This crunchy Kachumber salad is incredibly easy and refreshing. Made with chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and seasoned with spices, serve it as a side with any Indian food. It is vegan, oil-free, and gluten-free.
This no-oil side salad is a staple in Indian families, especially during meals. It is the best way to add some raw veggies to your meal.
This easy salad is similar to pico de gallo. It uses simple chopped ingredients and basic spices, along with lemon juice, to get the perfect crunchy salad.
If you enjoy this salad, you will love my Indian Cucumber Raita and Indian Onion Salad.
Table of Contents
What is Kachumber?
Kachumber means a mixture or salad in Hindi. It is basically a cucumber, onion, and tomato salad. Made by combining chopped veggies dressed with lemon juice and some spices.
It is traditionally served with dal and curries. You can also enjoy it in burgers, sandwiches, as a dip with chips, and on top of Indian roasted papad.
Every bite is refreshing and crunchy; it is a fantastic salad for any time of year.
Benefits of eating Kachumber
- It’s light, fresh, and satisfying
- It is low in calories
- Great for weight loss (oil-free, vegan, gluten-free)
- Consists of a high amount of water content
- Takes less than 10 minutes to make this quick and easy dish
Ingredients
- Veggies: You’ll need chopped cucumber, tomatoes, and onion. For Cucumber: If using an English or Persian cucumber, peel and chop it. If using regular cucumbers, slice lengthwise and scrape out seeds using a spoon. Then chop the cucumber.
- Spices: To season, you’ll need red chili powder, green chili pepper, cumin powder, and salt. The spices can be adjusted to taste.
- Lime Juice: I like to use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
- Garnish: Use fresh cilantro and/or mint leaves
How to make Kachumber?
You’ll enjoy this quick, easy, and nutritious salad, made with simple ingredients, that is ready in just 10 minutes!
Wash and chop the cucumber, onion, tomatoes, and green chili into small pieces. You want to cut the vegetables so that they are all roughly the same size.
You can also use a chopper to cut the veggies into equal sizes.
In a bowl, combine all the chopped vegetables, spices, and cilantro, and mix well.
Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve.
Variations of Kachumber
There are many different ways to make this salad; you can customize it as you like. Some of the variations are:
- Can add chopped avocado.
- Add cooked chickpeas to make it high-protein.
- Top with pomegranate seeds or roasted peanuts.
- Add grated carrots, beets, or radishes.
- Add chaat masala and black salt (kala namak) for a tangier flavor.
- Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- You can substitute vinegar for lime juice.
What to Serve Kachumber with?
This Indian kachumber salad is a perfect accompaniment to any Indian dish. Some of the recipes are:
This salad is also great to serve with biryani, along with some raita. Below is my egg biryani recipe.
You can also use it in your veggie wraps or serve it with your burgers!
Common Questions
Yes, you can prepare it in advance till the chopping part and store it in the refrigerator. While serving, mix everything along with the spices and lemon juice.
I will suggest making it fresh, so its crunchiness stays. But you can store it for a day in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Hope you enjoy this easy Kachumber salad with your next meal!
More Fresh Salad Recipes
Kachumber (Easy 10-Minute Indian Salad)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cucumber, chopped*
- 1 cup Tomato, chopped
- 1/2 cup Red Onions, chopped*
- 1 Green Chili Pepper, small, optional, chopped*
- 1 tablespoon Cilantro leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon Roasted Cumin Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Red Chili powder (Mirchi powder)
- 2 teaspoon Lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Wash and chop cucumber, onion, tomatoes, green chili pepper into small pieces.
- In a bowl, add all the chopped veggies, spices, cilantro and mix well.
- Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve.
I forgot to give this a rating…. so I’m posting a second comment
Thank you so much!
I made it for lunch today and it was great. Thanks for this and all your other great recipes.
It sounds so yummy 😋❤️❤️❤️
Hi – Hope you enjoy it 🙂
Love it ….. I add little minced mint in it too !
Love it ….. I add little minced mint in it too !
Also I use vinegar in it
It was nice to go through your post. Thanks for sharing the recipe here. Keep up the good work.
this is the perfect side dish! I just made it and it turned out great
Hi August – Happy to hear you enjoyed the kachumber salad.
sorry just saw this now will be making this soon can i skip green chili pepper as am not a big fan of it i never had salad before will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya
Hi Ramya – Sure, you can skip the green chili peppers. I hope you enjoy this salad!