Crisp cucumber rounds, fresh garlic, rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, and a glossy drizzle of chili oil come together in this easy copycat inspired by Din Tai Fung’s popular cucumber salad.
The salad looks simple, and that is part of its appeal. The cucumbers stay cool and crunchy while the dressing delivers a combination of tanginess, salt, subtle sweetness, toasted sesame, garlic, and chile heat. Served chilled and stacked neatly on the plate, it makes a refreshing appetizer alongside dumplings, noodles, rice dishes, or stir-fries.
The key is preparing the cucumbers before dressing them. Salting draws out some of their moisture, which concentrates their flavor and keeps the finished salad from becoming watery. After about 30 minutes, the cucumber slices are rinsed, dried thoroughly, and tossed with the dressing for just long enough to pick up plenty of flavor while retaining their snap.
This is not Din Tai Fung’s official proprietary recipe. It is a home-style copycat designed to recreate the same kind of crisp, garlicky, tangy, chile-oil-dressed cucumber salad using ingredients that are easy to find.
🥒 Din Tai Fung–Style Cucumber Salad Recipe
Prep time: 10 minutes
Salting time: 30 minutes
Marinating time: 10–15 minutes
Total time: About 50 minutes
Servings: 4
🛒 Ingredients
For the Cucumbers
- 6 Persian cucumbers, about 12 ounces total
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Dressing
- 1 tablespoon light or regular soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
- 2 teaspoons chili oil, plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
For Garnish
- Thinly sliced Fresno chile or red jalapeño, optional
- Very thin slices of fresh garlic, optional
🥒 Use Persian Cucumbers for the Best Texture
Persian cucumbers are ideal because they are small, crisp, thin-skinned, and relatively low in watery seeds. Their diameter also makes them especially well suited to the compact cucumber rounds associated with Din Tai Fung’s presentation.
Leave the skins on.
Unlike thick-skinned garden cucumbers, Persian cucumbers have tender skin that provides additional crunch without becoming unpleasantly chewy.
English cucumbers can substitute if Persian cucumbers are unavailable. Choose a firm cucumber and cut it into similarly thick rounds.
Ordinary large slicing cucumbers can work in a pinch, but they generally contain more water and larger seeds. If using one, you may want to peel alternating strips from the skin and remove especially watery seeds before slicing.
🔪 Cut Thick, Even Rounds
Trim the ends from the cucumbers.
Slice the cucumbers crosswise into rounds approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
Try to keep the pieces uniform.
The original Pop & Thistle recipe cuts the cucumbers into thin half-moons, but thicker rounds produce a much more substantial crunch and allow you to recreate the recognizable stacked presentation.
Very thin cucumber slices also soften more quickly after salting and dressing.
For this salad, a thicker bite is preferable.
🧂 Salt the Cucumbers
Place the cucumber rounds in a colander set over a bowl or in the sink.
Sprinkle with the kosher salt and toss gently until the cucumber surfaces are lightly coated.
Let them stand for approximately 30 minutes.
During this time, you will see liquid begin collecting beneath the colander.
Salt draws water from the cucumber cells. Removing some of that excess moisture gives the finished salad a firmer texture and prevents the dressing from becoming immediately diluted.
This step is worth the wait.
💧 Rinse and Dry Thoroughly
After 30 minutes, rinse the cucumber rounds briefly under cold running water to remove excess surface salt.
Spread them over a clean kitchen towel or several layers of paper towels.
Pat thoroughly dry.
Do not rush the drying.
The dressing clings much better to dry cucumber surfaces, while residual rinse water can make the soy, vinegar, garlic, and sesame flavors taste weak.
If necessary, transfer the cucumbers to a second dry towel and pat them again.
🥣 Make the Dressing
In a medium bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
Add the grated garlic, chili oil, and toasted sesame oil.
Stir until combined.
Taste the dressing before adding the cucumbers.
