Are Cucumbers Keto Friendly? | Bacon Ranch Cucumber Salad Recipe

Cucumber slices are a delicious treat on a hot summer day. Growing up, creamy cucumber salad always had a spot on my backyard BBQ plate. A hot dog with all of the trimmings, plus sliced cucumber mixed with red onion dripping in sour cream is one of the best ways to celebrate summer!

When I began a keto diet, I knew I had to figure out a recipe for a low carb cucumber salad. The problem is – I’m a delicate keto flower. Even though cucumbers make a great keto-friendly snack, I don’t tolerate dairy well. So long keto cucumber salad recipe 😔

It’s not all bad news. I created a low carb keto cucumber salad I love where you can easily replace the dairy.

Before we get into the specifics about cucumbers and why they’re the perfect food to add to your keto meal plan, I wanted to let you know this blog contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission if you click through. I also link to the same info that’s helped me lose 100 pounds with a low carb lifestyle. Click through so this info can help you too!

 

Are Cucumbers Keto Friendly?

When you began a ketogenic diet, you may have asked yourself is a cucumber a keto-friendly vegetable?

First things first – cucumbers are technically a fruit. Most people group them into a low carb vegetables list because they’re dark green.

Whether you call fresh cucumbers a fruit, or you keep them on your keto vegetables list, the short answer is yes – keto dieters can enjoy cucumbers. The trick is, like with any low sugar fruit, you don’t want to eat too much cucumber on a low carb diet.

Even though cucumbers have a high water content, they still contain nearly 11 grams of carbs per whole cucumber. That’s 7 grams of net carbs if you track net carb counts on a low-carb diet. We always teach Keto Decoded members to go by grams of total carbs – but tomato, tomato.

As long as you keep track of the carb count of cucumbers you add to keto recipes, enjoying a cup of cucumber should keep you in keto compliance. That means this bacon ranch cucumber keto salad can become a staple on your keto salads list.

Health Benefits of Cucumbers

Beyond monitoring the carb content in cucumbers, these crunchy low-carb vegetables – err fruit, can make a great addition to your keto menu since they come with several health benefits.

Cucumbers contain several important vitamins – like vitamin K. This helps with strong bones and helps produce proteins that are essential for blood clotting. They also contain smaller amounts of vitamin A and vitamin C.

Another health benefit of this fresh summer-time produce is it’s made up of a lot of water. With more than 95% of the cucumber being water, eating cucumbers as a side dish can help keep you feeling full. Not constantly thinking about what your next snack will be is a great way to keep weight loss coming on a low carb diet.

Since cucumbers also have fiber, studies show they can help blood sugar levels stay in a good range.

Finally, cucumbers are a good source of antioxidants. With their unique mix of flavonoids, lignans, and triterpenes – they protect cells from free radicals and can lessen inflammation. If you want best results on a keto diet, reducing inflammation is key!

How Simple Keto Recipes Keep You On Track

A good way to stick to keto is to keep recipes simple. 

Let’s face it – most of us lead busy lives. You probably don’t have a chunk of time set aside to whip up lengthy gourmet meals that fit into your keto macros. Not only are you in a hurry, but you could still crave the carbs that are sure to keep you out of ketosis.

Not having easy meals on hand + craving a quick carb energy fix if often how the keto diet ball gets dropped. This tiny snowball starts rolling and leads to a bigger avalanche of events. These daily mishaps lead you astray from following your keto diet. Just like that – you’re upset because you failed another diet!

Side note – I’m not quite sure how I went from talking about this simple recipe to you giving up on keto. I guess more than 20 years of following diet dogma can do that to a girl! I suppose I wanted to give a good lead in to the fact that this recipe is stupidly simple.

That’s exactly what you need to stick to keto long term – recipes that are stupidly simple. And of course, delicious! The good thing about this recipe is it takes less than 5 minutes to prepare. It’s a favorite among Keto Challengers who make good use of my Mix and Match Recipe Guide, so it fits the delicious part too.

Challengers often lose between 10-25 lbs in less than 3 weeks eating simple recipes like these – so there’s definitely a method to this keto blog madness!

How to Make a Bacon, Cucumber and Ranch Salad

Let’s get to those easy recipe instructions, shall we?

This salad is one of my favorite keto bacon recipes. As long as you have a keto ranch dressing recipe you love on hand, this is a simple 4 ingredient keto recipe. 

All you need to put this bacon avocado keto recipe together is 5 thick slices of bacon, 1 cup of cucumbers, 1/2 an avocado and 3/4 oz of ranch dressing.

I often add it to my 5 ingredient keto recipes list because I love adding chopped green onions to the mix. Sprinkling the finished salad with dried minced garlic, salt and black pepper also makes this salad delish!

To put this salad together, start by chopping the bacon into crumbles. If you didn’t already meal prep bacon earlier in the week, then you’ll first need to fry 5 slices and allow it to cool before crumbling.

Next time remember to cook a batch of bacon to use for easy recipes like this throughout the week. I typically cook a batch on the weekends on my favorite bacon griddle. I keep leftovers in an airtight container to use throughout the week.

Once the bacon is chopped, slice the cucumbers and the avocado. I also jazz this salad up with green onions – but you can choose whichever other veggies you prefer.

Then layer the cucumbers, avocado and bacon on a plate.

Drizzle the salad with a homemade keto ranch dressing. I specified homemade since most store bought dressings are filled with inflammatory oils, like soybean oil. Even though many are low in carbs, highly inflammatory dressings are the enemy on a keto diet!

Since dairy is often my enemy, I also typically use a ranch dressing made from avocado oil, spices and coconut milk. Feel free to use a buttermilk ranch recipe if you’re not quite the delicate keto flower I am.

 

The Bacon, Cucumber & Ranch Salad Wrap Up

Voila – just like that you have a delicious creamy cucumber recipe you whipped up in just a few minutes. Didn’t I tell you this recipe was simple?

Keeping keto simple is the way to keep losing weight! Or start losing weight if you haven’t gotten to that part yet.

If you’re looking for even more keto salad recipes to keep your meal plan simple, check out this chicken bacon avocado salad. There’s a few more steps than this easy keto salad – but that’s only because eating cooked chicken is important!

A few of my favorite salads made with ground beef include layered taco salad and a twist on the fast food fave – a keto Big Mac salad.

Keep scrolling for the recipe card and nutrition facts. Remember to save this to your favorite keto salad Pinterest board. If you love this easy recipe – sharing is caring. Spread the word on your favorite social media platform too!

 

Lose More Weight on a Keto Diet

Weight loss doesn’t have to be hard on a keto diet.

When you take the Keto Quick Start Course, you’ll learn everything Keto Challengers learn. This course helps them get started with a simple keto plan. Since most challengers lose between 10 – 25 lbs in only 3 weeks, knowing what they know is a good thing!

In less than 60 minutes, you can be on your way to finally figuring out how to lose weight with keto! With bonuses like the Fasting Fast Start Guide, you’ll save plenty of money, time, and frustration when it comes to weight loss with a keto lifestyle.

 

Are Cucumbers Keto Friendly? | An Easy Keto Cucumber Recipe

More Fat Burning Recipes from Eating Fat is the New Skinny:

Chicken Egg Roll in a Bowl

Shredded Chicken and Bacon Alfredo

Bacon Wrapped Chicken with Spicy Cheese Sauce

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