Emily Mariko Just Shared an Easy 3-Ingredient Cucumber Salad—Here's How to Make It

It’s almost cucumber season, and we’re already dreaming of the recipes that we plan on making. From classic cucumber sandwiches to refreshing salads, we’re keeping this hydrating veggie stocked in our kitchen at all times. Plus, because they’re packed with the mineral silica, cucumbers are great for your skin and can help soothe sunburn. Have we convinced you that it’s the ultimate veg when summer arrives?

One of our favorite food influencers, Emily Mariko, just shared a simple yet delicious recipe using up the cucumbers in her fridge that is definitely worth adding to the summer recipe rotation. Her followers agree: the Instagram video posted yesterday has already surpassed 6.5 million views.

Using just three main ingredients, learn how to make this easy snack to satisfy your salty cravings below.

Alongside salt, the only ingredients you will need to make Mariko’s Cucumber Salad are cucumbers, sweetened rice vinegar (like Mizkan Sushi Seasoning) and sesame seeds. The social media star uses four washed cucumbers for this recipe and starts preparing the salad by cutting them into super-thin slices with a mandoline (psst, our commerce editor Daniel Modlin swears by his “game-changing” mandoline for prepping salads).

Once the cucumbers are sliced in a bowl, she sprinkles in a large pinch of salt and mixes it in with her hands, making sure that all of the cucumber slices are coated. She sets the slices aside for a few minutes, as the salt helps draw out excess water from the veggie, covering with a paper towel.

Then, Mariko takes a handful of the salted cucumber slices and squeezes out the excess moisture, placing them in a separate bowl and repeating the process. Pressing the water out helps prevent the salad from getting soggy, and it causes the thin cucumber slices to curl, making them look ribbony for a picture-perfect presentation.

The last thing the home cook does is season her tiny cucumber ribbons with a drizzle of Mizkan Sushi Seasoning (you can also use rice vinegar and add your own sweetener) and about a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Using chopsticks, Mariko mixes her ingredients together and instantly gives it a taste—we’ll take the nod of approval to mean that this salad is as delicious as it looks!

You can easily enjoy this cucumber dish as a healthy snack or a light side dish. This recipe is nearly identical to our own Sunomono (Japanese Cucumber Salad). We use sugar and rice vinegar instead of the sushi seasoning, and we slice the cucumbers lengthwise for longer ribbons. For more recipes, take a look at these highly rated dishes featuring the glorious cucumber.