Celery Free Cucumber Mint Sauce
Cool, bright, and herbaceous, this blended sauce is the kind of thing you'll want to drizzle over everything from grilled chicken to roasted vegetables. The combination of fresh mint, lemon juice, and lemon zest gives it a lively, garden-fresh flavor that feels both light and deeply satisfying. Salting and draining the cucumber first is the secret move here — it pulls out excess moisture so the sauce stays thick and cohesive rather than watery. A quick pulse in the blender keeps the texture pleasantly chunky, while a slow drizzle of olive oil brings it all together into something that looks and tastes far more impressive than the effort involved. Every single ingredient in this recipe is naturally free of celery and celery derivatives, so there's no label-checking or substitution stress to deal with. Fresh parsley adds a subtle earthiness if you have it on hand, but the sauce holds its own beautifully without it. Make a batch ahead and keep it in the fridge — it's just as good the next day spooned over a grain bowl or used as a dipping sauce for warm flatbread.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
- 1 medium english cucumber, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves, packed
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- ¼ tsp sea salt, or to taste
- ⅛ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the chopped cucumber in a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. Sprinkle with a pinch of the sea salt and let it drain for 15 minutes, until the cucumber has released most of its excess water.
- 2
Transfer the drained cucumber to a blender or food processor. Add the mint leaves, parsley (if using), garlic, lemon juice, and lemon zest.
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