Greek Salad
Greek salad, or “Horiatiki”, is the ultimate combination of freshness, simplicity, and vibrant Mediterranean flavours. A colourful mix of fresh veggies, Kalamata olives, and tangy fetta cheese, drizzled with an olive oil dressing, Greek salad is an easy to prepare and flavourful staple in every Greek kitchen. Perfect as a light dish paired with some protein and carbs or as a side salad to your main meal, this Greek salad recipe brings the bright, bold flavours of Greece straight to your table.
Ingredients
Salad
Tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, fetta.
Dressing
Olive oil, oregano, garlic, lemon zest and juice, salt + pepper.
What else can I add to this Greek Salad?
Some add capsicum to Greek Salad. If capsicums are in season/ and or cheap, I do like to add them sometimes, but they’re expensive when not in season. While the price of cucumber, red onion and tomatoes fluctuate throughout the year, I feel as though the price is more stable and is more cost effective than capsicums. It pays to shop around, you may find a produce shop with decent prices.
Traditional Greek salads don’t include lettuce because in Greece, lettuce grew in the winter and Greek salad was usually served in the summer when tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and capsicum were in season and cheap. While some fruit and vegetables are still season dependent like grapes and stone fruit, nowadays, horticulture has come a long way; enough that produce like that found in Greek salad is usually available all year round, however price does fluctuate depending on seasonality – when, where and how it grows. I’ve seen different types of lettuce available all year round, so if you want to add lettuce to your Greek salad, go ahead and add some.
Alternatives
Tomatoes – I use regular gourmet tomatoes but you use any: roma, vine ripened or cherry toms.
Cucumbers – continental cucumbers can be swapped for Lebanese cucumbers.
Fetta – don’t swap it for Danish fetta, it does not have the same taste. If you’ve ever noticed the different spelling of Greek feta and Greek style fetta and wondered why, read about it here.
Dressing
I keep my salad dressings very simple. Olive oil, lemon zest and juice, garlic, oregano and some salt and pepper. As much as I love salt and vinegar chips, I’m not a fan of adding vinegar to my dressings, it’s sourness is too much for me and I think the lemon adds just enough without being too overpowering. My process with lemons is if you’re going to use the juice, use the zest; it boosts that lemony flavour.
Can I prepare the salad in advance?
Absolutely. Prepare the salad and dressing separately. Slice all the vegetables and place into your serving bow; the olives can be added on top, just make sure to remove them from the brine before adding to the bowl. In a measuring jug, add in all the dressing ingredients, mix to combine. The fetta should be added when the salad is ready to eaten; either crumble or slice into cubes and place into a bowl. Make sure everything is covered in cling film and place into the fridge to preserve your food until serving. Don’t mix everything together until you’re ready to serve; if the dressing is added too early, it will make everything soggy and we want to make sure everything stays crisp.
Keep them in the fridge until needed, it can be prepared up to two days in advance. When ready to serve, pour the dressing, fetta cheese and olives over the salad and mix everything to combine. The salad should last 2 days until everything starts to go soft and the texture changes.
My Best Tips
Others partly peel or completely peel their cucumbers, I don’t suggest it. I think it adds great colour and texture to the salad while also giving you some fibre.
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Serve some bread alongside the salad. The dressing mixed with the fetta and salad leaves very tasty juices at the bottom of the bowl perfect for dipping bread into.
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Greek Salad
Ingredients
- 6 medium tomatoes Note 1
- 1 continental cucumbers Note 2
- 1 red onion
- 200 grams Greek style fetta cheese Note 3
- 100 grams kalamata olives pitted – Note 4
Dressing
- 100 ml olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves peeled, core removed, crushed
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Slice the tomatoes into small wedges by slicing the tomatoes into 8 pieces – basically slicing everything in half until you get 8 pieces.
- Slice the ends off the cucumbers, slice it down the middle and then into half moon pieces.
- Slice between the root and stem end of the red onion, slice off the stem ends, peel the first layer off and then slice it in thin half moon slivers.
- The fetta can either be sliced into bite sized pieces or crumbled over the salad.
- Add the olives to the bowl without the brine.
- In a measuring jug, mix together the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper, this will be the salad dressing.
- Add the dressing to the salad and mix to combine.
- Serve!
Video
Notes
I use gourmet tomatoes, can be swapped for roma, vine ripened or cherry tomatoes. Roma and vine ripened tomatoes can be sliced into large segments and cherry tomatoes in half. Note 2
Swap for 2 Lebanese cucumbers, sliced the same way as a continental cucumber. Note 3
Don’t swap for Danish fetta, it does not have the same taste. Note 4
Green olives can be swapped for kalamata. I prefer pitted olives but you can use either pitted. Just because of the unpitted ones, there still might be fragments left in the olives. Preparing in advance
Chop the salad bits and place into a serving bowl, remove the olives from the brine, they’re fine to be placed on top of the salad; prepare dressing in separate bowl/measuring jug; crumble or chop the fetta into small bits and place into a bowl. Wrap everything in cling film and place into fridge to preserve freshness. Mix everything together right before serving.