It should taste more intense than you would want to drink by itself. Once distributed across cool, watery cucumber slices, the salt, acid, sweetness, and chile become much more balanced.
🧄 Grate the Garlic Finely
Raw garlic is an important flavor in this salad, but large chunks can create unexpectedly harsh bites.
Finely grating the garlic allows it to disperse throughout the dressing.
A microplane works particularly well.
If you prefer a gentler garlic flavor, use one large clove rather than two.
For a stronger presentation reminiscent of the restaurant dish, add one or two paper-thin garlic slices over the finished cucumber stack as a garnish.
🌶️ Add Chili Oil to Taste
Two teaspoons give the salad noticeable chile flavor without making heat the dominant characteristic.
Increase or decrease the amount according to your preference.
A clear or relatively smooth chili oil creates a cleaner dressing and keeps the focus on the cucumbers.
Chili crisp can also be delicious, but it contributes crunchy solids and additional seasonings, creating a somewhat different salad.
If you use chili crisp, start with a small quantity and adjust after tasting.
🥒 Dress the Cucumbers
Add the thoroughly dried cucumber rounds to the bowl of dressing.
Toss gently until every slice is coated.
Let them stand for about 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
This short rest gives the cucumbers time to absorb some of the dressing without leaving them soaking long enough to lose their crisp texture.
For an especially refreshing salad, place the dressed cucumbers in the refrigerator during this short marinating period.
🗼 Stack the Cucumbers for Serving
For a presentation inspired by Din Tai Fung, arrange the cucumber rounds in a neat overlapping stack or low tower on a small plate.
There is no need for architectural perfection.
The goal is simply to create a compact arrangement rather than spreading the cucumber slices across a huge platter.
Spoon some of the remaining dressing over the top.
Finish with a little additional chili oil and optional thin slices of red chile or garlic.
Serve immediately.
🥢 What Does Din Tai Fung Cucumber Salad Taste Like?
The appeal comes from balance.
The cucumbers themselves are cool, mildly sweet, and crunchy.
Rice vinegar adds clean acidity.
Soy sauce provides salt and savoriness.
Sugar rounds out the vinegar without making the salad noticeably sweet.
Garlic adds sharpness.
Sesame oil provides a toasted aroma.
Chili oil brings gentle heat and a glossy finish.
No single element needs to dominate.
The salad should still taste first and foremost like cucumber.
🌏 Din Tai Fung Began in Taiwan
Din Tai Fung began in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1958, when Bing-Yi Yang and his wife, Pen-Mei Lai, opened a cooking-oil retail shop.
As the oil business declined, the couple began making and selling xiao long bao in part of the shop in 1972. The dumplings became so successful that the business eventually transitioned fully into a restaurant.
Din Tai Fung subsequently expanded internationally and became particularly famous for the precise preparation of its xiao long bao.
The menu now extends well beyond dumplings, and cucumber salad remains among the dishes highlighted by Din Tai Fung’s U.S. restaurants.
This copycat recipe is inspired by that restaurant appetizer rather than presented as an official Din Tai Fung formula.
🥒 Why Salt Cucumbers Before Dressing Them?
Cucumbers contain a large amount of water.
Once cut and mixed with a salty dressing, they naturally begin releasing some of that moisture.
If you dress them immediately, the carefully balanced sauce can quickly become diluted.
Salting before dressing removes some water in advance.
It also slightly changes the cucumber texture, making the pieces more pliable while keeping them satisfyingly crisp.
Many copycat versions of Din Tai Fung’s cucumber salad use approximately 15 to 30 minutes of salting before the cucumbers are rinsed and dried.
For thick rounds, 30 minutes is a reliable amount of time.
🚿 Should You Rinse Salted Cucumbers?
For this version, yes.
Because enough salt is used to actively draw moisture from the cucumbers, rinsing prevents the finished dish from becoming overly salty.
Rinse briefly rather than soaking them in water.
Then dry extremely well.
Another approach is to use less salt and skip rinsing altogether, but that method leaves less room for error because cucumber sizes and salt brands vary.
