Open-Faced Cucumber Sandwiches Recipe

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Cucumber sandwiches are simple to make, budget-friendly, snackable and filling. What’s not to like?

I eat them open-faced just like my dad used to. You can use mayo or cream cheese or butter or avocado spread, practically any spice or seasoning, and you get the refreshing crunch of a pickle without the heavy salty, garlic flavors. Just a carte blanche of summer vegetable-garden goodness.

Let’s take a look at how easy this is. I’ll show you my family’s jumping-off point for an open-face cucumber sandwich and you can take it from there!

What is a cucumber sandwich?

My version? A cucumber sandwich uses white bread with mayonnaise, sliced cucumbers, and seasonings. That’s it. There are many different versions of this delightful sandwich, though.

You can make one in five minutes or less, and you’ll likely have everything you need in the kitchen.

The best bread for cucumber sandwiches

We prefer to serve these sandwiches on the softest white bread that we can find. We prefer a “normal” white sandwich bread, not a Texas toast style thick bread. Meanwhile, that kind of bread to have for these sandwiches is a hotly-debated topic.

This is a delicate sandwich, a classic tea sandwich, if you will—so you’ll want to avoid overly flavored, tough, thick, dense or seedy bread. 

What kind of cucumber is best?

We recommend English or “mini” cucumbers for being thin-skinned and nearly seed-free. But I’ve made this also with traditional cucumbers found in almost every grocery store.

The trick, really, is to cut the cucumbers into very thin round slices, not chunks or spears. 

Recipe variation ideas

You can dress this sandwich up in many different ways. Your options are practically endless. Use our recipe below as a foundation and then experiment from there. 

• Add fresh thyme. Remove the sprigs of thyme from the stem and sprinkle it on top of the mayo before you put down the cucumbers. The mayo will help keep the sprigs from falling off the sandwich.
• Add cream cheese. Replace the mayonnaise with a thin spread of whipped cream cheese for a tangy, flavorful base.
• Crack open a very ripe avocado, mix with salt, pepper and lime, and spread thinly onto the bread before adding cucumber.
• Add radish slices to the sandwich. Radishes have a peppery flavor and will add crunch to the sandwich.
• Top with microgreens or sprouts for even more freshness.

Ingredients 

Bread

We love to use the freshest white bread that we can find. Many people like to use rye bread, and that is tasty as well. Whichever kind of bread you use, make sure that it’s fresh and soft. 

Mayonnaise

There is always a time for low-fat and no-fat mayo, but we love the richness of Duke’s or Hellmann’s for this one.

Salt

Pinch of table salt. But if you want to be fancy, use fleur de sel, sea salt, pink Himalayan, or a steak seasoning. I love Trader Joe’s Everything Bagel seasoning, but any spice mix will work in measured amounts. Just don’t skip that touch of salt.

Cucumbers

We prefer to use English cucumbers, but any ol’ cucumber should be perfectly fine. For regular cucumbers, best to peel it first since the skin is tough on this kind of cuke.

Pepper

We very much prefer cracked pepper over ground pepper on this sandwich. White pepper is also a nice touch.

Paprika

This is the secret ingredient that makes this sandwich tasty and unique. Experiment with plain paprika and smoked paprika. (We love the smoked paprika, and it is really the only spice we need other than salt.Just start out with less until you learn how much you like.)

The bottom line

We have other ways to use up those gifted home-grown cukes. How about cucumber water, and a simple cucumber tomato salad. Or a list of cucumber and cream cheese recipes?

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