This Smashed Cucumber and Toasted Bread Salad is the best of both worlds. The Asian-inspired flavours and freshness of a smashed cucumber salad combined with the comforting crunchiness of a toasted bread salad.
If we’re talking about favourite salads, we’ll always say caesar salad. But following closely behind is a panzanella-inspired toasted bread salad or a smashed cucumber salad. So we decided to combine the two! The delicious flavours of a smashed cucumber salad with a little extra crunch from freshly toasted bread. It’s simple, yet packed with flavours and textures – a perfect summer salad.
To make this salad, all you have to do it rip a baguette into bite-sized pieces and toss in some simple seasonings and olive oil. Toast in the oven until golden brown and crispy. Make the dressing (Pro tip: Use the bowl you plan to serve it in to minimize clean up) and toss with the smashed cucumber pieces. Once the bread is nice and toasty toss with the salad, just before serving. For the full recipe, scroll below.
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Fresh and flavourful – perfect for summer!
- A perfect blend of textures.
Top tips for making Smashed Cucumber and Toasted Bread Salad:
- Rip the bread into pieces. Ripping instead of cutting gives more texture to the bread to allow for crispier bits and pieces throughout the salad. Plus it saves you some extra dishes and clean up.
- Make the dressing in the serving bowl. This is our favourite way to reduce our clean up. Using the bowl you plan to serve the salad in to make the dressing allows you to use a couple less dishes.
- Smash or cut the cucumber into odd-shaped pieces. Whether you truly smash the cucumber or cut it we always do it into odd-shaped pieces that are roughly the same size.
- Toss the bread just before serving. The bread will stay crispy and crunchy in the salad for a while, but you do want to try and reduce the amount of time it’s sitting in the dressing. Just before you plan to serve, toss the bread into the cucumber salad.
Ingredient Notes:
- Baguette – We typically opt for a nice baguette, but most bread will work. Look for a bread that has a nice thick crust and avoid things like grocery store sliced bread that leans softer.
- Soy Sauce – Tamari is also an option if soy sauce is unavailable to you.
- Maple Syrup – Most sweeteners will work, like; agave, brown sugar, coconut sugar, etc.
- Chili Flakes – They offer a very subtle hint of spice to the salad, but if you’re super sensitive to spice this can be omitted.
- Cucumber – We like to use mini cucumbers for salads like this, but an bigger English cucumber also works.
Other vegan salads you’ll love:
How to make a Smashed Cucumber and Toasted Bread Salad:
Smashed Cucumber and Toasted Bread Salad
Ingredients
Toasted Bread
- 200 g baguette
- 30 mL (2 tbsp) olive oil
- pinch salt, to taste
- pinch pepper, to taste
Cucumber
- 3 mini cucumber, (about 300 g)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Dressing
- 10 mL (2 tsp) rice vinegar
- 6 g (1 clove) garlic, finely, minced
- 10 mL (2 tsp) soy sauce
- 10 mL (2 tsp) sesame oil
- 5 mL (1 tsp) maple syrup
- 9 g (1 tbsp) sesame seeds
- 2½ g (1 tsp) chili flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Rip apart baguette into bite sized pieces and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake in oven for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy.
- Cut off the ends of the cucumber and using a rolling pin or cast iron pan smashed the cucumber until it starts to crack.
- Cut cucumber into bite sized pieces and add to a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Prep salad dressing by mixing all ingredients in the serving bowl, then toss with cucumbers.
- Right before serving, add the crunchy croutons to the bowl and toss to coat.