Rinsing gives you more predictable seasoning.
🧂 Different Salts Behave Differently
Kosher salt brands vary in crystal size and density.
A teaspoon of one brand may contain considerably more salt by weight than another.
That matters less here than in baking because most of the salt is rinsed away, but it is still useful to avoid using a heavily packed spoonful.
If using fine table salt rather than kosher salt, reduce the amount slightly.
The goal is drawing moisture out of the cucumber, not curing it until aggressively salty.
🍚 Use Unseasoned Rice Vinegar
Unseasoned rice vinegar gives the dressing acidity without introducing extra sugar or salt.
Seasoned rice vinegar is formulated for applications such as sushi rice and already contains sweetener and salt.
You can still use it if that is what you have, but reduce the added sugar and soy sauce and adjust by taste.
For the cleanest, easiest-to-control dressing, unseasoned rice vinegar is preferable.
🥢 Light Soy Sauce vs. Dark Soy Sauce
Use ordinary Chinese light soy sauce or a familiar all-purpose soy sauce.
Do not use Chinese dark soy sauce as a direct substitute.
Dark soy sauce is thicker, darker, and more intensely colored. It is excellent in many cooked dishes but can turn a delicate cucumber salad unusually dark and shift the flavor in a heavier direction.
Reduced-sodium soy sauce also works, although you may need to adjust the seasoning.
🌰 Toasted Sesame Oil Is a Finishing Flavor
A teaspoon is enough.
Toasted sesame oil is intensely aromatic.
Using several tablespoons would make the salad oily and cover the cucumber’s fresh flavor.
Think of sesame oil almost like a seasoning rather than the primary oil in a vinaigrette.
If the salad tastes mostly of sesame, you probably used too much.
🌶️ Chili Oil vs. Chili Crisp
They are related but not identical.
Chili oil usually refers to chile-infused oil, sometimes with very few solids.
Chili crisp includes fried chile and often other ingredients such as garlic, shallots, fermented beans, spices, or sesame.
For a closer copycat-style presentation, plain chili oil is the cleaner choice.
For a more textured homemade variation, chili crisp is excellent.
Just recognize that the crispy solids make it your own variation rather than an attempt to imitate the restaurant dish closely.
🌶️ How Spicy Is This Salad?
The base recipe is mildly to moderately spicy.
Two teaspoons of chili oil spread across six Persian cucumbers provides warmth without overwhelming the cool cucumber.
Chile oils vary greatly in strength, so begin with less when using an unfamiliar brand.
You can always drizzle more over the plate.
For a completely mild version, omit the chili oil from the dressing and add only a tiny amount over individual servings for anyone who wants it.
🧄 Can You Make It Without Raw Garlic?
Yes.
Raw garlic is one of the defining flavors of many copycat versions, but it is easy to adjust.
Use half a clove for very gentle garlic flavor.
You can also briefly soak grated garlic in the rice vinegar before mixing the dressing, which takes a little edge off its raw bite.
I would not substitute a large quantity of garlic powder. Fresh garlic gives this cold salad a much more distinctive flavor.
🥒 Persian vs. English Cucumbers
Persian cucumbers are my first choice because of their size.
They naturally produce small, tidy rounds that are easy to stack.
English cucumbers are similarly crisp and thin-skinned but much larger.
If using English cucumber, choose the narrowest one you can find and cut it into thick rounds.
One large English cucumber will generally replace several Persian cucumbers.
There is no need to peel either type unless the skin is damaged or unusually tough.
🔨 Should You Smash the Cucumbers?
Not for this particular copycat.
Smashed cucumber salads are wonderful because the rough broken surfaces catch dressing especially well.
But Din Tai Fung’s well-known presentation uses tidy cucumber rounds rather than irregular smashed pieces.
If your priority is the restaurant-inspired appearance, slice.
If your priority is simply making a delicious garlicky cucumber salad, smashing is another perfectly good technique—but it produces a different dish.
