Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim 오이무침)
Korean Cucumber Salad – is the only name I could come up with in English. Funny thing is, I also had a hard time with the Korean name too -is it Oi Muchim (오이무침) or is it Oi Saengche (오이생채)? As you can probably guess, “oi” means cucumber. But then the next word comes from different origins…
So, here’s a short Korean language lesson. Did you know that the Korean language vocabulary is made up of two different sets of words? One that originates from the Chinese characters (한자 Hanja) which is called Sino-Korean vocabulary and then another that is “pure” Korean that originates from Korean characters called Hangeul(한글). The great King Sejong created this phonetically based Korean alphabet Hangeul in 1443 because Koreans have their own spoken language but were borrowing Chinese characters to write. “King Sejong explained that the Korean language was fundamentally different from Chinese; using Chinese characters (known as hanja) to write was so difficult for the common people that only privileged aristocrats (yangban, 양반) could read and write fluently. The majority of Koreans were effectively illiterate before the invention of Hangul.”(Wikipedia) I think that’s pretty awesome.. don’t you? 🙂
So, Muchim means to ‘coat/toss in sauce” in pure Korean. Whereas Saengche comes from chinese word 生菜 which means ‘live vegetables’ as opposed to dead=cooked. Haha.. Well, anyway, so my Korean cucumber salad recipe can go by both, oi muchim or oi saengche. I have to let you you know that my recipe is not the common Korean cucumber side dish recipe where it is heavily coated in yangnyeom of chili powder and garlic. Those are really good too but I like my Korean cucumber salad to have a lighter seasoning which allows the refreshing taste of cucumbers to come through.
This Korean cucumber salad or side dish is great as a last minute kind of a side dish since it takes less than 5 minutes to make (depends on how fast you can cut! haha). This cucumber salad or muchim can be a great side dish to a BBQ or for lunch boxes. I actually got the idea to do this post after seeing one a recent post from a blog I follow. She has some really cute ideas for dosirak or lunchboxes so check her out!
Simple Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim) Recipe
Servings: 2 Cooking Time: 5 min Difficulty: EASY
Ingredients are listed in Recipe Card below – and it’s adjustable too!
Step-by-step instructions for Korean Cucumber Salad
- Slice cucumbers into thin slices. Around 1/8 inch (3 mm).
whole Japanese cucumber 
Cucumber slices for Oi Muchim (Korean cucumber salad or side dish) - Mix soy sauce, vinegar and sugar in a bowl. Pour soy vinegar into the bowl with cucumbers.
- Then, add 1/2 tsp chili powder and sesame seeds. Mix and taste. If you like spicy stuff, add more chili powder. Doing it in this order allows you to taste and control the amount of chili powder based on how spicy you want it.
korean cucumber salad in soy vinegar dressing with chili powder - Add chopped green onions and mix again.
- YOU ARE DONE!! Serve immediately for the most fresh and crunchy cucumber flavor. You can also let it sit for 10-15 minutes for the cucumbers to absorb the dressing.
Korean cucumber salad or Oi Muchim
Cook’s Tips
- You can refrigerate for few days and can be served cold. Just freshen it up with some fresh green onions and sesame seeds.
- My Korean cucumber salad or Oi Muchim recipe is more like a salad than the common, heavier seasoned, more spicy, and garlicky Oi Muchim that you see on most online recipes. The heavier seasoned Korean cucumber salad or Oi Muchim is good also but I kind of like this one because you can really taste the freshness of cucumbers.
If you have tried this Korean Cucumber Salad or any other recipe on my blog then please don’t forget to rate the recipe (top right of the recipe card below) and leave me a comment to let me know how you like it! I’d LOVE to hear from you! 😍
You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, PINTEREST and INSTAGRAM or join my FACEBOOK GROUP to see other Korean recipes to ask and share everything about Korean food with others just like you!
Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim 오이무침)
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber (Japanese, English, Persian, Pickling are all good) – about 1 1/2 cup sliced for 1 cucumber
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce (Jin Ganjang)
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp Korean red chili powder
- 1/4 tsp sesame seeds
- 2 green onions , chopped
Instructions
- Slice cucumbers into thin slices. Around 1/8 inch (3 mm).
- Mix soy sauce, vinegar and sugar in a bowl. Pour soy vinegar into the bowl with cucumbers.
- Then, add 1/2 tsp chili powder and sesame seeds. Mix and taste. Add more chili powder if you want. Doing it in this order allows you to taste and control the amount of chili powder based on how spicy you want it.
- Add chopped green onions and mix again.
- YOU ARE DONE!! Serve immediately for the most fresh and crunchy cucumber flavor. You can also let it sit for 10-15 minutes for the cucumbers to absorb the dressing before serving.
Tips & Notes:
My Korean cucumber salad or Oi Muchim recipe is more like a salad than the common, heavier seasoned, more spicy, and garlicky Oi Muchim that you see on most online recipes. The heavier seasoned Korean cucumber salad or Oi Muchim stands up well to heavier Korean BBQs whereas mine is more appropriate for lighter meals as sides to fried rice, fish, noodles, etc.
Nutrition Information:
If you don’t want or like soy sauce, you can make my Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad without Soy Sauce recipe – one of my followers told me she loves it so much that she makes it even with non-Korean meals.
Enjoy~ ❤
JinJoo
Made a triple recipe for my pot luck group. For the Chili, I used 1 part Guajillo 2 parts cayenne. The cayenne has a brighter flavor while the Guajillo is a bit milder but imparts a darker flavor making for a interesting mix
NICE!!! Thanks so much for sharing the gochugaru substitute! Yes, Korean chili powder is multi-flavored so your mix sounds great. I will have to try your mix. Have a great pot luck!
Glad to hear I’m ot the only one who mixes cuisines. I throw a poblano chili or two in recipes like gamjatang and dakdortang because it adds a very warm under-note without increasing the spiciness. Yum!
Ooh adding poblano chilli sounds wonderful! Thanks for the idea Judith!! Take care –
Had this at Disney World 5yrs ago at the ‘Yak and Yeti’ and asked for the recipe (almost the same). It’s awesomely refreshing in the summer. Love it!
Oh that’s so interesting! So glad you found my recipe to your liking! Thank you for commenting – Enjoy!!
Hi JinJoo. Red chili powder is one of the ingredients of this recipe. Is the same as the generic chili powder in the spice aisle? Thanks!
Hi Traci! Thank you for asking – Korean red chili powder is a bit different from the generic chili powder. It is lot more flavorful (sort of alive in flavor?) and spicier than most. If you are going to do a lot of Korean cooking, I really recommend that you buy some good Korean gochukaru – you can buy some from my Amazon store if you don’t have any Korean grocery stores nearby. But if you don’t want to buy separately, I guess you can try a combination of generic chili powder and red pepper flakes with seeds. That should work. Or you could make yourself some red chili oil by frying those little dry red chilis in oil first – but that’s extra work. 😉 Hope this helps!
Thank you so much for linking to my blog post. I love your recipes and have learned a lot about Korean recipes.
Hi JinJoo. Have you removed the ability to pin recipes to Pinterest and to print recipes with pictures? I am unable to do either with your cucumber salad recipe.
Hi! That’s strange..I have not changed anything. I just tested on my phone and pinterest works. Does nothing happen when you try? Or do you get an error? Try restarting your browser or device. Ler me know if you still have problems. Thank you!