15 Minute Greek Cucumber Salad
What’s not to adore about this 15 minute Greek cucumber salad with feta, olives, red onion and cherry tomatoes tossed with a simple homemade dressing? It’s the absolute best easy side dish for a hot summer day!
I originally shared this Greek Cucumber Salad on May 30th, 2014. I’ve updated the images, some of the text and added a video to share with you today. This post may contain affiliate links.
Table of contents
- Why We Love This Recipe For Greek Cucumber Salad
- Key Ingredients For This Cucumber Greek Salad
- How to Make This Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe
- FAQs and Expert Tips
- Can You Make Greek Cucumber Salad Ahead?
- Variations to Try
- Serving Suggestions For Cucumber Greek Salad
- More Salad Recipes with Tomato and Cucumber
Why We Love This Recipe For Greek Cucumber Salad
This cucumber Greek salad made without lettuce is a refreshing and delicious side salad that is all about the raw fresh vegetables. It can easily be scaled up for serving as a side dish at summer barbecues, picnics or any gathering, this Mediterranean recipe is a crowd-pleaser.
Recipe Highlights
- Whisk the dressing ingredients in the serving bowl for this easy Chopped Greek Cucumber salad. It saves a dish and makes it a quick recipe to prepare.
- Because fresh tomatoes and chopped cucumbers naturally let off their juice as they sit, you do not need a ton of dressing to make this salad moist enough.
- This is close to a traditional Greek salad recipe, the no-lettuce variety. It’s all about crisp and fresh cucumbers paired with juicy ripe tomatoes! Add in red onions, black olives and feta cheese and toss in a vinaigrette dressing
Key Ingredients For This Cucumber Greek Salad
- Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
- Fresh Herbs: I use fresh herbs, basil and oregano in this chopped salad because it’s a summertime recipe and I always have herbs on hand. Plus I like the way fresh herbs taste. Parsley, fresh dill or mint would also be great. If you want to make this with dried herbs, use 3/4 teaspoon each of dried oregano and dried basil in the dressing. Dried oregano only (no basil) is a traditional seasoning for Greek salad.
- Kosher Salt & Ground Black Pepper
- Cucumbers: If you have regular cucumbers, you should peel them, but if you have European cucumbers, English cucumber or Lebanese cucumbers, you can leave them unpeeled. For this recipe, I prefer to use thinner-skinned varieties of cucumbers. I like to peel strips of skin off, to make them pretty.
- Red wine vinegar: you could use a squeeze of fresh lemon juice instead.
- Dijon mustard
- Cherry tomatoes: grape tomatoes are fine too. You could also make this with heirloom tomatoes.
- Olives: I used mixed olives. If you want to stay closer to an authentic Greek salad use Kalamata olives. Opt for pitted if desired.
- Red Onion: I love the assertive flavor of raw red onion, but if you would like it milder use green onions.
- Crumbed Feta: Goat feta, sheep feta or a blend will all work. Or use dairy-free feta if desired.
How to Prepare the Cucumber for This Greek Cucumber Tomato Salad
To remove the seeds of the fresh cucumber, cut them in half from stem to end. Then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. This will make the cucumber salad less watery.
I like to cut the cucumbers into chunks instead of rounds or half moons. They are closer in size to the rest of the ingredients, and easier to eat than sliced cucumbers. I cut them into lengths, then crosswise into chunks about 1/2 to 3/4-inch thick. (See the video for more detail.)
How to Make This Greek Cucumber Salad Recipe
To make the dressing just whisk red wine vinegar, high-quality extra virgin olive oil and fresh oregano in the mixing bowl. Add in mustard to help it stay emulsified plus a bit of salt and pepper. Whisk well!
Before serving and once the salad dressing is mixed in the large bowl, add in the chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, olives and feta. Toss well to coat with the dressing. Then sprinkle with the freshly chopped basil. Serve right away, as the cucumbers and juicy tomatoes will start to weep and the salad will become watery.
FAQs and Expert Tips
Yes and no. In the United States, many recipes and restaurant Greek salads include lettuce. But traditional Greek salads do not have lettuce in them. Instead, they allow the cucumbers and tomatoes to stand in for the bulk of the salad. The ingredients are chopped and tossed together.
Greek cucumber salad can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. It is best to store the salad without the dressing and add it just before eating to prevent the cucumbers from getting soggy.
Can You Make Greek Cucumber Salad Ahead?
