Ina Garten's Simple Trick That Prevents A Watery Cucumber Salad

Crisp, juicy cucumbers, with their mild, sweet taste, are the perfect vehicle for tangy dressing in a creamy cucumber salad. But after a few hours in the refrigerator, your cukes become limp and soggy, and the dressing slides off your slices, separating in a watery, unappetizing puddle at the bottom of the container. This culinary catastrophe can be chalked up to the cucumber's high water content. Water makes up 96% of the cucumber's volume, making it one of the best fruits for hydration. But when the fruit is sliced, the protective cell walls are exposed, so the water seeps out, which ultimately results in a sad, soggy salad.

Thankfully, you can keep your cucumbers dry and happy with this helpful hack from Ina Garten. The Barefoot Contessa star tops a bowl with a colander, to which she adds her sliced cucumbers, red onions, and about a teaspoon of salt per pound of cukes. The salt draws out moisture from cucumbers and onions so it collects at the bottom of the bowl. She covers everything with plastic wrap and places it in the fridge for at least four hours, though you can get away with draining your cucumbers for as little as 30 minutes if you're short on time, pressing the slices with a paper towel to help speed up the process. With much of the water content removed, the ingredients have a concentrated flavor that results in a tasty cucumber salad that stays crisp in the fridge.

To set your salad up for success, get to know the cucumber varieties at your grocery store before shopping for your ingredients. English cucumbers, sometimes called hothouse cucumbers, are optimal for creamy cucumber salads because they have a thin skin that doesn't require peeling and small, soft seeds that do not need to be removed. 

If you're starting with garden cucumbers or another high-moisture variety, removing the thick, slightly bitter skin is optional, but you will need to scoop out the seeds, because while they are edible, they will release excess moisture into your final dish. For either variety, you can opt for the slice thickness that matches your desired outcome. Extra-thin slices, achieved with a mandolin, are best for soaking up the dressing, while quarter-inch thick slices tend to hold their sturdy, crunchy structure.

Until you're ready to make your salad, avoid storing your cucumbers in the fridge, as they're sensitive to chilling injuries, a phenomenon in which the fruit's structure weakens and becomes water-logged, which is why it becomes limp and mushy even though it's releasing water. This is also why, after you finish making your cucumber salad, it's best to store it in the crisper drawer or near the front of your fridge, where it's less cold so it stays fresh and crisp until it's ready to serve.