Easy Greek Side Salad
This quick and easy Greek salad is made with your favorite Greek-inspired ingredients, like kalamata olives, sweet tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, crunchy red onion and tangy feta cheese.
The zesty dressing is incredibly simple with just lemon juice, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a great way to get healthy fats from the olive oil.
This simple salad makes the perfect light lunch on a hot summer day. I love to top it with meatballs from Greek meatball bowls, or add to pita wraps with breaded chicken cutlets or as a simple salad to eat throughout the week. It’s the perfect salad because you can do whatever you want to it and it never fails to be delicious.
Why you’ll love this recipe
- An easy salad with a variety of flavors from simple ingredients.
- Customizable to what you love.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
These are the main ingredients and substitutions for this Mediterranean salad recipe. See the recipe card below for the full ingredient list and instructions.
- English Cucumber: crunchy cucumbers are a must! I prefer English cucumbers because they have thinner skin and less seeds than American cucumbers and are slightly sweeter.
- Cherry Tomatoes: or grape tomatoes if you prefer smaller tomatoes and don’t want to cut them in half. You can also use Roma tomatoes, chopped small.
- Red Onion: adds a ton of flavor, I wouldn’t skip it. Be sure to slice it very thin to avoid getting chunks of onion.
- Kalamata Olives: can’t be a Mediterranean salad without the taste of briny olives.
- Feta Cheese: similar to the olives, creamy feta cheese is a must on this salad. I used low-fat but feel free to use full-fat.
- Olive Oil: use a good quality olive oil; it’s the basis of your dressing ingredients so a higher quality will add wonderful flavor.
- Balsamic Vinegar: similar to the oil, a better quality vinegar will have the best flavor.
- Lemon Juice: when it comes to lemons, fresh squeezed is always preferred.
Variations
- Add artichoke hearts, white beans, sundried tomatoes, garbanzo beans or red peppers.
- Add your favorite fresh herbs like fresh oregano or fresh parsley.
- If you want this over a bed of lettuce, serve with chopped romaine lettuce or your favorite leafy greens.
- Add honey garlic grilled chicken thighs or air fryer crispy chicken patties, cut into small pieces. You can also serve this with air fryer blackened salmon or Mediterranean chicken meatballs.
- Add homemade greek tzatziki sauce.
Dietary Modifications
- This recipe is gluten-free, as is.
- For dairy-free, omit the feta-cheese or add a non-dairy alternative.
How to make this easy salad:
Step 1: combine salad ingredients
Combine all the ingredients in a large salad bowl or mason jar (image 1). Mix together to evenly combine and chill in the refrigerator before serving (image 2).
Expert Tip!
Top with Honey Garlic Chicken thighs for a perfect combination of flavors.
Recipe FAQs
Store salad in the fridge for up to three days. It will get even more delicious as the flavors meld together. If storing and using lettuce, don’t add the lettuce until ready to eat.
Serve this with honey lemon pepper chicken thighs, sweet heat baked salmon, or egg-free chicken meatballs.
Check out our other salad recipes!
If you make this recipe, please leave a rating and/or comment! Tag me on Instagram @ohsnapmacros, I love hearing from you!
Greek Side Salad
📱 MyFitnessPal & MacrosFirst App Users
You can find this recipe and many others on MyFitnessPal and MacrosFirst by searching: Ohsnapmacros – Greek Side Salad
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cucumber, chopped 200g
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced lengthwise 80g
- 1/2 cup fat-free feta cheese 56g
Dressing Ingredients
- 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- pinch of salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix together to evenly combine and chill in the refrigerator before serving.
Notes
- Nutritional information is an estimate and will vary with substitutions.
- I suggest weighing your final marinated salad and dividing by 4 for the serving size.
- Serve over chopped romaine lettuce with chicken thighs for a delicious easy salad.
