Key Points
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A great Greek salad starts with high-quality olive oil and vinegar.
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Cut vegetables right before serving to keep them crisp and fresh.
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Large chunks of feta help the salad stay creamy and flavorful.
A Greek salad is perfect for everything from a quick lunch to a flavorful dinner side. The classic salad features a combination of tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, olives and feta cheese dressed with olive oil, vinegar and oregano. When it’s done right, a Greek salad is a gateway to the flavors of the Mediterranean.
But if your veggies aren’t crisp, your dressing isn’t flavorful or your feta is bland, you’ll be left with a watered-down version of a true classic. To avoid these issues, we asked three chefs to share the secret to making the best Greek salad, and they all agreed: it starts with the dressing.
It’s All in the Dressing
Akis Petretzikis, a Greek celebrity chef who appeared on MasterChef Greece and hosts the web cooking series Kitchen Lab and Akis’ Kitchen, says a good salad dressing is the key to making at-home Greek salads taste like the ones you can order in a restaurant. “The secret to restaurant-quality flavor is using excellent olive oil,” says Petretzikis, “and balancing it with just enough vinegar to brighten the vegetables without overpowering them.”
How do you know you’re picking the best oil and vinegar for your dressing? Toni Elkhouri, chef and owner of Cedars Cafe in Melbourne, Florida, says most varieties of red wine vinegar will provide the acidity you need, especially when paired with some fresh lemon juice. She adds that choosing a fresh, high-quality olive oil is important and not as difficult as it sounds. “Make sure it’s got peppery notes and don’t look at the expiration date; look at the harvest date,” Elkhouri advises. You want the closest harvest date because olive oil “oxidizes and breaks down fairly quickly as it sits on the shelf,” she explains.
Sounds easy enough, but how exactly do you make Greek salad dressing? Derek Allen, director of culinary development, planning and brand experience for Carnival Cruise Line, says, “Keep it simple and use fresh ingredients.” Allen, who is working alongside Emeril Lagasse to open a new Greek-Italian fusion restaurant on select ships, says, “The dressing is what brings the entire salad together.”
To make a great Greek dressing, Allen says, “Combine extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, fresh lemon juice, minced garlic, dried oregano, Dijon mustard, salt, black pepper and a pinch of sugar or a drizzle of honey if needed to balance the acidity. Whisk until emulsified or shake everything together in a sealed jar. Let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving so the flavors can develop.”
Fresh Ingredients Matter
Once you’ve made a Greek dressing using fresh ingredients, you’re ready to gather the rest of the ingredients for your Greek salad. Our chefs say it’s just as important to get fresh, high-quality versions of these ingredients, too. “Since it’s such a simple dish,” explains Petretzikis, “every component matters: ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, crunchy green peppers, fresh red onion and good-quality Kalamata olives, Greek feta and dried oregano.”
“Simply respect the ingredients,” Elkhouri adds. “Use the best that you can get and don’t cut the vegetables until right when you’re ready to use them to keep them as fresh as possible.” Elkhouri also recommends shopping for ingredients like olives and feta at a farmers’ market or grocery store where you can taste the products and know that they’re delicious and have the right amount of saltiness.
Other Greek Salad–Making Tips
Our chefs agree that Greek salad is a light meal that’s especially great for the summer months. “A Greek salad is a timeless dish,” says Elkhouri, “which is perfect for the current heat waves everyone is experiencing … It just hits the spot on a hot summer day.”
Here are more tips from our chefs for making a great Greek salad.
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Choose simple ingredients. “My advice is to keep it simple,” says Petretzikis. “When the ingredients are fresh, they do all the work.”
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How you assemble the salad matters. “Cut the vegetables into generous pieces rather than dicing them too small,” says Allen. “Add the feta in large chunks instead of crumbling it so it stays creamy, dress the salad just before serving to keep everything crisp and finish the salad with a sprinkle of dried oregano and a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil for an authentic Mediterranean touch.”
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Experiment with Greek flavors. “Try things like grating fresh garlic into your dressing,” says Elkhouri, “or crumbling some feta straight into it to give it the flavor you like best.”
The Bottom Line
A Greek salad is simple to throw together, especially in warm summer temperatures. To make an at-home Greek salad taste restaurant-quality, focus on high-quality olive oil and a tasty red wine vinegar for your dressing. The other dressing ingredients, like oregano, lemon juice and garlic, should be as fresh as possible, too.
But the dressing is only the beginning of your quest for fresh ingredients: Look for the freshest produce you can find, and cut those tomatoes, cucumbers and other veggies as close to serving as possible to promote maximum crispness and freshness. It’s also a great idea to shop for feta cheese and Kalamata olives at a store that allows you to taste-test, so you can make sure you’re getting the perfect balance of saltiness from those additions.
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