A brightfreshclassic Greek Salad recipe with a homemade Greek Salad Dressing. Made properly – which means no lettuce leaves and a simplebeautiful red wine vinegar dressing!
Greek Salad
Aussies love Greek Salad. If the local fish and chip shop sells one fresh saladit’s probably a Greek Salad. That’s how much we love it.
Did you know……Greek Salad as most people know it (and the way I make it) is not actually the real-deal authentic Greek way. The way the Greeks make itfeta is served in a block on top of the salad rather than chopped into cubesand the salad is dressed with just plain extra virgin olive oil (Greek olive oil of course!)not a vinaigrette. I learned on this when I saw this Perfect Greek Salad from my friend Helen at Scrummy Lane (who is obsessed with all things Greek).
Crucify me if you wishbut I prefer Greek Salad made the more common way – with feta cut into cubes (easier to eat) and with a vinaigrette rather than just olive oil (I find just olive oil too rich). But I have no doubt that if (when!!!) I get to GreeceI will be converted to the traditional way.
Though perhaps I stray from the strictly authentic Greek saladI am a stickler for a few other “rules” that I believe in to make a classic Greek Salad:
No lettuce – by all meansthrow lettuce in if you wantbut a traditional Greek salad does not have either lettuce in it;
Best produce you can get – of course it goes without sayingespecially for simple recipes like thisplease get the best quality produce you can afford; and
Plump juicy black Kalamata olives with a deep almost black colour – jarred is finebut if you go jarredplease get a good quality one! I made a Greek salad while I was in LA in Mayand I made my friend Meggan from Culinary Hill drive me to 3 grocery stores before I finally found olives I was happy with!! Not kidding! I finally found these Delallo Kalamata Olives from Ralph’s. 🙂
Though this is not a strictly authentic Greek Salad recipeit is the way it is served at restaurants in Western countries.
Arguably one of the brightest and fresh salads aroundit also happens to be one of the fastest to make because there’s no tedious chopping – I love that everything is cut into big chunks!! – Nagi x
A freshclassic Greek salad with a homemade Greek Salad Dressing. Bright zesty and freshthis is a classic recipe everyone should know!
Ingredients
Salad
3tomatoes(size of a tennis ball)
4Lebanese / Persian cucumbers(about 8″/20cm long)
1/2small red onion(size of a tennis ball)
1small green capsicum / bell pepper
8 oz / 250 gfeta block
5.5 oz / 125g black kalamata olives(Note 2)
1tspdried oregano
Greek Salad Dressing
1garlic cloveminced (about 1/2 tsp minced garlic)
1tspdried oregano
1/4tspsalt(or 1/2 tsp Kosher salt)
Freshly ground black pepper
3tbspred wine vinegar
6tbspextra virgin olive oil(preferably Greek!)
Prevent screen from sleeping
Instructions
Place Greek Salad Dressing ingredients in a jar and shake until well combined. Set aside for 20 minutes to let the flavours infuse.
Tomatoes: Cut each tomato into 6 wedgesthen cut each wedge into 3 or 4 pieces. If the tomato is wateryscoop out the watery seeds inside with a teaspoon.
Cucumbers: Slice the cucumber into 1/2cm / 1/5″ thick slices. Or if they are thick cucumbersslice the cucumber in half verticallythen slice.
Onion: Peel and finely slice the red onion. I keep it in rings – you could cut it in half then slice. (Note 2)
Capsicum: Cut into short strips.
Feta: Cut into 1cm / 2/5″ cubes.
Place the tomatocucumberonionfeta and olives in a bowlsprinkle with oregano then pour over dressing. Toss to combine. Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
1. Kalamata olives are the classic olives that go into a Greek salad. I personally like to use the ones with seeds inside themI find it keeps the olives juicer. But you can use pitted if you want.The blacker the olivethe better! Fresh black olives in olive oil purchased over the counter at delis are bestbut otherwiseget a good quality olive pre packaged olives. Look for olives that look plump and are a dark black colour – you will notice that many in the jars have lost some of their colour.When I was in LAI drove my friend crazy going from store to store until I found olives I thought were good enough!! I finally found Delallo olives which are great quality pre packaged olives.In Australiagood quality plump Kalamata olives can be purchased at all the main supermarkets.2. If you don’t like the rawness of red onion (noting that red onion is not as sharp as other onions)place the sliced onions in a bowl of water for 15 minutes or so. This will soften the sharpness of the onion.3. Nutrition per servingassuming 5 servings. If you use low fat fetait reduces a bit down to 300 calories per serving.
I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative!
This salad is absolutely perfect! I make it about once a week. It’s even better the second day after marinading. I do double the wine vinegar and half the olive oil our preference. Occasionally I’ll add avocado and Dill but it’s perfect as it is!