🥕 Should You Add Carrots or Other Vegetables?
You can, but I would not add them to the primary recipe.
The current Pop & Thistle article suggests adding carrots, radishes, or peppers to customize the salad.
Those ingredients can make a good mixed vegetable salad, but they also move the recipe farther away from the cucumber-focused dish readers searching for Din Tai Fung cucumber salad are expecting.
Keep the base recipe simple.
Serve other vegetables in separate dishes.
🌿 What About Cilantro or Mint?
Fresh herbs can be delicious with cucumber, but they are unnecessary here.
Adding a large handful of cilantro or mint changes the flavor profile substantially.
If you want to experiment, use just a small amount and treat it as a variation rather than part of the copycat formula.
The simple combination of cucumber, garlic, soy, vinegar, sesame, sugar, and chile is already flavorful enough.
🍋 Can You Substitute Another Vinegar?
In an emergency, a mild white wine vinegar can work.
Apple cider vinegar introduces a more noticeable fruity flavor.
Distilled white vinegar is much sharper and should be diluted or used more sparingly.
Rice vinegar is inexpensive, keeps well in the pantry, and is useful in many Asian-inspired sauces and dressings, so it is worth having if you make dishes like this regularly.
🥣 Why Is My Salad Watery?
The cucumbers probably were not salted long enough or dried thoroughly enough.
Some watery liquid after dressing is normal because cucumbers continue releasing moisture.
A large puddle appearing immediately is different.
Make sure you give the cucumbers the full salting period, rinse briefly, and pat them very dry.
Also avoid marinating the completed salad for many hours if crispness is your priority.
🥒 Why Are My Cucumbers Soft?
They may have been sliced too thinly or marinated for too long.
Thick rounds hold their structure much better.
Salting does soften the cucumber slightly, but it should still have plenty of crunch.
For the crispest salad, dress the prepared cucumber shortly before serving rather than leaving it overnight in the sauce.
🧂 Why Is My Salad Too Salty?
The salted cucumber may not have been rinsed thoroughly enough, or the soy sauce may be particularly strong.
Rinse the cucumbers briefly after draining and taste the dressing before adding them.
If the completed salad is a little too salty, an extra splash of rice vinegar and a small amount of sugar can soften the perception of salt.
Do not add large quantities of water because it will dilute every flavor.
🍚 Why Is the Dressing Too Sour?
Rice vinegar is mild, but brands differ.
Add another small pinch of sugar and a few drops of sesame or chili oil.
You can also add a little more soy sauce if the dressing needs savory balance.
Make adjustments in small quantities.
The cucumbers themselves will also dilute the acidity slightly.
🍬 Why Is It Too Sweet?
Add more rice vinegar.
This salad should have a subtle sweetness that rounds the edges rather than tasting like a sweet pickle.
Two teaspoons sugar is a starting point.
If you generally prefer very tart salads, reduce it to one teaspoon.
❄️ Serve the Salad Chilled
The contrast between cool cucumber and chile oil is one of the best things about the dish.
After dressing the cucumbers, refrigerate them for approximately 10 to 15 minutes if they are not already very cold.
Avoid chilling for many hours solely for flavor development.
Long marination gradually sacrifices the crisp texture that makes the salad so refreshing.
🥟 Serve with Dumplings
This cucumber salad is particularly good beside dumplings because its vinegar, garlic, and cool crunch offset rich fillings.
Serve it before or alongside steamed dumplings, potstickers, wontons, or xiao long bao.
The salad is light enough that it does not compete with a dumpling dipping sauce.
That contrast is a major reason cucumber makes such an effective appetizer in a dumpling-focused meal.
🍜 Serve with Ginger Scallion Noodles
The crisp, acidic cucumbers work well alongside Ginger Scallion Noodles.
The noodles are savory and aromatic, while the cucumber salad brings coolness and vinegar.
Together they make an easy meatless meal or can serve as two parts of a larger spread.
