Need some cucumber inspiration? Try Japanese Cucumber Salad (Sunomono) 4 ways! Marinated in vinegar, sugar, salt, and soy sauce, this sweet & sour cucumber salad makes a perfect side dish. It’s light, healthy, and incredibly refreshing!
When cucumbers are at their peak in gardens and markets, we often find a few lingering around at the kitchen counter. If you are in need of some cucumber inspiration today, I hope you try this refreshing Japanese Cucumber Salad called Sunomono (酢の物). This is one of the most popular appetizers at the dinner tables in Japan, and it’s simple and very easy to prepare in a short time.
What is Sunomono?
Sunomono refers to vinegar-based dishes, and they are commonly served as a side dish to the main meal. ”Su (酢)” means vinegar in Japanese. These light refreshing vinegar salads are a great start to any meal as the sourness from the vinegar helps whet your appetite.
When we mention “Sunomono (酢の物)”, it typically refers to Japanese cucumber salad. During the heat of summer and our bodies naturally gravitate towards ‘cooling’ food, this cucumber salad makes a wonderful seasonal side dish especially for grilled fish or meat. Besides the fact that it’s so easy to whip up, the salad is tangy, crunchy and its health benefits are good enough reasons to enjoy on a weekly basis.
Watch How to Make Japanese Cucumber Salad (Sunomono)
Need some cucumber inspiration? Try Sunomono or Japanese Cucumber Salad 4 ways! Marinated in vinegar, sugar, salt and soy sauce, this sweet & sour cucumber salad makes a perfect side dish.
Variations for Japanese Cucumber Salad (Sunomono)
We have a large variety of appetizers using vinegar and cucumber. Here are some examples:
- Tako Su (Octopus Salad)
- Japanese Cucumber Salad with Crab
- Spiralized Cucumber Salad with Sesame Dressing
Today I’m making 4 variations with this recipe.
- Classic (cucumber and wakame seaweed)
- Cucumber salad with crab (I am allergic to crab, so I use imitation crab meat)
- Cucumber salad with boiled octopus (you can get “octopus sashimi” in the Japanese grocery store)
- Cucumber salad with boiled salted baby anchovies
3 Tips to Make Delicious Japanese Cucumber Salad
1. Pick the right kind of cucumber
There are a lot of different kinds of cucumbers out there, but I like using Japanese cucumbers for their crunchiness and seedless texture. If you couldn’t find Japanese cucumber, you can use English or Persian cucumbers, but I don’t recommend regular (American) cucumbers as they have big seeds, higher moisture content, and thick skin.
2. Salt the cucumber
For this salad recipe, salting the cucumber is an important step. It helps to remove excess liquid from the cucumber, which in turn yields a great crunch for the salad.
3. Add layers to cucumber salad
I often add in wakame seaweed to cucumber salad for another layer of texture and for its beneficial nutrients. To top it off, you can garnish with toasted sesame seeds to give the salad extra fragrance and crunch. Of course, you’re always welcome to toss in other ingredients to the classic sunomono recipe, for additional color, nutrients, and textures.
Dressed in nothing more but a simple combination of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and soy sauce, the flavor of Sunomono is the perfect balance of sweet and sour.
Itadakimasu!
Hope you enjoy making all four variations! If you want to check out other Japanese side dish recipes, read 15 Easy Japanese Side Dish Recipes.
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Japanese Cucumber Salad (Sunomono)
Video
Ingredients
- 2 Persian/Japanese cucumbers
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- 1 Tbsp dried wakame seaweed (2 g; it will be 20-30 g after rehydrated)
- ½ Tbsp toasted white sesame seeds
Seasoning
- 4 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (I use Diamond Crystal; use half for table salt)
- ½ tsp soy sauce (use GF soy sauce for gluten free)
To Make Variations (each ingredient is added to the recipe above)
- 4 pieces imitation crab meat (kanikama) (or real crab meat; skip for vegan/vegetarian)
- 2 oz octopus sashimi (boiled octopus) (skip for Vegetarian/Vegan)
- 2 Tbsp shirasu (boiled salted baby anchovies) (skip for Vegetarian/Vegan)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients.
