This traditional Greek Salad Recipe is super easy to make and healthy! Learn how to make the best greek salad with only a few ingredients!
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In the warmer months there’s nothing I love more than a giant salad with ALL the veggies.. but let’s be real, salad can be boring! This traditional greek salad is anything but boring.
This easy salad is loaded with all the veggies, salty feta cheese and briny olives. Everything gets tossed with olive oil and some herbs for maximum flavor resulting in the BEST greek salad.
Traditional Greek Salad
It’s done in under 10 minutes and perfect alongside Greek Chicken Kabobs or on its own.
Why this is the Best Greek Salad Recipe
This is one of our favorite quick and easy side dishes for the summer time. Here’s why we love it:
- Low Calorie & Filling: This salad is just about 100 calories for a cup. It’s also super filling!
- Veggie Loaded: Between the cucumbers and tomatoes – there is one serving of veggies for every serving of this salad.
- Healthy & Flavorful: This recipe is loaded with healthy fats, veggies, and seasoning to make it a delicious side for any recipe!
What is Greek Salad?
Traditional Greek Salad is a light salad made with tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumbers and feta.
The salad gets tossed in a light olive oil dressing with herbs and spices.
For more Greek flavors, try this Greek Chicken Spaghetti.
Greek Salad Ingredients:
To make this salad you’ll need:
- kalamata olives
- cherry tomatoes
- cucumbers
- feta cheese
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- garlic powder, dried basil, dried oregano, black pepper
- fresh parsley
How to make Greek Salad
Making this salad is super easy to do. Here’s how to make it:
- Chop your olives, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers
- In a large bowl mix chopped veggies and remaining ingredients
- Stir until combined & enjoy!
That’s it! So simple!
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR GREEK SALAD
Olives: We haven’t tried this recipe with any other olives besides kalamata olives. I’m not sure how it would taste with a substitute.
Cherry Tomatoes: You can use finely chopped tomatoes or plum tomatoes. Regular tomatoes might result in a mushy salad. We recommend using cherry tomatoes.
Cucumbers: We haven’t made this recipe without cucumber but I think it would work.
Feta: You can substitute feta with goat cheese or omit the cheese to make this dairy free.
Olive Oil: You can substitute olive oil with avocado oil.
Lemon Juice: Do not use bottled lemon juice. Use fresh lemon juice. You can substitute with 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar.
Chickpeas: If you want to add chickpeas, try our Greek Chickpea Salad!
Dried Herbs: You can substitute dried herbs with fresh herbs. Use 2x the amount of fresh herbs.
Dressing: You can also use store bought Greek Salad Dressing or Homemade Greek Dressing Recipe and use it on the veggies/olive mixture. I haven’t tried making this salad with other dressings, but I bet it would work! Check out these salad dressings for more ideas!
What do you serve with Greek Salad?
Here are some of my favorite thing to serve this with:
- Greek Chicken Kabobs Recipe
- Mediterranean Shredded Chicken
- Grilled Boneless Chicken Thighs
- Balsamic Grilled Chicken
- Garlic Lime Flank Steak
- Pineapple Grilled Chicken
- Grilled chicken marinated with Greek Salad Dressing Recipe
How do you store this traditional greek salad recipe?
Eat this salad fresh right after you make it.
Refrigerator:Â Greek salad can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days. After that it will start to get a bit soggy and the veggies will not be as crisp.
Frozen:Â Do not freeze this recipe. It will not be good if frozen.
Can you double this Greek Salad Recipe?
Yes, you can easily double this recipe. You can also cut it in half or triple the recipe. It would be great for serving at a picnic!
What is the body of a greek salad?
Most greek salads are made up of a mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese. Some have other things added like chickpeas, artichoke hearts, or onions.
What is Greek salad called in Greece?
Greek salad is typically called Horiatiki or Xoriatiki in Greece. It means ‘village salad’
Traditional Greek Salad Recipe FAQ
Typically an authentic Greek salad does not contain lettuce. It is usually a mixture of tomatoes, olives, onions and cucumbers. You can add lettuce to this if you’d like!
Greek salad dressing is traditionally made of olive oil, red wine vinegar and dried spices like oregano, parsley and basil. It’s a delicious greek vinaigrette.
The difference between a green salad and a Greek salad is mainly lettuce. Typically a green salad has lettuce in it while a Greek salad does not have lettuce added to it.
Greek salad isn’t the healthiest salad but it is a very healthy salad! It’s loaded with veggies, healthy fats and some protein from the cheese. Greek salad is a delicious healthy salad if you’re looking for something to make!
Other healthy side dish recipes:
Check out these other healthy side dish recipes!
Greek Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives chopped
- 1.5 cups cherry tomatoes quartered (1 pint)
- 1.5 cups cucumbers quartered
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice juice of half a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley
Instructions
- Chop your olives, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers
- In a large bowl mix chopped veggies and remaining ingredients
- Stir until combined & enjoy!
Joan says
Just made this as a side dish and used it as a base to make it even more filling!
Added 1/2 cup of Chickpeas, 1/2 cup Chopped red onion and red Vinegar, and 1/2 cup chopped cooked chicken breast. SO YUMMY! Also used all fresh herbs which I think cranked the flavor up amazing!
Roxana Franco says
Sounds delicious and my style of eating.
Alexa says
Loved this salad! Made it to celebrate the first day of summer. It was super simple to make and I loved that it was clean ingredients. And plus it was so good the next day for leftovers too! I’ll be making this again FOR SURE!
Vicky O. says
Really enjoyed this salad! I paired it with the Balsamic grilled chicken recipe (one of the recommendations above), and they complimented each other well. I will definitely be making this again.
Danielle Maxon says
Amazing, refreshing and easy to throw together on a whim. will definitely be making this again. I doubled the recipe to have leftovers
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Danielle! Thank you!
Yuli Cisneros says
Simple. Delicious and easy! My kind of recipe. This was a big hit at our bbq and I will definitely be making it again and again because it’s so easy and so good! Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
The Clean Eating Couple says
So glad you liked it, Yuli! Thank you!
Michelle says
Looks delicious! What would you say about roasting the cherry tomatoes for those who aren’t fans of raw tomatoes?
The Clean Eating Couple says
The salad is meant to be eaten raw and cold. If you want to roast the tomatoes and chill them I’m sure it would work but I think the texture wouldn’t be great.