Traditional Greek Salad With Lemon Herb Vinaigrette

Any good spread of Greek food is likely to include a Greek salad, or Choriatiki. Greek salad is a crunchy, refreshing dish with lots of vegetables and feta cheese in a tangy lemon-herb vinaigrette.

Typically, a Greek salad has chunks of cucumber, diced or sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, kalamata olives, mint and chunks or cubes of feta cheese. Sometimes a Greek salad will have chunks of green pepper.

But what brings the salad together is a bright lemon and olive oil dressing, which is punctuated with typical Greek flavors like garlic, oregano, and red pepper flake.

The dressing offers just the right amount of acidic punch to liven up the creamy feta and briny kalamata olives while also softening the sharp bite of raw red onion. It all comes together to make a fun and delicious salad that's fit for any Greek or Mediterranean feast.

How to Make Greek Salad Dressing

The process to make Greek salad dressing is just like making any other salad dressing. Start with a base of Dijon mustard whisked up in a mixing bowl with some honey, lemon, minced garlic, oregano, red wine vinegar and red pepper flake.

Then, slowly whisk the olive oil into the base until it comes together into a smooth, vibrant dressing. Season with a little salt and pepper and you're all set!

How to Make Greek Salad

Making Greek salad is very easy. It just takes a few run-of-the-mill ingredients and a few easy steps, with no cooking involved!

The biggest part of making Greek salad is simply cutting vegetables. First, split the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop out any seeds. Slice the seeded cucumber into half-moons, split the cherry tomatoes in half and thinly slice a red onion.

Then, take some kalamata olives out of the jar and cut them in half. If you can, try to find kalamata olives that are already pitted. If not, you can easily pit the olives by lightly smashing them with your knife and removing the pits by hand. For Greek salad, kalamatas really do work best because of their distinct briny, yet earthy flavour.

Next comes the feta, which adds a creamy, salty richness to the salad. Traditionally, Greek salad uses big cubes of feta cheese, so look for those or try to find a block of feta that you can dice into cubes. If not, crumbled feta works fine.

Finally, pick and gently chop some fresh mint and throw it all into a bowl. Once the dressing is made, toss everything together, let it set for a few minutes to marinate and you have a delicious Greek salad!

Traditional Greek Salad with Lemon-Herb Vinaigrette

Serve this delicious Greek salad with homemade Greek dressing at your next Mediterranean feast!

Ingredients

For the Greek Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• teaspoon red pepper flakes
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey or 1 teaspoon sugar
• teaspoon dried oregano or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano, finely chopped
• cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

For the Greek Salad:

• 1 English cucumber rinsed, seeded and cut into large chunks (about inch or 1.25 cm wide)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes rinsed and split in half
• of a red onion thinly sliced into ribbons
• cup kalamata olives pitted and cut in half
• cup fresh mint leaves cut into large ribbons (about 1 bunch of picked leaves)
• cup feta cheese cubes or crumbled feta

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Directions

For the Greek Dressing:

• Whisk together all ingredients except for the olive oil in a medium-sized bowl until fully combined.
• Begin to incorporate the olive oil into the dressing by slowly pouring it into the bowl in a thin, steady stream with one hand while whisking constantly with the other hand. Continue until all the olive oil is incorporated and you have a smooth, homogenous dressing. It may help to secure the bowl with a wet towel underneath and make sure the oil is a measuring cup with a spout or something else that pours easily. Once all the olive oil is added, season to taste with salt and pepper.

For the Greek Salad:

• Combine all the ingredients for the Greek salad into a large mixing bowl.
• Pour the Greek dressing over the salad and stir to combine everything evenly, being careful not to break up the cubes of feta.
• Place the salad in the fridge and allow to sit in the dressing for at least 10 minutes before serving.