Pineapple cucumber salad is a quick, healthy, and refreshing salad with olive oil, lime juice and cilantro. Add avocado and crumbled feta to turn it into a light yet nutritious meal.
If you love easy salad recipes, you will also enjoy our creamy cucumber salad, Greek chickpea salad, and horiatiki Greek salad.
Why you’ll love this recipe…
Louise and I love pineapple cucumber salad and we think you’ll love it too because it’s:
- ⏳ Quick and easy: it takes minutes to prepare with few ingredients.
- 🍍 Sweet, tangy, and savory: mediterranean flavors meet the tropics.
- 💚 Healthy and nutritious: thanks to the combination of pineapple, avocado, and feta.
- 🌈 Colorful and customizable: you can add another cheese, nuts, and other veggies.
- ☀️ Hydrating and refreshing: crisp cucumber, juicy pineapple, perfect for stressful or hot days.
Like our mango salad, broccoli salad, and watermelon salad, this recipe is excellent for BBQs, potlucks, and summer meals or anytime you want something fresh and delicious.
Ingredients
Find complete ingredient list, quantities, and substitutions in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
- Pineapple: substitute mango or strawberries.
- Red onion: substitute shallot.
- Cucumber: substitute shredded carrots.
- Lime juice: substitute lemon juice.
- Extra virgin olive oil.
- Fresh cilantro: substitute fresh basil or mint.
- Avocado: optional.
- Feta cheese: optional. Substitute non-dairy feta to make the recipe vegan.
- Optional ingredients: feel free to add crunchy nuts, mixed seeds, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. Also, if you like spicy, you can add a thinly sliced red chili.
How to make pineapple cucumber salad
Step 1: Cut the pineapple into bite size pieces (see video).
Lie the pineapple on a cutting board and trim off the top and bottom. Now put it in an upright position and cut in half from top to bottom.
Cut each half into four wedges and remove the woody core along the inner edge.
Score the flesh into bite-sized pieces without cutting through the peel. Now run the knife along the inside of the peel to separate the flesh. Transfer pieces to a bowl.
Step 2: Add chopped cucumber, diced avocado, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro.
If serving salad immediately, season with olive oil, freshly squeezed lime juice, salt, and black pepper. Add dressing shortly before serving to prevent the salad getting watery.
Taste it! If your pineapple is not sweet enough you can add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.
Step 3: Serve in the bowl or on a serving platter.
Optionally you can add crumbled Greek feta cheese.
Tips
- Avocado: add avocado shortly before serving the salad as it might turn dark if you add it in advance.
- Adjust sweetness: taste your pineapple. If it’s not sweet enough I’d recommend adding a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.
- Salt: salt pulls water from vegetables and fruit. We recommend seasoning the salad shortly before you serve it. If you add seasoning in advance it might make your salad watery.
- Dressing: if you like your salad with more dressing, try our sweet and tangy cilantro lime dressing recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
You have several protein options depending on your diet:
Omnivores: try it with lemon chicken, baked cod, or shrimps. Anything grilled works well too.
Vegetarians: you’ll love it with our black bean burgers, lentil patties, or zucchini fritters.
Vegans: You’ll love it next to our juicy BBQ tofu, fried tofu, and baked tofu skewers.
Yes, you can use canned pineapple but it won’t give you the same texture and freshness. Canned pineapple is more watery, thinner, softer, and sweeter than fresh pineapple.
Leftovers keep for about 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can make this salad in advance and keep it in the fridge for up to 24 hours. My advice would be to add the avocado and the dressing shortly before serving it. That’s because the avocado turns brown and the dressing will make your salad watery.
More refreshing salad recipes
If you tried this pineapple cucumber salad recipe or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!
Pineapple Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
- 1 pineapple
- 1 cucumber
- ½ small red onion
- 1 handful fresh cilantro
- 1 avocado
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
- 2 twists black pepper or a thinly sliced red chili for spicy
- 3 ounces feta cheese
Instructions
- Cut 1 pineapple into bite size pieces (see video).Lie pineapple on a cutting board and trim off top and bottom. Put it in an upright position and cut in half from top to bottom.Cut each half into four wedges and remove the woody core along the inner edge.Score flesh into bite-sized pieces without cutting through the peel. Run knife along the inside of the peel to separate the flesh. Transfer pieces to a bowl.
- Add 1 cucumber (diced), ½ small red onion (chopped), 1 handful fresh cilantro (chopped), and 1 avocado (diced).If serving salad immediately, season with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and 2 twists black pepper. Taste it! If your pineapple is not sweet enough you can add a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.
- Serve from the bowl or on a serving platter.Optionally, you can add 3 ounces feta cheese crumbled on top.
Video
Notes
- Pineapple: substitute mango or strawberries.
- Red onion: substitute shallot.
- Cucumber: substitute shredded carrots.
- Lime juice: substitute lemon juice.
- Fresh cilantro: substitute fresh basil or mint.
- Feta cheese: optional. Substitute non-dairy feta to make the recipe vegan.
- Optional ingredients: feel free to add crunchy nuts, mixed seeds, a drizzle of honey or maple syrup. Also, if you like spicy, you can add a thinly sliced red chili.
- Avocado: Add just before serving to prevent browning.
- Sweetness: Taste the pineapple—if it lacks sweetness, drizzle with honey or maple syrup.
- Salt: Season just before serving to avoid drawing out moisture and making the salad watery.
- Dressing: Prefer a saucier salad? Try our sweet and tangy cilantro lime dressing!
- Leftovers keep for about 2 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
- If preparing in advance, wait until the last minute to add salt, pepper, olive oil, lime, and avocado to keep the salad fresh, prevent excess moisture, and avoid avocado browning.
Nutrition
Hi! We are Nico & Louise
We’re here to share delicious, easy, and healthy plant-based recipes (vegetarian & vegan) 🌿✨.
Welcome to our blog, we are glad you are here.
My family liked this salad. I’m normally not a fan of feta but found it really good with the avocado. The salad was fresh and different from what we normally have.
HI! Made this tonight, YUM. So delicious! I will be making this salad all spring & summer for sure. Thank you!
Amazing, Janice!! I’m super happy to hear that you liked it, ’cause it’s one of our 2025 favorite salads too 🥳.
Thank you for taking time to comment here. Kindest,
Louise
😁
Super juicy!!!
Its a refreshing salad and so delcious he keep wanting another bite!
So refreshing
Loved this salad