The Greek salad is a quintessential fresh summer dish, one of the most representative recipes of traditional Greek cuisine, alongside tzatziki and moussaka. Enjoyed all over Greece and reinterpreted around the world, the Greek salad is often subject to less orthodox variations which alter its authentic simplicity.
The original Greek salad recipe requires very few but essential ingredients: Greek DOP feta, served as a whole block, ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and the indispensable Kalamata olives. To these are often added thinly sliced red onion and raw green bell pepper, all dressed with plenty of extra virgin olive oil and a generous sprinkle of dried oregano.
Contrary to what one might think, the Greek salad as we know it today is not an ancient dish but took shape in the 1960s, during the tourist boom. For this reason, outside its original context, it often undergoes contamination: among the most common, the addition of vinegar, lettuce, or other salad greens, ingredients completely foreign to the traditional Greek recipe.
Another widespread simplification, but not authentic, is cutting the feta into cubes. The true Greek salad requires the feta to be whole, placed over the vegetables, ready to be portioned at the table. This is because, originally, it was a sharing dish, served centrally and consumed in company, in the convivial spirit of the Greek table.
If you want to prepare an authentic Greek salad like in Greece, all you need are simple ingredients, a drizzle of good olive oil, and the will to respect a tradition that, although recent, has become one of the tastiest and most genuine symbols of Mediterranean cuisine.
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- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 1 Person
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Greek
- Seasonality: Summer
- Energy 381.90 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 18.04 (g) of which sugars 8.38 (g)
- Proteins 12.84 (g)
- Fat 30.46 (g) of which saturated 11.50 (g)of which unsaturated 6.10 (g)
- Fibers 4.77 (g)
- Sodium 1,380.58 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 400 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for 1 serving of Greek Salad
- 6 oz tomatoes
- 3 oz cucumber
- 1.5 oz bell pepper (green)
- 0.7 oz red onion
- 1 oz olives (Kalamata)
- 2.5 oz feta
- 1 pinch oregano
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
Tools
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Salad bowl
- 1 Vegetable peeler optional
How to prepare Greek salad according to the original recipe
To prepare the Greek salad, start by washing and drying all the vegetables. Cut the tomatoes into wedges (1). If you want, you can peel the cucumber. I usually partially peel it, making stripes with a peeler (2).
Then slice it into rounds or half-moons (3). Slice the bell pepper very thinly (4) and remove the internal filaments.
Thinly slice the red onion as well (5). In a large salad bowl, mix tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and peppers, and season with a pinch of salt (not too much, as the feta is quite salty) and a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix carefully (6).
Pit the Kalamata olives and add them to the salad. Lastly, place the feta in one piece at the center of the salad (7). Season it with a good pinch of oregano and another drizzle of oil (8).
Serve the Greek salad immediately. Although in Greece it is typically served as a side dish to the main course, from a nutritional standpoint, it can make a great main dish for a lunch break, especially in the summer.
Local Variations of Greek Salad
Despite having a well-defined recipe, the Greek salad has some interesting local variations, especially on the islands: in the Cyclades, for example, the addition of wild capers and sometimes caper leaves is common, while in neighboring Crete the salad is turned into a complete dish called dakos, where barley rusks (paximadi) are topped with fresh tomato, feta, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil (somewhat resembling our panzanella).
In other areas, such as Rhodes or Naxos, feta can be replaced by more intense local cheeses, and it’s not uncommon to find versions with marinated onion or a light touch of red vinegar. These small variations still respect the simplicity and Mediterranean identity of the choriátiki, the original name of the Greek salad.
Despite having a well-defined recipe, the Greek salad has some interesting local variations, especially on the islands: in the Cyclades, for example, the addition of wild capers and sometimes caper leaves is common, while in neighboring Crete the salad is turned into a complete dish called dakos, where barley rusks (paximadi) are topped with fresh tomato, feta, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil (somewhat resembling our panzanella).
In other areas, such as Rhodes or Naxos, feta can be replaced by more intense local cheeses, and it’s not uncommon to find versions with marinated onion or a light touch of red vinegar. These small variations still respect the simplicity and Mediterranean identity of the choriátiki, the original name of the Greek salad.
