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A Stunning Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad
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Crisp and refreshing, sweet and salted, creamy and crunchy, spicy and cool. All of the flavor hits combined in one simple scoop and serve salad. This Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is the ultimate cool and easy recipe that satisfies every craving with bare minimum prep time!
If you grew up in the ’90s, like me, you remember the carefree, cool girl energy of the pixie-cut, indie music, and movie stars of the era. They seemed unbothered by cameras or crowds, had perfected the thousand-yard stare, and moved effortlessly through the world in heavy, thick-soled boots and airy sundresses.
This recipe for Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is the epitome of that ’90s cool girl vibe. An effortless salad that has all the right moves and leaves every other salad feeling inadequate in its wake, without even trying. It even harkens back to a classic scent of the ’90s. I can still smell that cucumber melon body spray wafting through the halls from homeroom to 6th period.
Ace the 3-Ingredient Salad Base
The base of the Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is just three fresh CA GROWN ingredients that complement each other so well, they don’t need much fuss. While each of these ingredients is strong enough to stand on its own, the trio harmonizes with seasonal, California coolness.
Melon is the sweet and juicy base that gets this salad going. Here we used fresh CA GROWN cantaloupe. But, feel free to swap any seasonal melons from California. Honeydew works well. Or consider beefing up this salad by also adding watermelon into the mix. You can’t go wrong with juicy, summer melons from California.
Cucumber is a natural pairing with melon, and not just in ’90s body lotions. They are both refreshing and taste extra hydrating when served chilled. Snappy cucumbers are cut into half moons, adding crisp bites of fresh crunch to the Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad.
Avocado brings buttery, creamy elegance. Set against the juicy melon and crispy cucumber, the tender California avocados complete the trifecta of craveable flavors and textures.
Upgrade This Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad with Flavorful Toppings
Once you’ve laid your base, a few simple upgrades elevate this Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad to new flavor heights. You may have most of the ingredients in your pantry already. But if you don’t yet have chili oil, let this be the opportunity to set yourself up with a jar. Once you start using it, you’ll find yourself putting it on everything!
Lime is freshly squeezed over the top of the salad to add bright and zingy zest. Just enough to give the salad an even more summery, fresh feeling, scenting every spritzed bite with citrusy California sunshine.
Olive oil enriches the salad with a slick of luxurious healthy fat that gleans with smooth silkiness. The contrast from the richness of the olive oil against the fruit is a power move in flavor balance.
Honey streaks the salad with a kiss of natural sweetness. Enhancing the melon and coating the avocado in sticky sweet elegance. The honey lays tracks for the savory ingredients to cling onto this Cucumber Melon Avocado Salad.
Sesame Seeds add a playful sprinkle with a tickle of texture. The warm and toasty earthiness of the sesame seeds echoes the savory play from the olive oil. Adding both visual and textural intrigue.
Chili oil turns up the heat and clashes with the coolness of the melon and cucumber, much like combat boots and a sundress. The crunchy, funky heat of chili oil highlights the best qualities of the crisp cucumber, sweet melon, and creamy avocado, without completely overshadowing their cool characteristics. Drizzle on as much as your spicy heart desires. The opposing flavors and textures just add more interest to this simple, summery salad!
Flaky sea salt coaxes the juices from the melon, sending trickles of sweetness through the cucumber and avocado craters. That salty-sweet juice combines with the lime, olive oil, and chili oil to make a simple dressing that does the mixing for you! Flaky sea salt is a chic finishing touch, adding a briny crunch to every scoop of Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad.
Assembling This Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is Effortlessly Easy
A lot of recipes claim that they are ready in less than 10 minutes, but often don’t account for variations in the personal knife skills and the speed, or lack thereof, of different home cooks. Thanks to a few clever moves, this Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad recipe really does come together in 10 minutes or less.
