Pineapple Cucumber Salad
on Jun 22, 2025
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With the perfect mix of crisp fresh flavors and sweet fruity heat, this pineapple cucumber salad is everything you want in a summer recipe. The hotter the day the better when you have ripe pineapples, cool cucumbers and creamy avocado. Minced jalapeños add a touch of spice. I toss the salad in lime dressing with garlic, cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Enjoy this easy salad at potlucks and barbecues.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Recipe
If there was a salad to get you through a heatwave, this one would be it. Each bite is cool and refreshing with crisp cucumbers and juicy pineapple. I first made this salad when our A/C wasn’t working and the temperature outside was 95 degrees.
This healthy vegan salad is the best combination of savory and sweet flavors. Don’t think of this as a fruit salad. Fresh cilantro and mint, jalapeños, avocado and red onions tamp down the sweetness of the pineapple, and you end up with a great balance of ingredients.
No-lettuce salads are wonderful for summer get-togethers like barbecues, picnics and potlucks. There’s no risk of leafy greens wilting. Also, by tossing the salad in lime dressing, the citrus juice delays the avocado from browning.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Pineapple: It’s up to you whether you buy a small pineapple and cut it yourself or get a container of chunks. Either way, you want to dice the fruit into half-inch pieces.
- Cucumbers: Persian cucumbers are my pick for this salad because they have more delicate skin and less seeds than regular cucumbers. You can also use English cucumbers.
- Avocado gives the salad nice creamy moments between the acidity of the fruit and crunch of the cucumbers.
- Red onions: I use a mandolin to quickly slice the onion super thin. They add good sharpness to the salad.
- Jalapeño: Finely chopped jalapeños give the cucumbers and pineapples a little heat. I would describe it as pleasantly buzzy and not overly spicy.
- Fresh cilantro & mint: I use more cilantro than I do mint. This combination of fresh herbs makes it a very flavorful salad.
- Tortilla chips act like croutons, adding something toasty and crunchy. I crumble them in my hands and toss them in the with rest of the ingredients.
- Lime dressing: It’s light and fresh with lime juice, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, kosher salt, black pepper and extra virgin olive oil.
Optional Additions
The salad is packed with flavor as the recipe is written, but you can add one or more of the following:
- Feta or cotija cheese
- Black beans
- Grilled corn
How To Make This Pineapple Cucumber Salad Recipe
1. Combine the salad ingredients in a big bowl. That includes the pineapple, diced cucumbers, avocado, jalapeños, red onions, cilantro, fresh mint and crumbled tortilla chips.
2. Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk the minced garlic, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, fresh lime juice and oil.
3. Drizzle the dressing into the salad, tossing to combine. The flavors will all meld quickly. After you spoon the salad into a serving bowl, you can top it with more broken tortilla chips.
Serving
As mentioned, this cucumber pineapple salad is a great side dish for summer bbqs and picnics. It goes really well with anything with Tex-Mex flavors. I serve it with tofu veggie skewers, grilled vegetarian burrito bowls or sheet pan pepper & mushroom fajitas. For proteins, the salad works with salmon, shrimp or chicken.
Leftovers & Storage
Because this is a no-lettuce salad, you won’t have any wilted greens. You can save the salad in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. The tortilla chips will soften and get a bit mushy when you store leftovers. I don’t mind that in the salad, and I just sprinkle in fresh chips. If you know you’re only going to have a portion of the salad, wait to stir in the chips until you serve it.
Recipe FAQs
You can make the dressing up to 2 days ahead of time. Keep it in a jar in the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before you toss it in. Wait to cut and assemble the salad, so it has the best texture and to prevent the avocado from browning.
Yes, it is vegan as written unless you add cotija or feta cheese.
No. Canned pineapple is too sweet and soft. Always use fresh pineapple in salads.
More Cucumber Salad Recipes
Asian Cucumber Salad
Strawberry Cucumber Pasta Salad
Cucumber Feta Salad
Chickpea Cucumber Salad
Watermelon Cucumber Salad
Strawberry Cucumber Salad
Tomato Feta Cucumber Salad
Check out my collection of simple seasonal salad recipes including some of my favorite ingredients and tips for making better salads.
Pineapple Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
For salad
- 1 pound 1/2-inch-diced pineapple
- 1 pound Persian cucumbers, diced
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1 jalapeno, minced
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onions
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
- 1/4 cup crumbled tortilla chips plus more for serving
For dressing
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 limes, juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- To make the salad, combine the pineapple, cucumbers, avocado, jalapeño, red onions, cilantro, mint and tortilla chips in a large bowl.
- For the dressing, whisk the garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, lime juice and olive oil in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing into the salad. Toss to combine. Garnish with additional tortilla chips as desired.
Notes
- Feta or cotija cheese
- Black beans
- Grilled corn
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
