This simple Cucumber sandwich recipe is perfect to prepare as a light snack or lunch. It’s easy to make and great for customizing with your favorite ingredients, like tomatoes, cheese, and/or herbs. Follow my step-by-step instructions with photos and ideas to create a lovely plate of cucumber sandwiches in only a few minutes!
About This Recipe
Fresh and tasty cucumber sandwiches are wonderful finger foods to enjoy at lunch, tea parties and picnics, or whenever you need a quick and healthy snack.
A classic cucumber sandwich typically includes slices of crisp cucumber layered on pieces of buttered bread and sprinkled with a bit of salt and pepper. They taste light and refreshing, perfect to pair with hot or iced tea!
Below I share steps for preparing simple, traditional cucumber sandwiches that we most frequently enjoy at our home.
However, you can jazz up this simple recipe by adding nearly any other toppings you like, such as mayo, cream cheese, tomatoes, fresh or dried herbs, and/or other thinly-sliced produce.
My favorite sandwiches are made using homemade Whole Wheat Bread, but feel free to use any bread you prefer!
How to make Cucumber Sandwich
1. First, rinse and peel 1 medium cucumber. Slice the cucumber into thin discs, and set aside.
TIP: I serve these sandwiches as soon as they are made. If you plan to serve them later after an hour or as a cold sandwich then to avoid the sogginess I suggest the following.
Arrange the thinly sliced cucumbers in a tray and sprinkle some salt on them all over. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes. Later pat dry with a clean kitchen towel to remove the excess moisture.
2. Next, use a sharp knife to cut the crusts off the pieces of bread. But don’t toss those crusts! The cut off bread edges can be pulsed or ground and used as bread crumbs. If you like sandwiches with crust, feel free to skip this step.
TIP: Feel free to use any soft textured bread – whole wheat, brown, multi-grain, sandwich or white bread.
3. Now spread a generous amount of salted, slightly softened butter evenly on the pieces of bread. First adding a layer of spread, like butter, helps to keep the bread soft and prevent sogginess from the cucumbers.
TIP: If you like cream cheese or a mayonnaise, you can spread either on top of the butter.
4. On one piece of the pairs of buttered bread place 6 to 8 cucumber slices.
5. Sprinkle a bit or more if you like of freshly cracked black pepper and a pinch of salt on the cucumber slices.
6. Cover with the remaining buttered slices of bread. Use a sharp knife to cut the cucumber sandwiches into your choice of rectangles or triangles.
7. Serve cucumber sandwiches immediately. They are wonderful to enjoy by themselves, with your favorite dips or other side dishes.
FAQs
The possibilities are nearly endless for customizing your cucumber sandwich! Try adding slices of tomato, fresh sprouts, pieces of red onion, slices of avocado, or leafy greens like watercress or arugula. Swap the softened butter for cream cheese, mayonnaise, herbed goat cheese spread, or any spreads you like.
Enjoy fresh sandwiches with a side of a yogurt dip, mayonnaise dip or your favorite chutney or sauce to dip. As side dishes you might consider serving a simple green salad, Avocado Salad, or Cherry Tomato Salad.
Finger sandwiches taste best when prepared and enjoyed fresh, within an hour or so of preparing. If not serving right away you might want to put them in the fridge for a bit. But not too long, otherwise they will get soggy.
The recipe below is for making approximately 6 to 7 cucumber sandwiches. You can double and triple the recipe as necessary to whip up a large batch that’s perfect to share at parties and picnics!
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Cucumber Sandwich
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber (regular) or English cucumber
- 12 to 14 bread slices – whole wheat, brown bread or white bread
- ½ to 1 teaspoon crushed black pepper or add as per taste
- Butter – salted, as needed. can use unsalted butter
- salt as required, optional
Instructions
- Rinse and peel cucumber. Slice the cucumber thinly and set aside.
- Slice of the crusts from the bread. These crusty bread slices can be pulsed or ground to bread crumbs. You can skip this step of cutting the crusts from the bread.
- Spread salted butter evenly on the sandwiches. Spread butter generously, so that the sandwiches do not get soggy.
- Place 6 to 8 cucumber slices on piece of the pairs of buttered bread.
- Sprinkle freshly crushed black pepper as needed. Also sprinkle a pinch of salt.
- Cover with the remaining buttered slices. Then cut the prepared cucumber sandwiches in rectangles or triangles.
- Serve cucumber sandwiches immediately. If you want you can accompany a mayo dip or a cheesy dip or tomato ketchup with these sandwiches.
- Enjoy fresh sandwiches with your favorite chutney or sauce to dip.
Notes
- More toppings and ideas: Include slices of tomato, fresh sprouts, pieces of red onion, slices of avocado, or leafy greens like watercress or arugula. Swap the softened butter for cream cheese, mayonnaise, herbed goat cheese spread, or any spreads you like.
- Make ahead: These sandwiches taste best when prepared and enjoyed fresh, within an hour or so of preparing. If not serving right away you might want to put them in the fridge for a bit. But not too long, otherwise they will get soggy. If serving later, arrange the sliced cucumbers in a tray and sprinkle some salt on them. Set aside for 10 to 15 minutes. Later pat dry with a clean kitchen towel to remove the excess moisture.
- Scaling: The recipe makes for about 6 to 7 sandwiches. You can double and triple the recipe as necessary to whip up a large batch that’s perfect to share at parties and picnics!
Nutrition Info (Approximate values)
This cucumber sandwich recipe post from the blog archives (Feb 2017) has been republished and updated on 17 April 2021.
Hi dassana,
I tried these sandwiches today and I really liked them for their simplicity as well as taste. It took me less than 10 minutes to assemble and pack them. The combo of plain bread and amul butter tasted so good. And also black pepper.
Since I had to pack them for 8 hours duration, I didn’t add tomato as I thought they would get sullen. Will cucumber stay good for that long?
Since I skipped veggies, we had the sandwiches with ketchup but they still tasted very nice.
Thank you.
thank you ruchi. in 8 hours cucumber and tomato will soften and taste different too. whenever we travel, i do make tomato-cucumber sandwiches, but we have them in about 4 hours. as you mentioned bread, butter with some black pepper also tastes good. sometimes i just make bread, butter with some black pepper and chaat masala and this also tastes good.