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Daikon Radish Cucumber Salad

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This daikon radish salad with cucumbers is a bright and flavorful side dish. It has a zesty sesame and rice wine vinegar dressing.

You can use either purple or white daikon radishes for this salad - they both taste great but the purple has a bit more of a colorful pop!

A bowl of sliced purple daikon radishes and English cucumber, topped with a sesame dressing.

Why You'll Love this Daikon Recipe

This crisp and bright salad has a kicky dressing. It's a perfect side dish for noodles, steak, or a spicy soup. I enjoy eating a large portion of this salad for lunch - it's so refreshing.

This side salad recipe serves 6, but if you'd like to make it for lunch, it will comfortably serve 2 people.

An English cucumber, two purple daikon radishes, a bowl of sesame oil, a bowl of rice wine vinegar, and a ramekin with sesame seeds and spices.

Ingredients for this Radish Salad

Daikon Radish - You'll need two daikon radishes for this recipe. You can use either purple, pink, red, or (the most common type) white daikon. Daikon radishes have a thin outer skin that's edible but tends to get a little scratched up, so I'd recommend removing it with a vegetable peeler before slicing them.

English Cucumber - You'll need one English cucumber for this recipe. English cucumbers are longer and thinner than regular cucumbers, have fewer seeds, and a less bitter taste. If you use a regular cucumber for this recipe you'll need to peel the skin first, but with an English cucumber, there's no peeling necessary.

Sesame Dressing Ingredients - For the sesame dressing you'll need two tablespoons of sesame oil, two teaspoons of rice wine vinegar, one teaspoon of kosher salt, one teaspoon of granulated sugar, a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes, a half teaspoon of ground black pepper, and a half a teaspoon each of white and black sesame seeds.

Sliced daikon radishes and cucumbers in a mixing bowl.
A sesame dressing in a ramekin.

What is Daikon Radish?

Daikon radish (also called Chinese radish and Japanese radish) is commonly used in East and South Asian cooking. It's similar in flavor to a mild red radish and often grows in large carrot shapes. It's often white, but can also be purple, pink, red, and yellow.

You can find it sold in Asian grocery stores and at farmer's markets.

More Radish Recipes to Try

If you love the slightly peppery bite of a radish, check out some of our other favorite radish recipes.

A closeup of a bowl of daikon radish salad with cucumbers.

Tips for Making this Recipe

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Recommended Tools - I highly recommend using a mandoline to slice your radish and cucumber. It's way faster and you get precise, even slices. You can buy several types of mandolines online. I also suggest getting cut-proof gloves so you don't cut your fingers (mandoline blades are super sharp!)

Storing Tips - This recipe will keep in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you have extra and want to try something else with it, you can place it in a glass jar (with a lid) and pickle it with a mixture of ¼ cup rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and ½ cup warm water.

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Yield: 6 servings

Daikon Radish Cucumber Salad

Daikon radish cucumber salad in a white bowl.

This delightful daikon radish salad with cucumbers and a kicky sesame dressing is light and bright.

Prep Time 10 minutes
Additional Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Daikon radishes
  • 1 English cucumber
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon white sesame seeds
  • ½ teaspoon black sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. Peel the daikon radishes and slice them very thinly (1/32 on a mandoline). Thinly slice the cucumber (1/16 on a mandoline) and combine the cucumber and radish slices in a mixing bowl.
  2. Combine the sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, kosher salt, granulated sugar, red pepper flakes, and sesame seeds in a small mixing bowl. Stir till the salt and sugar have dissolved.
  3. Pour the sesame dressing over the sliced veggies and toss them till coated. Let sit for 15 minutes to marinate and then toss again.
  4. Serve in a large bowl or spread out on a platter.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 72Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 226mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 1g

Jillian

Friday 27th of January 2023

I made this as soon as our basket arrived this week, but I omitted the pepper flakes, because I'm a bit wimpy about spice. lol

I also used toasted sesame oil (a little less than 1 tbsp, for half a cucumber and one large daikon), and it was amazing! I love how the colour of the purple daikon turns hot pink when the acid in the dressing hits it.

It's an absolutely beautiful looking salad. Will definitely make this again!

Ro

Sunday 4th of December 2022

Delicious! Now I know what to do with leftover daikon! Thank you!

Karen

Tuesday 17th of May 2022

6 Stars. I like spicy and crispy so love this recipe. Have made it 4 times in the past 2 months. I use pickling cucumber and daikon radish.

EW

Wednesday 18th of May 2022

So glad you like it!!

Denise

Thursday 28th of April 2022

Excellent recipe! I’m on a low oil diet so I did slightly less sesame oil and added a few drops of toasted sesame oil and it turned out amazing. 5 stars!

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