How to Use Up Your Extra Cucumbers
Have your garden-variety Cucumber plants grown too many Cucumbers to count? Or did you go a little overboard on your last grocery haul? Either way, we have lots of different ideas for what to do with Cucumbers that are suddenly piling up in your fridge!
It may seem easier to throw your extra Cucumbers in the garbage or compost, but there are many creative ways to use up your excess Cucumbers so that their incredible health benefits don’t go to waste. Here are 7 creative Cucumber uses that will help you get the most out of your abundance of this fresh superfood.
7 Different Ways to Eat Up Extra Cucumbers
Check out these 7 different ways to eat up all your extra Cucumbers to stretch their life and avoid food waste.
Pickles
Pickling your extra Cucumbers is one of the best ways to stretch their shelf life and tap into their versatility! When you pickle any fresh fruit or vegetable, you are preserving their crunch and quality while transforming them into a more shelf-stable product. Pickled Cucumbers are perfect for sandwiches, charcuterie boards, snack plates, and so much more.
When it comes to pickling Cucumbers, you can pickle all three of the Cucumber varieties we grow: Long English Cucumbers, Mini Cucumbers, or co*cktail Cucumbers! If pickling Long English Cucumbers, they need to be sliced before pickling. If pickling Mini Cucumbers, they can be pickled whole in large mason jars, or sliced. co*cktail Cucumbers are the easiest Cucumber variety to pickle as they are small enough to pickle whole in any size of mason jar.
Find our Pickled Cucumbers recipe here. While this recipe calls for co*cktail Cucumbers, you can easily swap them out for whatever Cucumber variety you want to pickle.
Infused Water
A great way to use up excess Cucumbers, lemons, limes, berries, and citrus fruits is by slicing them up and adding them to your water! Not only will these fresh foods infuse a simple glass of water with refreshing flavor, they will also add a dose of vitamins and nutrients that will help to nourish your body.
Sliced Cucumbers are your best option for infusing – we would recommend using either sliced Long English Cucumbers or sliced Mini Cucumbers if adding them to your water.
Since Cucumbers have such a light and refreshing flavor, they work well in most infused water recipes. Try these Cucumber water combos:
- Cucumber water with sliced strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries
- Cucumber water with fresh mint leaves
- Cucumber water with lemon
- Cucumber water with cantaloupe chunks
- Cucumber water with orange slices
Smoothies
Another great way to eat up your extra Cucumbers is by adding them to your favorite smoothies. Cucumbers will add a light and refreshing flavor to your smoothies, but they will also add water and nutrients that your body needs to stay hydrated and healthy!
While any Cucumber variety can work for smoothies, we recommend using either sliced Long English Cucumbers or sliced Mini Cucumbers.
Here are a few of our favorite Cucumber smoothie recipes that are perfect to prepare for breakfasts or as an on-the-go energy boost when you have too many Cucumbers on your hands:
Tropical Cucumber Smoothie with Kale
Hydrating Cucumber Smoothie with Mango
Mocktails
If you have friends or family coming over, why not try slicing up your excess Cucumbers for a fun mocktail recipe? Incorporating fresh ingredients into flavorful mocktails will bring your mixing game to a whole new level.
When it comes to varieties, we recommend adding sliced Long English Cucumbers or sliced Mini Cucumbers to your Cucumber mocktails for the best flavor results!
Check out a few of our freshest Cucumber mocktail recipes:
Cucumber Mojito Mocktail
Cucumber Melon Sangria Mocktail
Lemon Cucumber Virgin Cooler
Salads
Nothing beats a fresh Cucumber salad, and it’s the perfect meal option to help you use up all the crisp Cucumbers piling up in your kitchen.
A Cucumber salad can be made many ways – since Cucumbers have such a light and refreshing flavor, they pair well with a wide variety of fresh salad ingredients. Any Cucumber variety will add incredible crunch to a salad: here are some of our favorite Cucumber salad recipes that will help you clean up any and all of the excess Cucumbers in your fridge’s crisper drawer:
Spiralized Mini Cucumber Salad
Pear Cucumber Salad
Tzatziki Dip
For an easy, freezable dip option to use up some of your excess Cucumbers, try making this 5 Ingredient Tzatziki Dip with shredded Cucumbers, Greek yogurt, dill, lemon juice, and garlic! You can eat tzatziki dip with fresh cut veggies and pita bread, or spread it on sandwiches, burgers, and pita wraps.
Since this tzatziki dip recipe calls for shredded Cucumbers, we recommend using larger Cucumber varieties like Long English Cucumbers or Mini Cucumbers to make the food preparation easier.
Thank you to Produce for Kids for providing us with this great recipe that has become one of our tried-and-true favorites!
Gazpacho
This veggie-filled cold soup is a great recipe to help you clean up any extra Cucumbers (not to mention Tomatoes and Peppers!) in your kitchen. Gazpacho is simplest to prepare and packed with rich flavor and nutrition. While traditionally eaten as a cold soup, you can also serve it as a cold pasta sauce.
Since gazpacho is made by blending up all its ingredients, most types of Cucumbers can be used to prepare it. Whether you bought extra Mini Cucumbers at the grocery store, or your garden is filled with Cucumbers galore, you can use whatever Cucumber varieties you have at your disposal to create a flavorful gazpacho dish your family will love.
Check out one of our favorite Gazpacho recipes here!
Check Out More Cucumber Resources
We have even more Cucumber resources to help our fellow veggie lovers learn more about this hydrating, nutrient-packed superfood.
The Veggie Lover’s Guide to Cucumbers
Cucumber FAQs: Everything You Need to Know
11 Creative Ways to Eat Your Cucumbers
Veggie Storage Guide
Produce Buying Guide
Which is Which: Mini vs. co*cktail Cucumbers
