Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad – COPYCAT! (VIDEO)

5 from 152 votes
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Din Tai Fung is known for the soup dumplings, but their Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad is also one of their most popular side dishes and extremely delicious! This cucumber salad is an extremely simple dish consisting of sliced, marinated cucumbers in a delicious sweet, spicy, soy-based sauce. It comes together in just a few minutes and only requires one bowl for a quick and flavorful side dish!

Cucumber salad plated on a plate

Watch the Din Tai Fun Cucumber Salad Recipe Video Below!

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This copycat Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad is an excellent side dish to go with rice, noodles, or dumplings and is a dish best served cold! It’s a great side dish as we begin to enter the summer time and goes great as a side dish with so many different types of foods or as a snack all by itself.

Ingredients You’ll Need to Make the Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad

Luckily, you won’t need many ingredients to create this incredible dressing for this Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad! These are probably items you already have in your pantry. Here is what you’ll need for the marinade:

Ingredient Tip

Ingredient Tips

RICE VINEGAR
If you don’t have rice vinegar, you can substitute for red wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar for this recipe.

CHILI OIL
I love using a homemade chili oil any chance I get. Try myย homemade Chinese Chili Oil Recipeย for the chili oil for a wonderful spice!

What Type of Cucumber Should You Use For the Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad?

For Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad, I recommend using either Persian or English cucumbers for a few reasons:

  • They are seedless. I personally do not like seeds in my cucumber salads and try to remove them when possible.
  • Persian and English cucumbers are typically sweeter and contain less water than regular cucumbers. This will result in a more crisp salad when marinated in the dressing!

You can find either of these types of cucumbers in your local market and they should be readily available. If for some reason you can’t find either of these types of cucumbers, regular cucumbers will work as well.

Recipe Instructions

Prepare the Cucumber Dressing

To prepare the Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad dressing, mix together light soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, grated garlic, chili oil, and sesame oil. Whisk them together and your dressing is ready!

Prepare Your Cucumbers

Begin preparing your cucumbers by slicing them into 1/2″ rounds. Once your cucumbers are uniformly sliced, place them in a bowl and mix the cucumbers with salt, then let them sit for 30 minutes. Next, rinse off the salt and pat them as dry as possible with a kitchen or paper towel.

The salt will help to draw out excess moisture for the cucumbers through osmosis which will result in a more crisp vegetable.

Marinate Your Cucumbers

Once the cucumbers are as dry as possible, add them to the dressing and mix them well to get each piece coating in that delicious dressing. Let them sit in the marinade for at least 10 minutes then stack them up and enjoy!

If you are making Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad ahead of time, make sure to transfer them into an air tight storage container up to 2-3 days in advance.

Garnish Your Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad

Once the cucumbers are stacked beautifully, the final step is to add an additional drop of chili oil to each cucumber for that pop of color and spice! Serve and enjoy!

Sliced cucumber salad stacked on a plate

Recipe TipS

Recipe Tips

SLICING THE CUCUMBER
Try to be as uniform as possible when slicing the cucumbers. I prefer 1/2″ rounds, but you could go as thin as 1/4″ rounds as well. The uniform slicing will help with stacking and presentation of your Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad!

STORAGE
You can make Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad 2-3 days ahead of time! Make sure to store them in the fridge in an air tight container with the dressing.

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5 from 152 votes

Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad

Servings: 4
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Din Tai Fung Cucumber salad plated on a plate
This copycat Din Tai Fung cucumber salad is crisp and marinated in a sweet and spicy dressing!

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Chop cucumbers into ยฝโ€ rounds and place in a large bowl with salt for 30 minutes. Rinse off the salt with water and place them on a paper towel. Pat the cucumbers as dry as possible.
  • In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, grated garlic, chili oil and sesame oil.
  • Add your dry cucumbers to the bowl and mix with the dressing to combine. Let marinate for 10 minutes and enjoy!

Notes

Cucumbers – Try to use only Persian or English cucumbersย  since they are sweeter, contain less water, and have a thinner skin than regular cucumbers
Rice vinegarIf you don’t have rice vinegar, you can substitute for red wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar.
Chili oil – I love using a homemade chili oil whenever I can. Try my homemade Chinese Chili Oil Recipe
Try to be as uniform as possible when slicing the cucumbers. I prefer 1/2″ rounds, but you could go as thin as 1/4″ rounds as well. The uniform slicing will help with stacking and presentation of your Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad!
You can make this 2-3 days ahead of time. Make sure to store them in the fridge in an air tight container with the dressing.

Nutrition

Calories: 59kcalCarbohydrates: 5gProtein: 2gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gSodium: 1378mgPotassium: 180mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 82IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 21mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Chinese, French
Tried this recipe?Mention @cj.eats_ or tag #cjeatsrecipes!

About CJ

Iโ€™m a third generation Chinese-American home cook who has always loved cooking & eating! Welcome to my food blog, where you can find trusted, tested, easy & approachable recipes for the everyday home cook that taste delicious! I am so glad you're here!

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5 from 152 votes (61 ratings without comment)

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Recipe Rating




104 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    I am addicted to these cucumbers. I triple the ingredients for the dressing and keep a supply in the fridge. This is great on my fresh from the garden tomatoes as well

  2. 5 stars
    i have been to din tai fung everywhere in the world, taipei, tokyo, singapore etc although i live in europe๐Ÿคฃ but thanks to your recipe i no longer miss them. i can cook it by myself!

  3. This recipe turned out so good. So simple and delicious and my kids loved it. @newtonsarah