Watermelon Cucumber Salsa Recipe is the essence of summer! It’s sweet, cool and refreshing — and it can be served as a snack with chips or alongside grilled chicken or fish for a fabulous dinner al fresco!
This salsa says poolside snack, it screams summer barbecue appetizer, it cools me off just to look at it, and it happens to be one of my favorite weekend recipes in the summertime!
This Watermelon Cucumber Salsa is the best, most delicious way to celebrate summer!
What’s in Watermelon Cucumber Salsa?
- watermelon and cucumber (of course!)
- scallions
- cilantro
- jalapeño peppers
- lime juice
- cayenne pepper, salt, freshly ground black pepper (and sugar, depending on the sweetness of the watermelon)
What to Serve with this Recipe
This salsa is incredibly versatile and works alongside a handful of foods.
It’s divine over fish, shellfish, chicken, rice, on a tortilla chip, or even as a light summer side dish!
Spoon this summer fruit salsa over tacos, burritos and nachos! I’ve done it and people love it!
Tips for Making Watermelon Cucumber Salsa Recipe
- Make this as close to serving time as you can — or, if you have to make in advance (which is fine!), drain it a bit before serving. This is a salsa that will become very juicy the longer it sits.
- ONLY add sugar (to taste), if the watermelon you’re using isn’t as sweet as you’d like it to be. Otherwise, it’s not needed.
- If you want more heat, add more jalapeño and/or cayenne pepper.
- If you can find red jalapeños, they add even more beauty to this colorful salsa.
Here are a few more of my favorite summer salsa recipes:
- Grape-Plum Summer Salsa
- Roasted Double Hatch Chile Pineapple Salsa
- Roasted Hatch Chile-White Peach Salsa
- Roasted Tomato Poblano Salsa
- Cherry Salsa from Krumpli
I hope you love this Watermelon Cucumber Salsa recipe as much as my family and I do!
Update June 2019: This recipe was originally published in 2012, and has been updated with new images and information.
Watermelon Cucumber Salsa Recipe is the essence of summer! It's sweet, cool and refreshing -- and it can be served as a snack with chips or alongside grilled chicken or fish for a fabulous dinner al fresco!
Makes about 3 cups
- 2 cups watermelon, small dice
- 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeds removed, small dice
- 1/3 cup scallions, finely chopped, white and green portions
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons jalapeño, washed and dried, seeds removed, very finely chopped
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- salt, freshly ground black pepper and sugar to taste
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Gently combine all of the ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt, pepper and sugar. (Here's How to Season to Taste.)
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Keep the salsa covered in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve!
Oooh…I have all the ingredients, including yellow cukes. That would look pretty along with the green ones!
Adair, ooh I love yellow cucumbers!
try it with feta cheese crumbles!
: )
oh yum! sounds delish!
This really is a great cold soup recipe, it was dinner tonight because of our 97 degree weather. I served it with a bowl of chilled old bay seasoned shrimp.
Indian Gazpacho
5 large vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger root, peeled and minced
1 cup coconut milk
1 large vine-ripened tomato, whole
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Directions
Combine the chopped tomatoes, red onion, ginger, and coconut milk in a blender and puree until smooth. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. Core the whole tomato and add to blender. Pulse the blender 5 times, or until the tomato is coarsely chopped. Transfer the gazpacho to the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.
Serve the soup in small chilled bowls, garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
Barbara — this soup sounds lovely! Thank you for sharing with us! 🙂
This sounds awesome.
summer foods to me are salads, watermelon and lemonade.
Thanks for your comment, Micki! Yes, lemonade is so, so summertime to me, too! 🙂
I have lots of watermelon in the fridge – thank you Valentina for sharing a great new way to enjoy it! Happy Summer!
So much easier to stand the heat with this beautiful salad Valentina. Thank you so very much and have a pleasant day 🙂
Thank you so much! Hope you have a lovely day, too. 🙂 ~Valentina
Love fruit in salsa! This looks wonderful — TONS of flavor and a lot of texture. Thanks!
Many thanks, John. I hope you love it! ~Valentina
One of the BEST summer salads! So refreshing and tasty.
Thank you, Angie! 😀
When you think of it, cucumbers are melons also… So it makes perfect sense to mix them with the watermelon! I look forward to trying this once melons come in the season here!
Thank you for teaching me that cucumbers a melon! Something I should have known, but I admit I had no idea. And now that I think about its structure, of course it’s a melon! So yes, my salsa makes even more sense now. 🙂 Hope you love it. ~Valentina
This is completely new to me. I’ve had watermelon salad and was so surprised at how delicious it was. I have a feeling this salsa is really tasty.
I hope you love it, Jeff. It’s an unexpected salsa combination — and so good! ~Valentina
Valentina, this salsa looks so refreshing! I love when cool, sweet, and spicy are combined. Such a flavor explosion!
Thanks, Kelly. Me too. 🙂 Enjoy! ~Valentina
I don’t think of using cucumbers often enough. Love the idea of them in this watermelon salsa, it is perfect for summer.
Thanks, Karen. Hope you give it a try over the summer. 🙂 ~Valentina
I love fruit salsas and using watermelon just makes sense. I’ll bet this tastes fabulous served with a grilled chicken breast!
Yes! It does. Thanks, Kathy! 🙂 ~Valentina
Another great salsa recipe. I love the watermelon and cucumber combo and it certainly appears to pack a sweet punch. Well done and worthy of a return appearance.
Thanks for the kind words, Ron. I do love this one. Hope you’re having a lovely weekend. ~Valentina
I’m patiently waiting for California melons to come in. This salsa recipe would be a fabulous way to enjoy their arrival!
Thanks, Deb. The watermelon at our local market in LA has already been so sweet! I was surprised so early. Have a lovely weekend. 🙂 ~Valentina
This salsa sounds delicious, Valentina! We eat watermelon like it’s going out of style in the summer, but now I want to whip up a batch of salsa. I love the addition of jalapenos in this one. We didn’t plant any jalapenos this year – the thought of a garden was a bit too much given all of the work in the new house. But I still have a big bag of frozen jalapenos from last year’s harvest…and there are some red ones in there! Now I know how to use ’em! 🙂
Thanks, David. Awesome you froze last year’s jalapeños. And yes, way too much while moving into a new house — dust will be settled for next summer. 🙂 Cheers! ~Valentina
What a refreshing and tasty salsa, it hits the spot on a hot day.
It does! Thanks. 🙂 ~Valentina