This authentic Greek salad is packed with fresh tomatoes, crisp cucumber, salty feta cheese, and briny olives: just like they make it in Greece!
After our recent trip to Santorini, what better an inspiration to take home than the ubiquitous Greek salad? Nearly every restaurant we encountered in Greece serves this salad. And in the hot Grecian sun, there’s not much that tastes more refreshing than the combination of tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, Kalamata olives, and salty feta. While in country, we learned a bit about how an authentic Greek salad is made. Got ripe fresh tomatoes? This is the recipe for you. Keep reading for all our “secrets.”
How to make Greek salad…the Greek way
There are lots of versions of Greek salad here in America, and many of them are not so “authentic”. First of all: Greek salad isn’t served with lettuce. I grew up thinking that Greek salad was a romaine lettuce-based salad served with sliced black olives and a few feta crumbles. Oh, and usually some pink, mealy tomatoes too. Not in Greece!
Here are the elements of an authentic Greek salad:
- Ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
- Sliced cucumber
- Thin sliced red onion
- Kalamata olives
- Feta cheese, usually served in a large block on top of the vegetables
- Olive oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Dried oregano
For our version of the classic salad, we crumble or cut the feta into cubes. While it’s traditional to serve the feta in a big block on top that’s broken with a fork, we find it’s easier to serve it to multiple people with the cheese broken. You can use either method for the feta: both are delicious!
This recipe is…
This Greek salad is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Ingredients
- 4 large ripe tomatoes
- 1/2 large red onion
- 2 large cucumbers
- 1 cup Kalamata olives
- 4 ounces high quality feta cheese: crumbled, cut into squares, or in a block (Greek feta, if you can find it!)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons capers (optional)
- Kosher salt
Instructions
- Chop the tomatoes into rough chunks; remove and discard the seeds. Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and add a few pinches of kosher salt.
- Thinly slice the red onion. Peel alternating strips from the cucumbers, making a striped pattern with the peel (alternatively, remove the peel entirely). Cut the cucumbers in half and use a spoon to remove the seeds; then, cut them into ½-inch pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, red onion, and cucumbers with the Kalamata olives, feta cheese crumbles, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. If desired, add the dried oregano and capers. Gently mix to combine.
- Serve immediately, or let sit at room temperature for several minutes to allow the flavors to meld.