Spicy Cucumber Melon Salad
This spicy cucumber melon salad is super refreshing and great on a hot summer day. The cool fruit combined with refreshing mint is enough, but with a bright honey/lime combo and some habanero, it’s exactly what you need when you’re sweating buckets. You can improvise and use literally any other fruit, like pineapple or maybe even plums! Endless possibilities to be creative.
Bring it to a BBQ, pack it for a picnic, eat it for lunch, blend it for a refreshing smoothie, just enjoy! You can also try my other refreshing Cucumber Scallion Salad for a potluck or BBQ.
Plus it looks so pretty and really stands out on the table! I believe we eat with our eyes majority of the time, so why not make a pretty bowl of fruit salad? If it looks like crap, you won’t want to eat it. This is healthy, refreshing, spicy, pretty much everything that’s good for you. You can certainly omit the honey and use an alternative. And I guarantee you’ll have someone ask you for the spicy cucumber melon salad recipe. Guaranteed!
Pair this salad with my Sweet Lime Ginger Rum Cocktail or my Blood Orange Campari for a little bitterness. Or that guava soda, that is my new favourite soda! Can’t believe I missed out on years without that soda! My dentist probably is thankful I did though haha.
While I’m writing this out, it is pouring here in Vancouver, absolutely pissing outside. Sideways rain, cold, windy, like seriously, where is summer? I just want consistent sunshine, I don’t need those crazy, record breaking heatwaves like in California. Just sunshine, dry roads and warm enough to wear shorts. That is all I ask for! Especially since I just bought a new swimsuit from Old Navy that I want to bust out at the pool or beach, but it hasn’t been hot enough yet for that. Probably later next week we will have warmer weather, fingers crossed it’s hot!
And all photos were taken by Pulp Photo. If you are a local Vancouverite, do call them for editorials, weddings, events or food photography! They are a talented duo who shoot in film or digital.
Cucumber Melon Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup cubed cucumber
- 1 cup cubed watermelon
- 1 cup cubed cantaloupe
- 1 cup cubed honeydew
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint
- 1 habanero seeds removed and thinly sliced (optional)
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
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Cut up the fruit and cucumber.
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Slice up the habanero, this is an optional ingredient.
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Combine everything.
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For the best flavor, let it sit in the fridge for about an hour to let the flavors combine.
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The longer it sits in the fridge, the spicier it will get!
This is exactly what I want to eat all summer long. Wonderful post – beautiful photos.
GORGEOUS salad – and I love that you took some big steps to depart from the standard fruit-salad formula. Cucumber is a simple but well-chosen addition, as it play so well with the fruits without adding more sweetness. The habanero is a wonderful idea too – I bet it’s amazing with the fruit and the mint. Awesome job!
Ooh look at all those fruits! 🙂 Delicious!
I can’t even tell you how much I love this with the jalapeno in there. I’m totally pinning it to make.
I love summer salads with melon in, never tried chilli with it before but will give it a go. I don’t normally put links in comments but here’s a great party dish with melon that’s really simple to make http://www.amandasettle.com/simple-summer-recipe-melon-and-feta-nibbles/