This Greek Cucumber Salad takes 15 minutes and goes with anything you can put on a grill. Cucumber, tomatoes, red pepper, olives and feta, all tossed in a quick oregano vinaigrette. There's lettuce in there too. It isn't traditional, I know. But it keeps everything crunchy. It also means one bowl feeds a full table.
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A Greek Cypriot chef gave me this recipe years ago. I have made it the same way ever since, lettuce included. That extra crunch is the reason I have never gone back to the classic version.
It is good enough to eat on its own with a slice of Greek Bread - Horiatiko Psomi and nothing else. Everything here depends on the quality of your vegetables and your feta, so buy the best you can find.
Why This Recipe Works?
- The lettuce keeps everything crisp, so this salad holds up on the table far longer than the classic version does.
- Salting the cucumber first stops the bowl filling with water halfway through the meal.
- Mustard holds the oil and vinegar together, so the dressing clings to the vegetables instead of sliding to the bottom.
- Every component can be prepped in advance and dressed at the last second.
- One bowl, one sharp knife, and no special equipment.
Ingredients You'll Need
Please scroll down to the recipe card below for the full ingredients list with measurements, complete recipe method, recipe notes, and nutritional information.
- Cucumbers - Mini Persian or English cucumbers are best here. They have thinner skin, fewer seeds, and a sweeter taste. If you only have a large standard cucumber, peel it and scoop the watery seeds out with a teaspoon before slicing.
- Tomatoes - I prefer cherry tomatoes because they release less water than large ones. Any firm salad tomato works, as long as it is properly ripe.
- Lettuce - Traditional Greek salad has no lettuce in it, but Cypriot village salads have always been built on crisp greens. I add it for the crunch. Omit it and add extra cucumber if you prefer.
- Peppers - I use red bell pepper for sweetness. Greek cooks use green, which is sharper and more traditional. Either works, or leave it out.
- Feta - Buy a block sitting in brine rather than a tub of ready-crumbled feta, which turns dry and loses its tang. Real Greek feta is protected under EU law and must be made from sheep's milk with no more than 30% goat's milk. It is firmer than Bulgarian or French feta and holds its shape when you cube it. Grilled halloumi also works.
- Olives - Kalamata olives are the traditional choice, though I prefer plain black olives. Buy them with the pits still in if you can, they keep more of their juice and flavor.
- Olive oil - Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. It carries the whole dressing, so this is not the place to economize.
- Vinegar - Red wine vinegar is traditionally used for dressing but white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar works perfectly fine too.
- Mustard - Technically optional, but it is doing a real job. Mustard emulsifies the dressing so the oil and vinegar stay combined and coat the vegetables properly. I also love the sharpness it adds.
- Red onion - Slice it as thinly as you can. If raw onion is too sharp for you, scatter the slices with a pinch of salt and leave them for 5 minutes before adding them to the bowl.
- Oregano - Dried Greek oregano, sometimes sold on the branch as rigani, has far more flavor than the ground powder. Crumble it between your palms as it falls into the dressing to wake up the oils. Dried thyme works just as well, so use whichever you have open.
How to Make Greek Cucumber Salad?
Prepare the Vegetables
Cut your vegetables the same size for a more impressive presentation or simply cut them in large chunks for a rustic look. Try and use fresh vegetables while they are still at their best.
Prepare the Vinaigrette
The most important ingredient of a salad is the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and oregano. Slowly add the olive oil while still whisking until it forms a thick creamy sauce.
Alternatively, you can use Healthy Mediterranean Salad Dressing for a lighter option.
Gently Combine the Vegetables with the Vinaigrette
In a large bowl or a plate, place the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, and half of the feta cheese, and herbs. Drizzle the vinaigrette on the vegetables and lightly toss using 2 wooden spoons or your fingers just to combine. Sprinkle the rest of the feta on top before serving.
Recipe Tips From the Chef
- Whisk the mustard, vinegar and seasoning together first, then add the olive oil in a slow stream. Tipping it in all at once gives you a split dressing that will not cling to anything.
- Salt the cucumber slices and leave them in a colander for 20 minutes, then rinse and pat them dry. This is the single best thing you can do to stop a watery salad.
- Dry the lettuce properly. Wet leaves dilute the dressing and turn everything limp within minutes.
- Cut everything to roughly the same size so you get a bit of each thing in every forkful.
- Add the feta after you toss, not before, or it breaks up and disappears into the dressing.
- Take the salad out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving. Cold blunts the tomatoes and the olive oil, and Greek cooks never serve this fridge cold.