You can, but you need to keep these things in mind:
- You can make the dressing ahead and store it in a jar or a small bowl covered with wrap in the fridge for several days. If the oil solidifies, you’ll just need to bring it to room temperature or set your jar of dressing in a warm water bath to liquefy it before proceeding.
- You can chop the cucumbers ahead too. Just keep them separate from the dressing so they don’t start to weep. (If they get salt on them, they will start to let off their water.)
- If you don’t mind the smell of chopped onions in your fridge you can chop them ahead too. I’d recommend not stirring them together with the tomatoes or feta.
- Don’t chop the tomatoes ahead. Tomatoes shouldn’t be refrigerated, so wait to cut them until you’re ready to toss the salad.
- Add freshly cut basil at the end. If you chop it ahead the cuts will turn black and the taste of the basil will be less strong.
Variations to Try
- Try using different types of tomatoes such as Roma tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes. Or you could even swap out the tomato for another summertime star, watermelon, cut into chunks.
- Sub in lemon juice instead of the vinegar.
- Add sliced roasted red peppers or fresh bell pepper strips
- Top it with grilled chicken, shrimp or fish to make it a complete meal.
- Skip making the dressing and use your favorite Greek salad dressing instead.
- Serve it with lavash and homemade hummus
- Add whole Greek pepperoncini.
- Add canned artichoke hearts or hearts of palm.
Serving Suggestions For Cucumber Greek Salad
This simple salad is a perfect summer salad to pair with meat, seafood and vegetarian dishes with Mediterranean flavor. The tangy dressing, fresh herbs and summer rice fresh produce pair well with the following:
- Greek Salad is wonderful with lamb: Try our Rack of Lamb, Grilled Lamb Kofta Kebabs or Lamb Burgers with it. The tangy feta and juicy veggies are a natural compliment!
- Vegetarian Ideas: This Chopped Cucumber Greek Salad is a great compliment to Mediterranean Lavash Wraps
- Chicken: Grilled Greek Chicken Thighs and these Grilled Chicken Burgers with Tzatziki.
- Grilled Fish: Try with Cedar Plank Salmon or Shrimp Kebabs
Thanks so much for reading! If you are new here, you may want to sign up for my email newsletter to get a free weekly menu plan and the latest recipes right to your inbox. If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought!
Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Print15 Minute Greek Cucumber Salad
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Description
Here’s a recipe for Greek Cucumber Salad made without lettuce. It’s loaded with crumbled feta, cherry tomatoes, olives and red onion and tossed with a simple homemade dressing. The best part is that it’s ready in only 15 minutes!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 4 cups peeled, seeded and chopped cucumbers
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup mixed olives, pitted if desired
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
- 2 ounces crumbed feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Whisk oil, vinegar, oregano, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, onion, and feta and stir to combine. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary. Top with basil.
Notes
Make-Ahead Instructions: To make this ahead, chop the veggies and do not toss them together. Keep the dressing separate and do not cut the tomatoes until just before serving. Toss just before serving.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: no cook
- Cuisine: Greek
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
- Calories: 159
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 306 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 9 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 4 g
What a delicious and celebratory salad. Thank you for a great recipe!
Thanks Megan! Hope you love the salad!
So easy and delicious! Greek food is always a hit with my hubby, too. 🙂
Thanks for the comment and rating Raia! Hope you and your hubby both love this!
Hello,
This recipe looks very sweet and delicious. I will try it in this weekend. Shared it on my Facebook group.
Thank so much!
Thank you very much Kim.
Katie, you’ve inspired me with your month of salads. I eat salad every day for lunch but SO get in a rut. I’m committing to mixing it up and using some of your ideas. I think your struggle is universal with all bloggers. It’s always a balancing act and I think you do it beautifully!
I agree about posting what you like and would eat yourself. Last week, I made three different recipes in one day. When I told my husband that I was only posting the last one, he looked at me strangely and asked, “Why?” I answer with what I felt was true, “The first two were okay, but I wouldn’t make them again, so why would my readers? I want to post things I feel are truly good! That said, this salad looks awesome! Thanks for sharing…everything!
Wow! First, thank you Jodee, and I saw that you shared on G+, thank you so much for that. Also, right on! With so much competition for eyes, it’s great to narrow focus and only put out the best content possible. Otherwise I sometimes feel likes its as good as lost in space. When I am missing out on time with my family I think it is not worth the minutes of the day to get it out there. So yes, your litmus test the other day sounds right on!
