Traditional Greek Salad Recipe (Horiatiki Salata)
Published August 11, 2021. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This classic Greek Salad Recipe is loaded up with fresh tomatoes, vegetables, feta cheese, and herbs in a light red wine vinaigrette.
At least 2 or 3 times a week, I crave salads big time. My body just needs those greens and I feel much better when incorporating them into my regular weekly diet. If you are looking to make some great salads then definitely check out my chef salad or my cobb salad.
Greek Salad
A Greek salad, which is better known as a Horiatiki Salata in Greece, is a classic vegetable salad that is mixed with herbs, cheese, and a light vinaigrette. The tradition of eating a salad before the main meal was actually founded in ancient Greece. They believed that consuming fresh raw vegetables before a big main meal, that would aid in digestion.
There are some basic ingredients that assist in the makeup of a traditional Greek salad, with some slight variations. Here are the staple items:
- Tomatoes – I like bigger tomatoes like vine-ripe, but all tomatoes are good to use.
- Cucumbers – A regular cucumber will do, and it can be peeled or non-peeled.
- Peppers – Green bell peppers are most commonly used.
- Onion – Red onions are classically used, but you can substitute out for yellow, white, or sweet.
- Olives – Kalamata olives are the classic olive of choice but feel free to add any of your favorite Greek olives.
- Feta Cheese – A good block of feta cheese is preferred over crumbled.
- Vinaigrette – Simple combination of red wine vinegar and olive oil.
- Herbs – Either dry or fresh oregano is classically served with this salad.
How to Make a Greek Salad from Scratch
Use these simple instructions as a guide to making this tasty Greek salad from scratch:
Rinse and prepare all of the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
Add all of the vegetables to a serving bowl or platter.
Add capers, olives, and feta cheese chunks to the top of the salad.
Finish with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and oregano.
Additional Ingredients
There are a few more ingredients you can add to this classic Greek salad to customize it while still keeping it authentic. Here are my favorite things to add:
- Red Bell Peppers
- Fresh Basil
- Assorted Greek Olives
- Fresh Oregano
- Romaine
- Capers
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: Keep the dressing separate, but you can make this up to 1 day ahead of time. I would also advise keeping the feta cheese separate until ready to serve. Don’t season it either until ready to serve.
How To Store: If you can keep the seasoning and vinaigrette separate and cover and keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
chef notes + tips
- Use pitted olives to make it easier to consume.
- It is more classic to use a block of feta cheese rather than crumbles.
- Any tomato will work for this recipe.
- For more flavor, use my Greek salad dressing recipe.
More Salad Recipes
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Traditional Greek Salad Recipe (Horiatiki Salada)
Ingredients
- 5 cored vine ripe tomatoes cut into bitesize pieces
- 1 cucumber sliced into half-moons
- 1 seeded and julienne green bell pepper
- ½ peeled and julienne red onion
- ¼ cup capers
- 10 to 12 pitted kalamata olives
- 10 to 12 pitted green Greek olives
- 8- ounce block of feta cheese broken into bitesize pieces
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoons dry oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Rinse and prepare all of the vegetables accordingly.
- Add the tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and red onions to a large platter or bowl.
- Evenly place on the capers, olives, and feta cheese.
- Drizzle on the olive oil and red wine vinegar.
- Sprinkle the oregano, salt, and pepper over top, and serve.
Great salad, I made it to accompany the chicken souvlaki recipe for dinner. It was a standout salad on its own, but I put a big helping in my pita with the souvlaki, and it was fabulous. Next time, I’m thinking to chop everything smaller so it fits easier, although getting messy was part of the experience!
Thanks for giving it a shot!
The juice from the Kalamata olives and feta cheese with a touch of olive oil make the best dressing. Mixing everything together from the start and storing for a day or two just adds to the flavour.
So good!!
Made this salad with Greek chicken gyros. Delicious and so easy. Thank You.
Tasty
Billy is definitely the “go to chef” for all his amazing, delicious and easy to follow recipes. My family love when it’s Billy P inspired dinner at my home. Thanks again for all you do Billy, many people are eating better because of you. God bless…
Love this salad
Or anything Billy makes
Always authentic
He amazes me how he teaches and explains things to make it easy
thank you so kindly!!
I make this a few times a week, it is the perfect salad for lunch, and I LOVE how it is presented. So simple and SO delicious. Thank you, Billy, for so many amazing recipes. I am going to try making bread this week, your videos make me think I can do this :/
fantastic!
I’ve had this three times this week! My husband doesn’t even like olives and he loves this salad. I didn’t have green pepper, used an orange pepper. I don’t use the capers, and I just to the olive oil with red wine vinegar – love, love, love!!
Nice
Easy to make and the dressing was amazing!!
perfect!!
Made this tonight and it is delicious. I love how he layers the ingredients instead of mixing them in a bowl. I opted for the red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing with oregano from our garden. My husband is not an olive fan so he ate around this which was fine by me because I love olives. The kids loved it too. Definitely a salad we will make once or twice a week.
perfect!!
I am known for making a great green salad with home made Italian dressing. Well I stepped out and tried this salad!! My husband and I could not stop raving about it!! So many amazing flavors and so colorful!! Thanks Chef Billy!
my pleasure!
LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS!!! I stuffed mine into a whole wheat pita with some sprouts and it was the best lunch I’ve eaten in a good, long time!
excellent!
Have a Greek salad every day with dinner! (Yes, we’re Greek!) This recipe is spot on – although sometimes we switch out balsamic vinegar for the red wine, just to change it up a bit. Enjoy all your recipes and your tips! Have learned a lot from you. God bless you!
Thank you!
I made this and it was excellent!
I have now made this a couple times in the past week. The first time I made it as written. The second time I made it like a panzanella using a leftover baguette. Both were delicious!!
Awesome!
This Greek Salad is the BOMB! The salad dressing is thebest. Thank you so much for sharing this.
My pleasure.