can you put it in a mason jar to preserve it or does it have to be eaten right away
Ozziemama says
Super yum! Found this recipe on Pinterest while I was looking for more ways to use my steady crop of cucumbers. Absolutely delicious and so fast to,prepare in the food processor. Will be making a lot of this over the summer. Thanks for the recipe.
Ashley says
Is there a particular way to get involved with this mystery dish club? I’m a small health/fitness blog but I’m trying really hard to grow! I have such a passion for cooking and creating my own healty recipes – this sounds like such a fun thing to do!
Andi - The Weary Chef says
Hi, Ashley! I think this particular group has ended. I’m not sure because I only participated for a few months. I would suggest teaming up with some other bloggers in your niche and starting your own! Do you have connections with other bloggers through Facebook groups or anything like that?
Ashley says
I do participate in some Facebook groups. I don’t really think I could start my own though because my readership is still low and i pro ably wouldn’t get a large response when it comes to making the ingredient list.
Andi - The Weary Chef says
Don’t sell yourself short! You could pick five blogging friends and rotate making up the ingredient list. It’s a fun way to work together and promote each other to your own audiences. Email me if you want more details/advice on how to set it up. You can contact me directly through the link in my header. Take care!
Ashley says
Thanks for the advice! I think I’ll give it a try! :)
Emily {Rainbow Delicious} says
I have so many cucumbers from my garden and I am running out of creative ways to eat the, so this recipe is perfect timing for me!
Andi says
Thank you, Emily! I think you will really like this one.
Sandie says
Did you can them??
Shanice says
Great recipe. I would love it if you joined and contribute your awesome posts at my link party at City of Creative Dreams, starts on Fridays :D Hope to see you there at City of Creative Dreams Link Party.
Andi says
Thank you, Shanice! I’ll check it out.
[email protected] says
Wow!! I would have never thought to use cucumbers but sounds yummy!! Stopping by from Create, Link Inspire Tuesday….Now I have another idea for all of my garden cucumbers!!
Andi says
Thank you so much for coming over, Elaine! You’d be surprised how well the cucumbers go with the salsa. I hope you get a chance to try it!
Annie @Maebells says
Um, yum!! I love cucumbers! I have never seen it in a salsa before though, this sounds delicious!! We do “Taco Tuesdays” around here, this will be a great addition!
Andi says
Thank you, Annie! We eat Mexican at least once a week too but don’t have anything as official as Taco Tuesdays. We should! We used to call Fridays “Nacho Night,” and then it turned into “Fiesta Night” when I started branching out instead of always making nachos. Now any night with Mexican food (and margaritas!) is called Fiesta Night :)
Meriem @ Culinary Couture says
I looove cucumbers! I wanna put this on everything!
Andi says
I think you should, Meriem! ;) Thank you!
Kathleen R. says
I’ve never put cucumbers in salsa but it sounds so yummy! :)
Andi says
Hi, Kathleen! I was half excited and half worried to try it, but it was really delicious. Thanks for stopping by :)
Karen @ The Food Charlatan says
I set out some salmon to thaw for dinner and was going to do some lame gingery soy sauce thing. But now I’m TOTALLY making those tacos! All I’m missing are the peppers. nothing a little chipotle powder can’t fix (because I already did the grocery store today and will probably die if I have to go back. :) So excited!
Andi says
I’m so happy you tried it, Karen! Maybe we’ll never go back to salsa without cucumber again ;)
Jennifer says
This looks great. I love fish tacos but I’ve never thought of making cucumber salsa before and I have so many cucumbers this time of year. Thanks for posting.
Andi says
Thanks, Jennifer! I would definitely give this recipe a try to use up some of your cucumbers. I’ll be making it again for sure.