Make the Seasonings
- In a bowl, combine 4 Tbsp rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp granulated sugar, ½ tsp kosher salt, and ½ tsp soy sauce. Whisk well together. If the vinegar taste is too strong, you can dilute with a very small amount of dashi (or water).
Make Sunomono
- Soak 1 Tbsp dried wakame seaweed in water and let it rehydrate for 10 minutes.
- Peel the cucumbers’ skin alternately to create stripes. Then slice them thinly into rounds.
- Sprinkle ½ tsp kosher salt and gently rub them against each other. Set aside for 5 minutes. Salt helps drawing liquid from cucumber (so that the liquid from cucumber will not be released after mixing with seasoning).
- Squeeze water out from wakame seaweed and cucumber. Add them into the bowl with seasoning and toss all together.
Variation 1 - Classic:
- Serve in individual bowls or a large serving bowl.
Variation 2 – with Imitation Crab:
- Cut 4 sticks of imitation crab into thirds and combine with cucumber and wakame seaweed mixture (from Step 4).
Variation 3 – with Boiled Octopus:
- Slice the octopus thinly and combine with cucumber and wakame seaweed mixture (from Step 4).
Variation 4 – with Boiled Salted Baby Anchovies (shirasu):
- Combine shirasu with cucumber and wakame seaweed mixture (from Step 4).
To serve ＆ Store
- Serve the salad in individual bowls or a large serving bowl. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top and it's ready to serve. Enjoy!
To Store
- To store, keep in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 3-5 days (depending on ingredients) or in the freezer for 3-4 weeks.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 23, 2012. The post has been updated in July, 2018 with a video and newly updated images.
I used less than half the amount of sauce and slightly less sugar and they turned out great! I love all of JOC’s recipes.
Hi Christie! Thank you very much for trying JOC’s recipes and sharing your experience with us.
Happy Cooking!
A warm weather must-have! I love your variations. Mine is un-Japanesey, but I use the mandoline to slice fresh jalapeño pepper, then mix it into the cucumber. The slight peppery heat tastes great with the sweet and sour dressing.
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you very much for your kind feedback and for sharing your variations!
It sounds yummy!🤩
Delicious! I used home grown Japanese cucumbers. This is the second time I’ve made this.
Hi Leonard, Wow!🤩Home-grown cucumbers! It must be tasty!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
I found this recipe way too sweet, sorry.
Hi Joe, Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your feedback!
We hope you can adjust the sugar amount for your liking and enjoy the Sunomono.🙂
Love this recipe! Any issues with just rehydrating the wakame with the mixed seasoning to eliminate a step?
Hi Kody,
If you do, The color of the wakame will change and will take more longer to rehydrate.
If you want to rehydrate faster, you may use warm water. It will take only 2~3 minutes to rehydrate.
We hope this helps!
I typed this question as I was doing it, thinking I was being smart but you’re absolutely correct. It was taking forever to rehydrate with the salty vinegar solution. SCIENCE!
Hi Kody! Yes! The science behind the cooking! It’s fun!😁
How can saltiness be reduced after dish is made? I may have not measured correctly.
Hi Mitzi,
We recommend adding more sliced cucumbers or wakame and mix it well.
I hope this is helpful.🙂
I used this to make a salad with under ripe watermelon. It tastes like cucumber with just a hint of watermelon flavour and I didn’t want to waste a whole melon that I grew. It came out wonderful and I think this is what I’ll do from now on if my melon doesn’t ripen.
Hi Sebastian!
Wow! Thank you for sharing your cooking experience with us! That sounds yummy! My mom in Japan uses watermelon skin (white part) to make salad or pickles as well! Yes! we don’t want to waste any food!
Can I use nori if I don’t have wakame? Thanks.
Hi Heidi! Unfortunately, can’t substitute it. Nori when wet becomes soft and disintegrate, so the whole dish may become black… each type of seaweeds is quite different (even though English is just “seaweed”). Just like you can’t use wakame to make sushi roll. Texture and taste are completely different. 🙂
Tried this recipe and I’m so addicted to it! Thank you. I’ve been reading a lot of manga that is related to Japanese cooking hope you can recreate them just like what you did with “midnight diner”.