- Toss it gently with two spoons or your hands. Stirring hard bruises the tomatoes and they start weeping straight away.
- Keep the feta block in its brine until the moment you cube it. It dries out fast once it leaves the liquid.
- Do not throw away the juices left in the bowl. In Greece, mopping them up with bread is called papara, and it is the best part of the whole dish.
Is This an Authentic Greek Salad?
A true Greek salad is called horiatiki, which comes from horio, the Greek word for village. It holds tomato, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, olives, and a slab of feta with dried oregano scattered over the top. That is the entire list. No lettuce, no mustard, and often no vinegar either, just a generous pour of olive oil.
Despite the name, horiatiki did not come from a village at all. Greek food writers trace it back to Athens tavernas in the 1960s and 1970s, only a few decades after tomatoes became widely grown in Greece. The rustic name was a later addition that stuck.
Mine has lettuce because it came to me from a Greek Cypriot chef. Cypriot village salads genuinely are built on greens, with lettuce, arugula, cabbage, capers and fresh coriander all turning up in them.
Greece does have its own lettuce salad called Maroulosalata, but that is a separate dish made with romaine, dill and spring onion in a lemon dressing.
So a Greek salad with lettuce is not a mistake, it is simply another country's version of the same idea. Mine is not a horiatiki. It is much closer to what lands on the table in Cyprus.
Variations
- Make it a meal. Grilled chicken, shrimp, canned tuna or a tin of drained chickpeas all work on top.
- Change the cheese. Grilled halloumi is excellent here, and a good vegan feta keeps it dairy free.
- Take it further towards Cyprus. Add shredded white cabbage, chopped fresh coriander and a squeeze of lemon.
- Go traditional. Leave out the lettuce, mustard and red pepper, use green pepper instead, and serve the feta as one slab with oregano over it.
- Add capers or caper leaves for a sharp, briny edge. They are standard on the Greek islands.
- Bulk it out with cooked orzo, quinoa or leftover rice for a lunchbox version.
Serving Suggestions
As summer salads go, this one is unfussy about what it sits next to. It works with almost anything Mediterranean.
It goes with almost anything off the grill. I serve it most often with Youvetsi - Greek Beef and Orzo Stew, Papoutsakia - Vegetarian Greek Stuffed Eggplant, or chicken cooked in my Chicken Marinade with Greek Yogurt.
A basket of warm Italian Cheese and Herb Bread on the side is not optional in my house, since somebody always wants to mop up the juices.
It works just as well alongside Orman Kebabi, Oven Baked Shrimp, Braised Lamb Ragu, Dutch Oven Whole Roast Chicken, Turkish Wrap - Tantuni, Jamaican Style Pepper Steak, or Homemade Kofte (Turkish Meatballs).
Storage Instructions
This salad is at its best on the day you make it. Once dressed, leftovers keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day. After that the lettuce goes limp and the tomatoes carry on releasing water into the bowl.
Undressed, it holds much better. Keep the chopped vegetables in separate airtight containers for up to 2 days, with a folded piece of paper towel in each one to absorb moisture. Store the feta in its brine and the dressing in a sealed jar.
Do not freeze this salad. Cucumber, tomato and lettuce all collapse into mush once they thaw.
Make Ahead
The dressing is the part worth making in advance. It keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week. Olive oil solidifies when cold, so take it out around 10 minutes before you need it and shake it hard.
Peppers, onion and lettuce can be prepped a day ahead. Leave the tomatoes and cucumber until closer to serving, since tomatoes lose their flavor in the fridge and cucumber starts weeping the moment it is cut.
For a party, prep everything into separate containers in the morning. Tip it all into one bowl and dress it as people sit down. Assembly takes under two minutes.
Recipe FAQs
A simple Greek Salad dressing is made with only red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and dried oregano. I prefer using Greek Vinaigrette for my Greek salad which is made with Dijon mustard, red wine or white wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, dried oregano, and a pinch of sugar to balance the acidity.
It is about as good as a side dish gets. Almost all of it is raw vegetables, the fat comes from extra virgin olive oil and feta rather than anything processed, and there is no added starch. The feta and olives do bring salt, so go easy on the extra seasoning if you are watching your intake.
Cherry, grape or cocktail tomatoes are the safest choice in winter. They are grown for sweetness and hold their flavor far better than large watery ones. Roma tomatoes are a good second option. Whatever you buy, keep them on the counter rather than in the fridge, since cold flattens the taste completely.
