I have a slight suspicion that you’ll want to eat this Mediterranean salad recipe with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette ALL summer long. I love Greek food in the summer. The flavors are tangy, and the fresh produce in salads like this Mediterranean chopped salad are so refreshing! Personally, I eat this all year long, BUT when the gardens are bursting with more tomatoes and cucumbers than you know what to do with, it’s especially a good time for easy Mediterranean cucumber salad. If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I love easy low carb Greek recipes. Along with Mexican, Italian and French, it’s one of my favorite cuisines! Many of the traditional recipes are higher in carbs, but I love to transform them into healthy gluten-free recipes, like spinach stuffed mushrooms and Greek spinach pie. But with a Greek salad recipe like this Mediterranean chopped salad, the transformation is minimal as many of them are naturally low in carbs. With tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and feta cheese, Mediterranean chopped salad a classic that everyone knows and loves. Most of the time, I’ll toss it with the same lemon garlic vinaigrette from this baby kale salad. It’s a very typical Mediterranean salad dressing recipe, but this version got some special additions! I added artichoke hearts and a sun-dried tomato vinaigrette to my Mediterranean vegetable salad and it was such a good decision, as the flavors are even better than the classic Greek salad recipe you’re probably used to! 🙂
How To Make Mediterranean Salad
This easy Mediterranean cucumber tomato salad takes just 10 minutes to make! The Mediterranean salad ingredients are super simple, and in fact there are just FIVE of them:
Grape tomatoes Cucumbers Artichoke hearts Red onions Feta cheese
With some simple chopping, you’ve got everything you need for this easy chopped salad recipe.
How To Make Sun-dried Tomato Vinaigrette
The sun-dried tomato vinaigrette is easy, too. Just a matter of blending everything together:
Sun-dried tomatoes Olive oil Apple cider vinegar Garlic Sea salt Black pepper
The addition of the sun-dried tomatoes adds such intense flavor to the dressing. You know when you have a half jar of sun dried tomatoes in the fridge and you’re searching for sun dried tomato recipes to make so they don’t go bad? THIS is your dressing. (You can also make your own sun-dried tomatoes in the oven.) Toss the dressing and veggies together, and dig in!
What Is In A Mediterranean Salad?
The ingredients in a Mediterranean salad definitely vary, but there are usually a few staples – cucumbers, tomatoes, red onions, and feta cheese are the main ones.
Variations on Mediterranean Salad
You may have noticed that this Mediterranean cucumber salad doesn’t contain any lettuce. Since I worked at an authentic Greek restaurant during early college, I learned from the Santorini native owner that there is no lettuce in a true Greek chopped salad. What a surprise, considering almost every restaurant Greek salad in the United States has lettuce! So I decided to go the authentic route with this tomato and cucumber salad recipe and skip the lettuce. (Just like many of the Russian salads I grew up eating!) That being said, there are a couple variations I love making:
Lettuce is a fine addition to this Greek cucumber salad. This will help stretch the salad and add more bulk to it, and also reduce the amount of carbs per serving if that’s important to you. Add some kalamata olives or pepperoncinis for some additional flavors. This is one of the many reasons I love salad, they are so easy to customize and switch up according to preferences and what you have in the fridge!
Is Mediterranean Salad Healthy?
Yes, Mediterranean salads are healthy! This salad is packed with a variety nutritious vegetables. Each serving of salad will give you TWO servings of vegetables. It’s pretty low in calories, so if you want to turn this into a meal, I would recommend adding some juicy baked chicken or Parmesan crusted salmon on the side.
Can You Make Mediterranean Chopped Salad Ahead?
You can do some of the prep ahead for this Mediterranean chopped salad. That’s another benefit of a lettuce-free salad, they don’t wilt as easily! If you want to make this salad ahead, store the vegetables and dressing separately. Blend up the dressing – it will last 5-7 days in the fridge. And chop your veggies – they’ll last 2-3 days in the fridge. Then right before serving, mix together. Give your sun-dried tomato vinaigrette a good shake before drizzling it onto the salad and if it’s too thick, add some more olive oil. You’ll want to let the dressing come to room temperature so that the oil isn’t solid.
What To Serve With Mediterranean Cucumber Salad
All this Mediterranean cucumber salad needs is some protein! You can find all of my keto low carb dinner recipes here, or try some of these options:
Juicy Baked Chicken Breast: The Best Way To Bake Chicken Top Sirloin Steak In The Oven Best, Easy Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs Baked Lemon Herb Parmesan Crusted Salmon
Blender – Blend up the sun-dried tomato dressing in a minute. I use this blender daily. Dressing Shaker Bottle – This is the easiest way to store the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette. Porcelain Salad Bowl – The prettiest way to serve this Mediterranean chopped salad.
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