Easy Polish Cucumber Salad with Sour Cream (Mizeria)
This easy cucumber salad is one of the most popular polish salads, and for a good reason. It’s light and fresh, super versatile, needs only a few simple ingredients and requires less than 10 minutes of hands-on time.
Mizeria, the salad’s name in polish, can be roughly translated to misery, but that salad is nothing like it.
In Poland, we often serve this cucumber salad alongside boiled or mashed potatoes and rich, meat-heavy mains, but it works great in almost any setting when you need a light and fresh side dish.
One of the reasons it’s so popular, besides the short ingredients list, is because you can seamlessly integrate it into cooking almost anything.
Got a few spare minutes? Slice the cucumbers and start sweating them. Getting ready to serve? Drain the water, and mix in the other ingredients. Done.
(This Polish sauerkraut salad or this Polish tomato salad are other quick & easy side dish options you can get ready in no time.)
If you’re making this salad for the first time, read the ingredients notes, step-by-step instructions, and tips. If you’re a veteran, feel free to skip to the recipe card.
Ingredients
One thing that the image above is missing is lemon juice. I was in a bit of a hurry and forgot to include it. Besides, it tastes great without it, too.
Ingredients Notes and Substitutes
- Cucumber. I prefer English cucumbers for this recipe, but any slicing cucumbers will work.
- Sour cream. If you want to reduce calories, use a dense greek or regular yogurt. Or skyr, an Icelandic yogurt that’s typically super low-fat or fat-free. You might need to add a bit more lemon juice to adjust the taste.
- Lemon juice. You can substitute 1/2 tsp of apple cider vinegar for 1 tsp lemon juice or even skip it altogether if you don’t have a lemon handy.
- Powdered sugar. You can use granular sugar or skip it entirely.
- Salt. I use sea salt, so if you’re using kosher salt, you’ll probably need to add a bit more.
- Dill. Fresh is best for flavor, but frozen works well too. I usually have a bunch of chopped dill in the freezer and use it in all sorts of dishes, including mizeria. If you don’t have any on hand, skipping it won’t break the dish.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Prep. Peel and thinly slice the cucumber. Feel free to skip peeling if the cucumbers are small and the skin is soft.
- Sweat. Move the slices to a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, and mix everything well. To better cover the slices, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt, briefly toss, and repeat until you use up the salt. Then cover and set aside for at least 10 minutes.
- Drain the cucumber juices from the bowl. Squeeze in the cucumbers a bit using your hands or a spoon and drain all the juices.
- Add the rest. Add sour cream, lemon juice, dill, powdered sugar, and pepper, and mix everything well.
- Taste. Add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed.
- Serve immediately.
Recipe Tips
- Use a box grater or mandoline for uniform slices and to speed things up.
- This recipe is really forgiving. If all you have is a cucumber, some sour cream, and salt, it should still turn out quite alright.
- Storage. The dressing will become more watery if left overnight (or longer) in the fridge. Add an extra tablespoon of sour cream (and maybe some salt) before serving to make it more creamy.
What to Serve With Polish Cucumber Salad
Mizeria is typically served as a side dish, which means it pairs well with a variety of other recipes. Here are some ideas to get you going:
- Meaty mains. Mizeria’s fresh, tangy flavor is a great counterpoint to rich, hearty meats. This could be something like grilled sausages, roasted pork, or chicken. Or you could go with Polish classics such as pork cutlets (schabowy), meat pierogi, or even Polish open-faced sandwich. Fried or poached fish is also an option.
- Starchy sides. Boiled or mashed potatoes are the typical pairing for this cucumber salad, but you can also choose something more involved, like vegetable pancakes. Some options include potato pancakes, eggplant pancakes, or zucchini pancakes. The salad provides a nice balance to the heavier pancakes.
Polish Cucumber Salad (Mizeria)
Ingredients
- 1 english cucumber or 1½ slicing cucumber, about 400 grams
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp dill, chopped fresh or frozen
- pinch powdered sugar
- pinch pepper
Instructions
- Prep the cucumber. Peel and thinly slice the cucumber.
- Sweat. Place the slices in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and toss, then cover for at least 10 minutes.
- Drain the juices from the bowl.
- Add the rest. Add sour cream, lemon juice, powdered sugar, dill, and pepper, and mix everything.
- Taste. Add more salt, pepper, or lemon juice if needed.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Sweating the cucumbers for longer, like 30 to 40 minutes, helps release more liquid, making the salad less soggy if not served immediately.
- Refrigerate the cucumbers if sweating for more than 10 to 15 minutes.
- If using a large or old cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise and remove the seeds using a knife or a fork. The seeds on these tend to hold water, making your salad watery.
- Add more sour cream if you like. The 3 tablespoons in this recipe are enough to cover the slices but not much more.
- Taste before serving. That half a teaspoon of salt I recommend is enough to sweat the cucumbers, but you might need to add a pinch or two more to adjust the taste before serving.
- Consider serving in separate bowls. The cucumbers continue sweating after you prepare the salad, and things might end up a bit watery if served on a single plate with everything else.
