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Chopped Greek salad – the best and easiest recipe ever! This Mediterranean Greek salad comes with a vegan feta option and is always a delight!
Greek salad is a well known and very popular summer salad made with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, red onion, and parsley. Add some bell pepper and feta if you like!
It’s a super easy and quick salad recipe yet tastes incredibly delicious! Chop all fresh veggies (that’s why it’s called chopped Greek salad), prepare the Greek salad dressing, and toss it in a large bowl – that’s it! Your chopped salad is ready to be served.
By the way, the use of fresh ingredients makes this salad not only delicious and refreshing but also healthy. An excellent way to add some vitamins to your meal plan.
This Greek Salad is:
- Refreshing
- Crunchy
- Healthy
- Low on Calories
- Vegan Friendly
- Made with Fresh ingredients
Another great advantage of this salad is that you can prepare it one day in advance without it getting mushy. Store it in your fridge, and it will taste as fresh as freshly prepared.
You can serve it along with most dishes, bring it to every summer party, BBQ with friends, or simply serve it as a light dinner with freshly baked bread, flatbread, or pita bread.
Seed Your Cucumbers
To prevent the salad from becoming too watery and tasting bland, I recommend seeding the cucumber. Cucumber seeds consist mainly of water, which we do not necessarily want in this salad.
Seeding Cucumbers is super simple:
- Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise.
- Spoon out the seeds using a spoon. → This works best with a small spoon with sharp edges.
- Ready! Chop the cucumber into small cubes!
This is a well-known trick which can be used for any other salad calling for cucumbers or to make a thick and creamy homemade tzatziki.
The Best Olives
An important ingredient of this chopped Greek salad are the olives! They give this salad a unique flavor and add some extra saltiness.
But not all olives do taste the same, and there are certainly some huge differences in quality. To make the best out of this salad, I highly recommend using Kalamata olives! Those are the best ones you can get and my personal favorite.
I always choose Kalamata olives over every other type of olives. They have a dark, slightly purple color, and the taste is just astonishing.
But hey, I get that everybody has another taste. So if you happened to have another favorite type of olives, go with them. Dark olives tend to go better with Greek salad than green olives.
Make sure to buy already pitted olives. This saves you the tedious process of pitting.
By the way, you do not have to wash the olives. The saltiness gives the salad a great taste.
Greek Salad Dressing
What distinguishes a good salad from an outstanding one? The dressing, of course!
The best Greek salad dressing recipe is made with extra virgin olive oil, one of the most popular and loved products of the Greek cuisine. Furthermore, you need red wine vinegar or lemon juice, lots of dried oregano, pressed garlic, maple syrup, mustard, and red pepper flakes (those are optional).
Season to taste with salt and black pepper and you’re done!
But be a little careful with the salt, since the olives already add quite some saltiness. Seasoning with salt should be the very last step.
By the way, you can use this Greek salad dressing for all kinds of salads.
Vegan Greek Salad Option
A Mediterranean Greek salad wouldn’t be authentic without feta. But to be honest, it’s up to you if you want to add some feta or not. This salad tastes insanely good even without feta, and I do eat it very often this way. Although, if you like, you can add some chopped or crumbled feta cheese on top.
Here are some excellent news for all vegans: You do NOT need to forgo feta cheese. Make your own according to this vegan tofu feta cheese recipe. It’s a super simple recipe, tastes delicious, is dairy-free, and 100% plant-based.
But make sure to allow the tofu to marinate for at least 24 hours. This means you have to prepare the vegan feta at least one day before you want to make this vegan Greek salad.
Unfortunately, I haven’t found a vegan feta cheese in the supermarket that tastes good. Therefore, I highly recommend making your own.
Recipe FAQ
Can I prepare this salad in advance? Yes, this salad is perfect for preparing in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.
How long does it keep fresh? For a good 1-2 days if stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Do you like sun-dried tomatoes? If so, add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes to this Greek salad.
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love:
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Greek Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 large tomatoes chopped
- 1 cucumber seeded & chopped
- 1 cup (150 g) Kalamata olives pitted & halved
- 1 small red onion finely chopped
- ½ cup Italian Parsley flat-leaf, finely chopped
- ½ portion vegan feta optional
Dressing
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar or lemon juice
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 garlic clove pressed or minced
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes optional
- black pepper and salt to taste
Instructions
- Combine the chopped tomatoes, cucumber, olives, red onion, and parsley in a large serving bowl. Add vegan feta cheese if you want. You can either add the feta in cubes or crumble using your fingers.
- Mix all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss until well combined.
Notes
- Seed Cucumber: Cucumbers contain a large amount of water which can make a salad watery and therefore bland. To avoid that, seed the cucumber prior to chopping it. The easiest way to seed a cucumber is if you spoon out the seeds using a small spoon (preferably with sharp edges).
- Variations: Add chopped bell peppers or chopped sun-dried tomatoes to the salad.
- Olives: Kalamata olives are one of the best and most flavorful olives you can get. Feel free to substitute with other olives you like. I always buy them pitted. No need to wash the olives, the saltiness ads some extra flavor.
- Feta: This salad tastes excellent with or without feta. Vegetarians can use regular Feta, vegans can make their own according to this vegan tofu feta cheese recipe.
- Leftovers & Make Ahead: This salad can be stored for up to two days in the fridge. Store it in an airtight container and let it sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving.
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