You'll love this simple and traditional Greek Salad with ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, bell peppers, onions, black olives and creamy feta. I'm sharing everything I learned from my visit to Greece! Read through for tips and watch my quick video.
I was lucky enough to visit the Greek island of Patmos and Kos a few years ago. Every part of the trip was special, but I absolutely fell in love with the people, their local shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants. I loved observing the Greek life and partaking of the simple, finger-licking Greek food.
In one of the small family-owned restaurants we visited, I enjoyed a fresh salad that opened my eyes to what a truly traditional and uncomplicated Greek salad should be! And, that's exactly what I have tried to re-create with this simple Greek salad recipe.
Horiatiki: Greek Village Salad
In Greece, Horiatiki or Greek village salad, is served most often from early spring to the early part of fall. And it's truly the best use of the season's quality produce including juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell peppers, and onions.
Quality Greek kalamata olives and creamy feta cheese, made from sheep’s milk, are a must in this salad. And the cheese is never crumbled, but served in large chunks or blocks crowning the beautiful fresh salad!
The dressing is as simple as they come, a splash of good extra virgin olive oil and citrus (a little red wine vinegar or lemon juice).
Ingredients
This villagers' salad is super simple with no shortage of flavor, but it begins and ends with the quality of ingredients used. If you go to Greece and end up ordering Horiatiki, here's what you are likely to find in it:
- Tomatoes - Choose Perfect ripe tomatoes (somewhat firm but yielding slightly to the touch; glossy skin; fragrant
- Cucumbers- choose firm, smooth-skinned cucumbers. I prefer English cucumbers, which are seedless and tend to be sweeter in taste.
- Red onions- choose firm and smooth looking onions. Tip: if you want to take the edge off, soak the sliced onions in a solution of iced water mixed with vinegar for a bit before adding them to the salad (I do this in the video below).
- Kalamata Olives- I love Greek kalamata olives (or black olives) in this salad, they add a great briny, salty flavor that compliments the beautiful veggies so well.
- Green Bell peppers- choose firm and smooth looking green bell pepper. No other colored bell peppers are used in a traditional Greek salad.
- Dried oregano- Greek oregano, sometimes fresh, is used, it is not typically available here but quality dried oregano will work really well
- Kosher Salt
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil For authentic and best tasting Greek salad, I like to use this Early Harvest Greek extra virgin olive oil. It's an exquisite cold extracted and unfiltered oil with a perfectly balanced complexity— rich green, fruity and pungent with a peppery finish.
- Red wine vinegar- You can also use another citrus option like fresh lemon juice or white wine vinegar
- Creamy feta cheese - made from sheep’a milk and served in large chunks or blocks crowning the salad (not crumbled).
- No lettuce or any leafy greens
- No additional fillers
Greek salad dressing
The good news is, you don't need to do the work of making a dressing. Traditional Greek salad is typically served with a splash of citrus and extra virgin olive oil. Very basic and elegant.
I have also learned to keep bottles of extra virgin olive oil and vinegar (or lemon halves) on the table in case anyone needed an extra splash, a trick I saw in many restaurants while visiting the Greek islands.
But if you've made my ladolemono (Greek salad dressing recipe), you can absolutely use a bit of that on the salad.
A few tips for how to make Greek salad
If you're wondering how to put this salad together, it could not be any simpler. I took a hint from how my Greek friends serve it:
- The base ingredients of tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and onions are typically cut in large slices or chunks and served in a bowl (or in a small bowl for each individual).
- Add pitted kalamata olives (or black olives) to your liking.
- For seasoning, a dash of kosher salt and dried oregano (I like to finish with a bit more dried oregano at the end)
- To dress the salad, toss gently with extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar. Sometimes, the oil and vinegar are set aside for each person to add whatever amounts they need; I really like this idea because I feel like I could always use an extra drizzle of good olive oil!
- Feta cheese is always served in large blocks on top of the salad, never crumbled like you might see here in the States.
- No extra garnishes or fillers needed.
Serve it with
This vibrant salad full of color and flavor can easily work as a side dish to compliment just about any entree you'll find on this site. Here are some ideas:
- Chicken: Chicken Gyros; Chicken Souvlaki; or, a less obvious but perfect choice, Grilled Harissa Chicken
- Lamb: Greek burgers; or Lamb Chops
- Fish: Baked Cod, Grouper, Lemon garlic Salmon, or Salmon Burgers
- Vegetarian Entrees: Spanakopita, Greek Green Beans, Mediterranean Three Bean Soup
This salad is best enjoyed fresh. But if you have any leftover Greek salad, store it in a tight lid container in the fridge for up to 2 days.
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Traditional Greek Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion
- 4 Medium juicy tomatoes
- 1 English cucumber (hot house cucumber) partially peeled making a striped pattern
- 1 green bell pepper cored
- Greek pitted Kalamata olives a handful to your liking
- kosher salt a pinch
- 4 tbsp quality extra virgin olive oil I used Early Harvest Greek olive oil
- 1-2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- Blocks of Greek feta cheese do not crumble the feta, leave it in large pieces
- ½ tbsp dried oregano
Instructions
- Cut the red onion in half and thinly slice into half moons. (If you want to take the edge off, place the sliced onions in a solution of iced water and vinegar for a bit before adding to the salad. I do this in the video).
- Cut the tomatoes into wedges or large chunks (I sliced some into rounds and cut the rest in wedges).
- Cut the partially peeled cucumber in half length-wise, then slice into thick halves (at least ½" in thickness)
- Thinly slice the bell pepper into rings.
- Place everything in a large salad dish. Add a good handful of pitted kalamata olives.