These are the mangas which I have been enjoying:
1. Tonari wa nani o kuu hito (there’s a sequel too)
2. Misoshiru ni kanpai
Hi Delie! Thanks so much for trying this recipe. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it. I don’t read the manga anymore so I am not familiar with these two. I’ll look into it. 🙂
Your recipes are excellent although I have not tried making them. I am in the process of gathering the ingredients then I will venture on making one recipe at a time. Do you have recipe for seaweed salad?
Thank you for your wonderful, healthy and step-by-step guide, very helpful for someone who is new to Japanese culinary. What a treat.
Hi Peia! Thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy cooking Japanese food at home! Regarding the “Seaweed Salad” that I think you’re probably referring to, I have a post/recipe on the seaweed salad (in Japan).
https://www.justonecookbook.com/seaweed-salad-recipe/
Thank you for the great recipe! I made some substitutions based on what I had on hand, and wrote about my experience on my own blog (and linked to yours, of course). I’ve made a few of your other recipes and have really enjoyed them 🙂
Hi Denise! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and sharing the link! It looks delicious! I’m glad you liked this recipe (and other ones too) and thank you for taking the time to write a comment!! xo
Love the sauce/seasoning. I see why you squeeze out the liquid. It not only costs but absorbs into the cucumber and wakame. 🥰 It brings out the flavor of the sauce and the food. Thanks!
Hi Laili! Thank you for trying this recipe. Glad to hear you liked it. 🙂 Thank you for your kind feedback. xo
I didn’t read all the comments but I saw you mention about regular American cucumbers in the post itself. What many restaurants do who use American cucumbers are cut in half length-wise and scoop out the innards/seeds to decrease the moisture/water-issue, and then cut like normal.
We do the same thing when we make pickled cucumbers. Prevents too much liquid from coming out and it’s still yummy. 😊
Hi Laili! Yes, that’s definitely a trick you can use if you other types of cucumbers are not available. Thank you for sharing!
The American cucumber has a very thick and hard skin, while Persian or English cucumber has a very thin skin that is very similar to Japanese cucumber. So I still like to recommend English or Persian cucumber if there are those choices. 🙂
Just here to say delicious recipe! I made it this week. I have a bottle of store-bought sunomono dressing from the Asian market but yours is much better. 😀
I used cucumber and octupus. It was very crisp and tangy and light, a perfect counter to rich creamy oyakodon. I used the leftovers along with bulgogi. <3
Hi Lion! I’m so happy you enjoyed this recipe. I can imagine your delicious meal… Thank you very much for your kind feedback. 🙂
Love them!!!
Thank you Gammy!
How long can this last in the fridge, or should it all be eaten in one sitting?
Hi Justin! It varies on the ingredients you use, but 3-5 days should be okay in the fridge. 🙂
I made these tonight and could not stop eating them. They were SO good and so very easy! Thanks for the recipe Nami. 🙂
Hi Vicky! I’m so glad to hear that! Thanks so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. 🙂
This was way too sweet for me, so next time I’ll add less sugar. Loved it though, thanks for the recipe!
I also found this very sweet, and will reduce sugar next time. I love sunomono wiith sake! 🙂
Hi Rachael and Lord Sakana! Thank you for your feedback. Hope next one will turn out to be perfect. 🙂
Thanks for this beautiful recipe. The whole family liked it. I’ll definitely try out different variations soon. And since this is my first comment but this site has been my go-to-cook-book in all my endeavors of cooking Japanese for some time now, please let me add what the most astonishingly thing about it is: all the recipes work out at first try. This is really something and thanks to the tipps you add in. I could go on and rave about this site but I’ll keep recommending it to friends instead. Thank you very much.
Hi Sandra! Thank you so much for your kind words and I’m so happy your family enjoyed this recipe. I’m also glad to hear that you use my site to cook Japanese food too! Thank you for sharing my site with your friends. It means SO MUCH to us. Thank you thank you!!! xoxo
Hi T! The vermicelli noodles sometimes included in this salad is called Harusame. I have the preparation in this post, and you can use it to add this recipe but I’d increase the dressing slightly since the noodles will absorb some. 🙂
Made it so often. it’s just Perfect!
Hi Bianca! Thank you for your kind feedback!