A good Greek salad is one of our favorite salads with a terrific combination of colors, flavors, textures, and ingredients. But traditional Greek salads don't have much in leafy greens. They are all vegetables, with cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and Greek feta cheese. I prefer greens in my salad, so I combined a Greek salad and green salad. It's crunchy, cool, delicious and healthy with a tangy Greek salad dressing.
Here's a salad we enjoy all summer long, a leafy green Greek salad with Greek salad dressing. Leafy greens, ripe tomatoes, tangy feta, cool cucumbers, meaty Kalamata olives, all dressed with a simple Greek vinaigrette. While summer weather lingers, try this salad today.
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Why You'll Like This Recipe
- You get all of the great fruit and veggies of a Greek salad combined with a green salad.
- It's fresh, light, delicious, and healthy.
- A terrific salad for summer and hot wether.
Recipe Ingredients
Greek salad dressing
- Oil: Use a good extra virgin olive oil. Greek olive oil is terrific!
- Vinegar: Basic red wine vinegar gives just the tang.
- Lemon juice: For ore bright acidity and flavor.
- Garlic: Use a fresh garlic clove, but the pureed paste in a tube works too.
- Mustard: Just a little Dijon to help emulsify the vinaigrette.
- Oregano: A classic herb used lots in Greek cuisine. Use either fresh or dried. A nice twist is adding a little chopped fresh mint.
Greek Salad
- Lettuce: I love red lettuce for a Greek salad but torn romaine leaves work too. Buy fresh heads and wash then dry or grab your favorite containers to save time.
- Feta cheese: Get real Greek feta. It has a wonderful tang that cow's milk feta seems to miss. Use what you can find, in a block or crumbled. I prefer to get a block and cube or crumble my own.
- Onion: Red onion provides nice flavor and color, or use a shallot.
- Olives: Buy the black, pitted Greek Kalamata olives in brine.
- Tomatoes: I prefer to use grape or cherry variety tomatoes but you can use any good red tomato.
- Cucumber: Buy mini or Persian cucumbers for their crisp texture and sweet flavor or an English (sometimes called seedless) cucumber.
If you like Greek-inspired food, try this Greek Tzatziki dip for a healthy snack with raw veggies.
Chef's tip on feta cheese: Feta cheese is a traditional component of a Greek salad. My favorite is the tangy, authentic blend of both sheep and goat milk made. If you are dairy sensitive, you might find goat and sheep milk feta works for you, as these milks are more digestible than cow's milk.
Substitutions and Variations
- For a main course salad, add chicken, shrimp, or your favorite protein. For a plant-based protein, add garbanzo beans or cooked lentils.
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Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Start by making the Greek dressing. Add all ingredients to a jar and shake well or add to a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Be sure the garlic is finely chopped and smeared into a paste or use a microplane zester to get it fine.
Step 2: Wash the salad greens and tear into bite-sized pieces.
Step 3: Chop the veggies, the tomatoes and cucumbers, drain the olives, crumble or cube the feta. Thinly slice a little red onion and soak the slices in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain and dry (this takes the bitey edge off the onion).
Step 4: Assemble the salad. Add the greens to a large salad bowl and toss with 1-2 tablespoons of dressing, add all of the salad "goodies" and serve extra dressing on the side.
Serving Suggestions
Use this Greek salad as a side salad or turn it into an entree salad. Add grilled sliced chicken, rotisserie chicken, grilled lamb kabobs, beef kabobs, or even salmon or grilled shrimp. Its up to you! It makes this a terrific summer dinner.
More Great Salad Recipes
Looking for more great salads? Try this homemade Caesar salad with a good and garlicky homemade Caesar dressing. For tips on how to build a better salad, read this post.
⭐️Did you Make This Recipe?
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📖 Recipe
Leafy Green Greek Salad
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 large garlic clove finely chopped, smeared into a paste with your knife
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 pinches sea salt
- 2 pinches ground black pepper
Salad
- 1-2 heads red lettuce, depending on size or a box of packaged greens
- 4 ounces Greek feta cheese cubed or crumbled
- ¼ small red onion thinly sliced
- 20 pitted Greek Kalamata olives
- 12-16 cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 2-3 mini or Persian cucumbers or ½ an English chopped small
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Instructions
- Make vinaigrette by placing all ingredients in a jar. Cap tightly and shake well until creamy and smooth.
- Tear clean lettuce leaves into bite-sized pieces and add to a large bowl. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinaigrette to the bowl and toss gently to coat all leaves. Add all of the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and serve. Drizzle with more dressing if desired.
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