You can, and it makes a lighter, fresher dressing. Be aware it takes the salad further from the Greek original, where lemon in a village salad is considered a mistake. Lemon does have its place in Greek cooking, just in a different dressing called ladolemono, which goes on lettuce salads and grilled fish. If you want a closer swap, stick to another mild vinegar.
Yes. Grilled halloumi is the best swap because it brings the same salty bite. A good vegan feta works well too. If you leave the cheese out altogether, add extra olives and a few capers so the salad keeps some of its salt and sharpness.
Related Recipes
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I hope you enjoy the process of making this colorful Greek Cucumber Salad as much as you enjoy eating it! 🙂
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Greek Cucumber Salad
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or white wine vinegar/apple cider vinegar)
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- pinch of sugar
- pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad
- ½ iceberg lettuce or roman lettuce (washed and sliced)
- 10 cherry tomatoes (cut in halves)
- 1 small cucumber (cut in 2 cm dices or sliced ½ cm thickness)
- ½ red onion (sliced)
- 1 red bell pepper (cut in 2 cm dices)
- 5 oz feta cheese (150 grams)
- 10 pitted olives
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
Instructions
- For the vinaigrette, in a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar, and oregano.
- Slowly add the olive oil while still whisking until it forms a thick creamy sauce.
- In a large bowl or a plate, place the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper, half of the feta cheese, pitted olives, and herbs.
- Drizzle the vinaigrette on the vegetables and lightly toss using 2 wooden spoons or your fingers just to combine.
- Sprinkle the rest of the feta cubes on top before serving.
Notes
- Storage: once dressed, keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day. Undressed chopped vegetables keep for up to 2 days in separate containers, with a folded piece of paper towel in each to absorb moisture. Do not freeze this salad, the cucumber, tomato and lettuce all turn to mush.
- Make ahead: the dressing keeps in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to a week. Olive oil solidifies when cold, so take it out around 10 minutes before you need it and shake it hard. Peppers, onion and lettuce can be prepped a day ahead. Leave the tomatoes and cucumber until closer to serving.
- To stop it going watery: salt the cucumber slices and leave them in a colander for 20 minutes, then rinse and pat dry. Dry the lettuce thoroughly. Dress the salad at the table rather than in advance.
- Feta: buy a block sitting in brine rather than a tub of ready-crumbled feta, which goes dry and loses its tang. Real Greek feta is made from sheep's milk with no more than 30% goat's milk. Keep the block in its brine until you cube it, and add it after tossing so it does not break apart.
- Red onion: slice it as thinly as you can. If raw onion is too sharp, scatter the slices with a pinch of salt and leave them 5 minutes before adding them to the bowl.
- Oregano: use dried Greek oregano rather than ground powder, and crumble it between your palms as it falls into the dressing to release the oils. Dried thyme works just as well here, so use whichever you have open.
- Dressing: whisk the mustard, vinegar and seasoning together first, then add the olive oil in a slow stream. The mustard is what stops it splitting.
- Substitutions: white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar in place of red wine vinegar. Grilled halloumi or a good vegan feta in place of feta. Green bell pepper in place of red for a sharper, more traditional flavor. Extra cucumber in place of the lettuce.
- Dietary: vegetarian as written, and naturally gluten free and low in carbs. For a dairy free version use vegan feta, or leave the cheese out and add extra olives and a few capers.
- Variations: top with grilled chicken, shrimp, canned tuna or drained chickpeas to turn it into a meal. Stir through cooked orzo, quinoa or leftover rice for a lunchbox version. Add capers for a sharp, briny edge.
- Serve at room temperature, never fridge cold. Take it out around 15 minutes before serving so the tomatoes and the olive oil taste of something.
- Toss gently with two spoons or your hands. Stirring hard bruises the tomatoes and they start weeping straight away.
- Scaling up: multiply the vegetables but hold back on the dressing. Start with about one and a half times the dressing for a double batch, toss, then add more only if it looks dry.
- Do not throw away the juices left in the bottom of the bowl. Mopping them up with bread is called papara in Greece, and it is the best part.
Dianne ( Apxontn) says
Recently diagnosed as type one diabetic, it is now very important that I eat much more of our delicious meals, I was born in Greece and since the passing of my mum ( that I miss heaps) I SOooo look forward to all your yummy recipes, thank you.
Apxontn
Ayla Clulee says
Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m really touched by your kind words. I can imagine how much you miss your mum, and I’m glad that these recipes bring you a bit of comfort and connection to your roots. I’ll keep sharing more delicious and healthy recipes, and I hope they make your journey with type one diabetes a little easier and just as tasty! Take care.
Ayla😊
Ayla says
I made this salad recipe today, Oh it turned out so delicious!