- Season very lightly with kosher salt (just a pinch) and a bit of dried oregano.
- Pour the olive oil and red wine vinegar all over the salad. Give everything a very gentle toss to mix (do NOT over mix, this salad is not meant to be handled too much).
- Now add the the feta blocks on top and add a sprinkle more of dried oregano.
- Serve with crusty bread.
Video
Notes
- Leftovers? You can refrigerate leftovers for 2 nights or so.
- Another dressing option: if you've made my ladolemono Greek Dressing (which is made of lemon juice and olive oil), you can use a few tablespoons on this salad.
- Visit our shop to browse our olive oils, spices and more!
Nutrition
*This post appeared on The Mediterranean Dish in 2019 and has been recently updated with new information and media for readers benefit.
I use the brine from the kalamata olives in the salad. No salt is necessary. I also use lots of dried oregano, a pint of halved grape tomatoes, lemon-infused EVOO. I use lots of oil and brine so there’s always lots of liquids for dunking.
PS. I cut all the vegetables into chunks of approximately the same size so everything fits on a soup spoon, which is how I like to eat it. The feta can be cut the same size as the veggies so it can also be scooped up onto the spoon, as well as the juices. It may not be how the Greeks do it, but in my house it’s how l do it!
Everything...Fabulous. Thank, so very much for sharing.
Thank you, Paula!
How am I supposed to know the size of a "block" of feta cheese?
I am reading this recipe only because I found vegan feta, new at the supermarket this week, and decided to try it. A traditional Greek salad sounded ideal.
But the block is 200g (I live in the middle of the EU; we use metric here). A blander recipe from the BBC also calls for four tomatoes, but only 85g of feta. A recent comment explains how to use a block of 200g, so I will go with that recipe and add a green bell pepper.
This salad looks so good. I have been wanting to try it for some now. I am home bound right now and cannot seem to get all the ingredients at the same time. When I am able to get out on my own, it will definitely be on my table.
It will be worth the wait! I hope you are able to get out soon, Carolyn!!
Great meal. Simple and quick to make. I couldn't do it fifteen minutes, but from start to finish (including clean up) it took me a half hour. I often make a dish that is close to this with tuna. Onion, black olives, tomato, tuna, cheese, salt, pepper, EVOO and red wine vinegar. The next time I make my tuna dish I am going to use this as my base, the cucumber and bell pepper will make a nice addition.
Sounds great! Thank you for sharing!!
Just a note for a correction. In the recipe itself at the bottom of the page, as far as I can tell, you soak the onions but then you never drain and blot and add them back to the salad.
Thanks for the feedback, Robert! We'll take a look at the writing.
Can I use white vinegar instead of red wine vinegar in this recipe?
Hi, Fizza. You really need the red wine vinegar here. Plain white vinegar would give it a totally different flavor.
Absolutely delicious!
Thanks so much!
Great salad, I will be missing all the great summer tomatoes as the weather gets colder here. I have a question for you about feta cheese. I always buy feta in a block that indicates it’s imported from Greece. I do like feta but have always found it to be a much drier cheese and a bit salty. That is until recently. When picking up cheese last week I took a bit longer to look at all the feta cheese that was for sale. One container was marked as being aged, was only sheep’s milk, where others are sheep and goats milk,, and the container had a short explanation on the side of the container about what the. Greek government requires. So decided to try it. Now this feta was the best I’ve ever tasted, it was creamy and not salty as some other feta. Suzy could you give us a 101 on different feta cheese. You always refer to feta as “ creamy” and wondered iif what I bought is more like what you are referring to having.
Thanks so much for sharing, Marie! As far as feta cheese go, I typically use blocks of feta which I find tastier and more creamy than crumbled feta...Greek or Bulgarian feta are two of my favorites.
Marie,I live on the Greek island of Corfu..This is a tip I was given by a local man in our village..If the feta is too salty,place it in a plastic dish ( with a lid ) add water put it in fridge for 24 hours and the salt will come out of the cheese..Also if it's not salty enough,do as above but add salt and then soak it for 24 hours..Whatever method you use place it of some kitchen paper to let any excess water drain from the cheese..When I've done this,I then put the cheese in a container and sprinkle Oregano (Rigani in Greek ) then pour some Olive oil over it all and leave for a few hours or longer to let flavours develop..My friend ( Spiros ) has been doing this for many years and it works..Enjoy..
Thanks for sharing this, Mel!
This is the easiest and best salad ever! Depending on what I have on hand, I add or leave out things, but the absolute must have are the cucumbers and tomatoes. Mostly I use red bells for the peppers because they are sweeter, and I'll sometimes sprinkle with chives instead of onions. If I'm in the mood for the kalamata olives I throw them in, but not always. And I've started not salting it because its so stinking good without the salt! I might use baby mozzarella balls instead of feta, but not always. And I frequently leave off the dressing. No matter. This salad is a WINNER no matter how I change it up. What a diverse and delicious salad to have with the menu. It goes with everything! (I even eat it with breakfast.)
Thanks for sharing your variations here, Janell!
Excellent! I just want to specify 2 things: 1. do not use Roma tomatoes 2. Greeks like to salt the cut tomatoes in the beginning to release their juices because in the end, they like to mop up the juices, dressing, etc with a chunk of bread ( they even have a name for it, I think it's called: "pepare")
Best Greek salad EVER!! I’ve made countless times and now to have a Greek salad in a restaurant just won’t compare because they don’t do the ‘Traditional’ version (no lettuce). So easy to make too!
Thank you so much, Natalie!!
Deliciousness!!!
The only thing better is to have it in Greece ❤️
Yes!!! That would be lovely, wouldn't it??