This recipe is absolutely my cup of tea! Perfection 🙂 Love your post and think some of it could have come from me, as I share many of your thoughts, although I would probably be jumping for joy if I even got anywhere near close to 100,000 page views per month. After 3 years of blogging, I’m not even close, but that’s ok :-). I am trying to simplify things too, and will be trying out a series of Instameal posts…super simple spur of the moment recipes that are absolutely my cup of tea. Looking forward to lots more salad recipes from you like this one! Enjoy your family time!!!
Thank you so much EA and for sharing the post on G+. I really appreciate your support, and thoughts on this post. You can probabably guess that I am in full support for you to try out the instameal change to your line up.
You’re awesome and your posts like this are always so refreshing. Just keep posting about what you eat — it’s way more real. Although when you were bemoaning your 100K/month pageviews, I was crying — I have never topped 30K. So, compared to me, you’re a freakin’ ROCKSTAR BLOGGER! 🙂
Aww Ninj, I was thinking of you when I wrote this, and I knew you’d be in support of the Cup of Tea litmus test. Thank you for being a good friend 🙂
I love your recipes, and your blog. That greek cucumber salad looks fabulous! If I were a blogger, I wouldn’t be posting many desserts either – I’m not a baker, more of a savory kind of gal. So keep up what you’re doing, and make time to spend with your beautiful family.
Thank you Carol. That is wonderful advice.
Really honest post. At the end of the day who and what is your priority? The balance in life is what makes each day worthwhile. Start counting the blessings and focus on them instead of the page views. I love your recipes and blog. People who are interested in your content will stay.
Thank you so much Linda. I am really honored to have people like you supporting me. I really appreciate your comment.
I know how it is to be obsessed with posts going viral and getting lots of page views. All that technical stuff burned me out fast and made me forget what got me into blogging in the first place. So, I absolutely agree – you’ve just got to do what you love doing in the first place. By the way, this salad recipe is beautiful.
Thank you Joshua. I don’t want to burn out. Blogging is so rewarding, I wouldn’t want to let that happen. I could see that happening. In March, I was on the verge of it when I wrote that rant post. I’m glad to have pushed through to get to this part of the journey.
Katie you speak from the heart and that’s why I love you! I totally get wanting something to go viral, but its so true that if that was your sole purpose it would not be as rewarding as just making food you truly want to eat! And this salad rocks my world, I love it plain and simple, I could eat that everyday!
Thank you Brenda. About that elusive viral post, I am breaking up with the idea of it. 😉
I read your blog mainly for the salads 🙂
Ha ha. I had a feeling there were a lot of you out there that would say that Barbara 🙂
Girl! You know I LOVE this post! Go you!
You are an inspiration to me Marlow. Can’t wait to share what we talked about on my post this coming Thursday. Hugs lady!
I am going to play devil’s advocate just a teeny tiny bit and say that there is actually one good reason to occasionally post a recipe even if it doesn’t make you personally go weak in the knees. And first, let me say that I ABSOLUTELY have the highest standards ever for what actually makes it on the blog. But I also know that everyone has completely different tastebuds. So a recipe for something like a sweet muffin that’s not high on my personal “cup of tea” scale can still be worthwile to post (assuming it does taste good and is “healthified” in a way that’s appropriate for my blog.) Because that kind of recipe might be perfect and rate a 10 on the “cup of tea” scale for some of my readers.
And about those pageviews, can I say it’s all about being useful. Your blog is fantastic; there’s just a lot of competition for those eyeballs these days.
Oh Kalyn, I am so grateful to have your perspective on this. I think of what you do on your site, and that is exactly the kind of thing I want to do more of. Meaning, you have a specific niche within healthy cooking. I feel like I am so spread out trying to please everyone that I am not really making anyone happy, including myself.
To argue in favor of your point too, my friend Chantal just pointed out to me that it is okay to have 6’s in the world. That’s what makes the 10’s so special.
KATIE! I seriously am in LOVE with this post (the salad – that is totally my cup of tea too…and something that I would totally eat everyday)
But, the writing. I am SO guilty of trying to make stuff that I think will “go viral” so I can break 100k pageviews (UGH) but I would rather just eat chicken and sweet potatoes. This is beautiful and I totally learned from it! Thanks girl. And, I’m pinning this salad!
Thank you Taylor. I am so glad to commiserate with you. I think there has to be a balance in there somewhere. We have to decide what the piece of pie we’re after looks like I guess.