🥩 Serve with Beef and Broccoli
For a fuller dinner, pair the cucumber salad with Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry.
The hot, savory beef-and-oyster-sauce dish benefits from something cool and sharp on the side.
Prepare the cucumber salad first, then keep it refrigerated while you cook the stir-fry.
🌱 Serve with Crispy Tofu
For a plant-based meal, serve it beside Crispy Baked Tofu.
Keep the tofu seasoning relatively simple or use a soy-ginger glaze.
The cucumber salad already provides sesame, garlic, vinegar, and chile, so there is no need to repeat every flavor in the tofu.
🍚 Build a Rice Bowl
Start with hot steamed rice.
Add tofu, chicken, beef, salmon, or a fried egg.
Place the cold cucumber salad alongside rather than mixing it completely into the hot rice.
The temperature and texture contrast makes a simple bowl much more interesting.
Add extra chili oil at the table if desired.
🥗 Is This a Taiwanese Cucumber Salad?
It is better described specifically as a Din Tai Fung–style cucumber salad than as a universal Taiwanese cucumber salad.
Taiwanese cooking includes many cold vegetable preparations and cucumber dishes, but one restaurant version should not be treated as though it represents every Taiwanese cucumber salad.
Din Tai Fung itself began in Taipei, Taiwan, and its cucumber salad is now served across its international restaurant locations.
This recipe is aimed at recreating that particular restaurant-style appetizer at home.
🏮 Din Tai Fung Beyond Xiao Long Bao
Din Tai Fung is best known internationally for xiao long bao, but its menu includes a much wider range of appetizers, vegetables, noodles, rice dishes, dumplings, buns, soups, and desserts.
The company’s official history says the business began as a Taipei cooking-oil shop in 1958 and transitioned into restaurant service after its xiao long bao became popular in the 1970s.
Today the brand operates internationally, and its U.S. site continues to feature Cucumber Salad alongside signature dumplings.
That makes the cucumber salad much more than an internet copycat trend—it is an established item associated with the restaurant itself.
⏰ Can You Make the Salad Ahead?
You can do most of the work ahead, but wait to dress the cucumbers if you want maximum crunch.
Slice, salt, rinse, and thoroughly dry the cucumber rounds.
Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Mix the dressing separately and refrigerate it.
About 10 to 15 minutes before serving, toss the cucumber with the dressing and return it briefly to the refrigerator.
This approach gives you the convenience of advance preparation without leaving the cucumbers sitting in salty, acidic liquid for hours.
❄️ How to Store Leftovers
Transfer leftover cucumber salad to an airtight container and refrigerate promptly.
It will still taste good the next day, but the cucumbers gradually become softer and release additional liquid.
For that reason, this is best viewed as a same-day salad rather than something designed for several days of meal prep.
If extra liquid collects in the container, drain some away and add a very small drizzle of fresh chili or sesame oil before serving.
🚫 Don’t Leave It Out for Hours
Cut vegetables should be kept chilled when they are not being actively served.
At a party or buffet, bring out a modest portion and replenish from the refrigerator rather than allowing a large bowl to sit at room temperature throughout the event.
The salad also simply tastes better cold.
🥒 A Simple Salad Where Technique Matters
Din Tai Fung–style cucumber salad does not need a dozen ingredients.
Its appeal comes from doing a few things carefully.
Choose crisp cucumbers. Cut them into substantial rounds rather than paper-thin slices. Salt them long enough to draw out excess moisture, then rinse and dry them thoroughly.
Keep the dressing balanced.
Rice vinegar for brightness. Soy sauce for savoriness. A little sugar to soften the acidity. Fresh garlic for bite. Sesame oil for aroma. Chili oil for warmth.
Then give the dressed cucumbers only a short rest.
Stack them neatly if you want the restaurant-inspired presentation, spoon a little chile-red dressing over the top, and serve while the cucumbers are still cold and crunchy.
The result is simple, but that simplicity is exactly why every detail shows.