The only chopping necessary to make this salad is halving the melon and slicing the cucumber into bite-sized half moons. Once the melon is cut in half, the seeds are simply scooped out of the center with a spoon. Instead of slicing, that same spoon is used to scoop thin curls of melon that get transferred directly to the serving plate.
The avocado takes a similar turn in the prep department. It’s sliced in half, the pit is removed and then that spiffy little spoon makes the same move, easily scooping thin swoops of avocado. Then they nestle in next to the melon right on the plate. No fussy slicing or chopping needed!
The cucumbers tuck in among the melon and avocado scoops and just like that the Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is ready to be dressed! I wasn’t fibbing when I said this salad was as easy as it gets.
Spritz, Drizzle, Sprinkle & Serve
Once everything is plated, the salad is quickly topped and finished. First, the lime is spritzed right over the Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad. Then it gets a good glug of olive oil for added richness. A little swizzle of honey adds a sweet glossy glaze. And a drizzle of the spicy and crunchy chili oil heats things up. Finally, a shower of the sesame seeds and sea salt flakes finish the salad in a tasty and textural topping.
That is it! The Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is ready to be served up with a few twists of the wrist. This salad recipe almost feels too good to be true. It’s an easy, breezy, colorful dish that can stand alone or be served as a side. This is an especially smart move when summer sinks into its deepest depths.
Peak Cucumber, Melon, and Avocado Season Stretches Throughout Summer in California
With an alignment like that, it would be silly not to combine cucumber, melon, and avocado into a summer dream salad. All three start coming into season in late spring and stretch all the way into fall. But, they are each at their peak during the summer months, presenting an opportunity to make this Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad again and again for months on end.
Just imagine the summer sun is sweltering. Your brain and body feel like an egg fried on the hot pavement. It’s too hot to turn on anything that involves flames or heat, but you’ve got to eat. This Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad saves the summer day with a casual, cool-as-a-cucumber approach.
That relaxed angle is the MO here. The process for this Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad is so simple, it becomes an automatic summer savior. This straightforward salad recipe will save you time and have you feeling as effortlessly cool as a ’90s icon.
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Avocado Cucumber Melon Salad
Ingredients
- ½ medium cantaloupe or honeydew melon about 2½ pounds
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 ½ cups cucumber cut into ½” thick halfmoons
- 1 TBSP honey
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- ½ of 1 medium lime
- 1 TBSP chili oil or to taste
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- sea salt flakes to taste
Instructions
- Slice the melon in half and use a tablespoon to scoop out the seeds. Then using the tablespoon, scoop out thin curls of the melon and place them directly on a serving platter or large plate. Halve the avocados and remove the pit. Using the tablespoon, scoop out small spoonfuls of avocado and nestle in with the melon. Add cucumber halfmoon slices to the platter.
- Spritz the salad with lime. Then drizzle with olive oil, honey and chili oil. Sprinkle it with sesame seeds and flaky sea salt. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
About the Author, Becky Sue Wilberding, Baking the Goods
Becky Sue is the creative mastermind behind the hugely popular blog Baking the Goods. A trained designer, she found her way to the kitchen as a creative outlet and discovered she was really great at baking. So did the grateful recipients of said baked goods. Naturally, people started asking for the recipes so Becky Sue decided to have a go at blogging, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Becky Sue, and her recipes, have been featured in Food Network Magazine, Bake From Scratch Magazine, Cherry Bombe Magazine, Where Women Cook Magazine and numerous cookbooks.
Want to Try More of Becky Sue’s Recipes?
Of course you do! We think you’ll love her Purple Sweet Potato Dinner Rolls, Roasted Carrot and Herby Feta Galette, Caramelized Fig and Walnut Bread, and her Candied Tangerine Mascarpone Tart. We also think you’ll love the recipes and edible centerpiece DIY featured on CA GROWN below.
Article and recipe by Becky Sue Wilberding of Baking The Goods @bakingthegoods. Photography for this recipe by James Collier for CA GROWN.