Hiwas looking on line for a nice easy salad for dinner and came across this one and I’m glad I made it 👍 so fresh and deliciousdressing was simple / a squeeze of lemon gave it a kick. Thanksloved it.
Hi Nagithanks again for your wonderful recipes. We have your cookbooks and always give them as gifts whenever we can.
I’m on a bit of a salt free drivemy wife has high blood pressure and I think we could all add less to our cookingas much of our processed foods is full of it.
In the last month I have not added any salt to my cooking and believe the Food still holds its own as we build a tolerance with the more we add and our taste budds become more sensitive the less we have.
I have noticed that many celebrity chefs and restaurants add lots of salt and I think we could do without so much and a recipe should be still great without salt being the standout.
I still use salt for bread making and curing my olives etcjust don’t
Add any to my cooking unless absolutely necessary.
For example I did not add the 1/4tsp to this salad and found the olives and feta provide enough salt.
Since cutting downI have found that I can taste the individual ingredients so much more.
Sorry for the rantbut I hope everyone gives it a try (for at least a month) your taste buds and your cardiologist will thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious! It was the perfect side salad on a hot summer night that was so quick to whip up. I reduced the red wine vinegar to 1tbsp as I didn’t want it to be too acidic and it was perfect. Would recommend and definitely would make again. Thank you!!
After I made the dressing I tasted it to see if I needed to adjust the seasoning. I found the vinegar very overpowering! But after I let it sit for a while and added it to the saladit was amazing!
I needed to clear out veggiesso I added shredded carrotsgreen onionsserranosand the white inner parts of celerysince I only had one cucumber. Maybe it wasn’t “greek” anymorebut I was surprised how good it was with hummus and Nagi’s flatbread. I really like the veggie mix!
This is such a great salad – my brother even eats the olives. Thanks Nagi and Dozer (we miss you so much…).
I love your recipes thank you for sharing
This salad is absolutely perfect! I make it about once a week. It’s even better the second day after marinading. I do double the wine vinegar and half the olive oil our preference. Occasionally I’ll add avocado and Dill but it’s perfect as it is!
Just perfect as are all your recipes
My first go to every time
Couldn’t help myself
Add a touch of honey….
Made it for a friends party. Big hit. So easy to put together. Thanks Nagi and team
Love this recipeso good could drink the dressing.. I do usually add chopped iceberg lettucelove the simplicity and big flavour.
Hiwas looking on line for a nice easy salad for dinner and came across this one and I’m glad I made it 👍 so fresh and deliciousdressing was simple / a squeeze of lemon gave it a kick. Thanksloved it.
Made a Greek Salad for the first time tonight using this recipe. It was fabulous and everyone kept coming back for additional servings of it!
Hi Nagithanks again for your wonderful recipes. We have your cookbooks and always give them as gifts whenever we can.
I’m on a bit of a salt free drivemy wife has high blood pressure and I think we could all add less to our cookingas much of our processed foods is full of it.
In the last month I have not added any salt to my cooking and believe the Food still holds its own as we build a tolerance with the more we add and our taste budds become more sensitive the less we have.
I have noticed that many celebrity chefs and restaurants add lots of salt and I think we could do without so much and a recipe should be still great without salt being the standout.
I still use salt for bread making and curing my olives etcjust don’t
Add any to my cooking unless absolutely necessary.
For example I did not add the 1/4tsp to this salad and found the olives and feta provide enough salt.
Since cutting downI have found that I can taste the individual ingredients so much more.
Sorry for the rantbut I hope everyone gives it a try (for at least a month) your taste buds and your cardiologist will thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was so delicious! It was the perfect side salad on a hot summer night that was so quick to whip up. I reduced the red wine vinegar to 1tbsp as I didn’t want it to be too acidic and it was perfect. Would recommend and definitely would make again. Thank you!!
After I made the dressing I tasted it to see if I needed to adjust the seasoning. I found the vinegar very overpowering! But after I let it sit for a while and added it to the saladit was amazing!
I live in canadain winter use cherry tomatoesway more flavour
Nice fresh salad. I used 2 Lebanese/Persian cucumbers and half of an English cucumber. My four year old grandchild loved it too!
A perfect Greek salad. Everything is in the right proportions and the flavours balance well. Thank you.
I needed to clear out veggiesso I added shredded carrotsgreen onionsserranosand the white inner parts of celerysince I only had one cucumber. Maybe it wasn’t “greek” anymorebut I was surprised how good it was with hummus and Nagi’s flatbread. I really like the veggie mix!
Great recipe I’ve made it a few times. We find the red wine vinegar too harshso substitute for lemon juice and I leave out the garlic as well.
So good. Makes a big salad. It tastes even better the next day!
PERFECT
AMAZING!! 🤩
Hi Nagi
i like everything about it