Greek Salad & Dressing

One of my favorite summer salads is Greek Salad. It’s a salad that you will find at all greek restaurants and taverns and goes well with absolutely anything, meat, fish or just with a slice of nice warm bread to dip in the juices of the tomato, olive oil and vinegar. It’s very simple to prepare with ingredients that we all have in our fridge in the summer and it takes less than 15 minutes to chop all the vegetables and put them in a bowl.

Here I’m sharing with you the recipe for a traditional Greek salad and dressing. Make sure you use fresh vegetables and a block of nice tangy feta cheese to get the best results. Stay with me for more tips and let’s get started!

Why you should try my recipe

• This is an AUTHENTIC recipe for Greek Salad (no lettuce here!)
• Great summer salad that can be made vegan with just one substitution
• Ready in less than 15 minutes
• A perfect side dish to any meal

Ingredients & How-to

The secret in making the best Greek salad is to use nice fresh vegetables and good quality feta cheese. The recipe has only a few ingredients, so I just like to gather all my vegetables on the table, give them a good wash and then get ready for chopping. I always start with the onion first, I peel it, cut it into slices and I add it to a bowl with ice cold water. The cold water helps to get all the heat out of the onion, allowing all of its sweetness to shine through.

Then I continue with cutting the tomatoes into big slices. I cut one in half, remove the hard green bit and then cut each half into 3-4 slices depending on the size of a tomato. Make sure you have red juicy tomatoes as this will add extra flavor to the salad juices. Same with the green pepper, I just remove the hard stem and the seeds, and then cut it into quarters and then slices. As I cut my veggies, I add them straight to my salad bowl and continue with the next one.

You will also need a cucumber around your hand size, so I use one or half, depending on what I can find at the market. I just peel it, cut it in half and then into half-circle slices. Then I drain the onion and add it to my salad bowl too. And we are done with the chopping! I top up with the kalamata olives, around 10 to 15. You can use pitted or not, I prefer the ones with pits, but I will leave it entirely to you.

Now it’s time for the Greek salad dressing! The Greek salad has a really simple healthy dressing that contains only extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and oregano. That’s it! Of course, people like to experiment and add more to it but here I want to share with you the traditional greek salad recipe and that has nothing more than that. I just combine the ingredients in a small bowl and pour it over the salad.

Before adding the feta cheese, I like to give my salad a good stir at this point. This will help all the vegetables to get some more flavor from the dressing and also to release all the juices from the tomatoes. If you would like to add any salt to the salad I recommend doing it at this point too. Finally, I add the feta cheese on top, either the whole block or I just break it into smaller bits with my fingers. If you can handle some more olive oil (we Greeks love it!) then drizzle some on top and add a sprinkle of oregano too. That’s it, ready to serve!

Serving suggestions

You can have it on its own with some bread or as a side dish with some meat or fish. It goes great with grilled meat and barbecues.

If you are serving little ones then I would recommend using pitted olives cut in half and do not add any salt to the salad as the feta cheese is already too salty for babies.

Storage

I recommend having the Greek salad on the same day but if you decide to store it in the fridge for the next day, be aware that the tomatoes will become a bit more soft and the salad will get more watery. Still, it’s going to taste good but you will lose on the texture.

FAQ

• Why do you add the onions in cold water? Ice cold water helps to get the heat out of the onions that make them too sharp and enhances their sweet flavor.

• What does the Greek salad dressing contain? The authentic Greek salad dressing has only three ingredients: extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and oregano.

• Can I store the Greek salad in the fridge for the next day? Yes you can, but be mindful that the tomatoes will get soft and soggy and the salad might be more watery the next day.

• Can I give Greek salad to my baby? Yes, Greek salad has loads of vegetables and is very healthy for babies and toddlers. You will just need to use pitted olives cut in half and avoid adding any salt, as the feta cheese is already too salty for young children.

• Is Greek salad vegan? Greek salad is not vegan as it contains feta cheese. If you substitute the feta cheese with an alternative vegan one, then you will get a vegan Greek salad.

• Is Greek salad keto friendly? Greek salad is low in carbs and has more healthy fats coming from the extra virgin olive oil and feta cheese. Hence it is considered a keto friendly salad.