Greek Salad

This easy Greek Salad recipe is full of fresh flavors and includes the most delicious homemade Greek dressing! A simple side dish for ANY meal. The post Greek Salad appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Jan 24, 2025 - 16:43

Listen, I know it’s probably weird, but if I had to choose a last meal, it would be a salad, 100%! Not a steak, burger, or fried chicken…a crispy, fresh, clean salad, and this easy Greek Salad is top of my list! Feta cheese, grape tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and romaine lettuce are drizzled in the most addictive Greek dressing, which takes me just minutes to make. It’s the perfect budget-friendly (high-yield!) meal prep recipe, and you can customize it with whatever proteins you like best. Or do as I do and enjoy it as-is!

Overhead view of a serving bowl of greek salad.

What is a Greek Salad?

A traditional Greek salad, also known as Horiatiki or ‘Greek village salad,’ is made with fresh, summery ingredients commonly found in Greek cuisine. It usually includes feta cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, olives, and oregano, which is dressed in a simple combination of olive oil, herbs, and sometimes vinegar (or lemon juice). In Greece, this salad rarely includes lettuce (region dependent), but in the American variation, romaine lettuce is often added. My recipe is more akin to the salads you’d find in Greek restaurants in the US, as I love the added crunch and texture of romaine lettuce in this dish!

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe for Greek salad:

Romaine Lettuce: The perfect filler ingredient to stretch this salad further and make it more substantial on a budget (which is what we’re all about here at Budget Bytes!).
Feta Cheese: Adds a salty, tangy, creamy flavor that brings everything together. I crumble it up so each bite has a bit of cheese, and I also add some to the dressing for extra flavor.
Pitted Kalamata Olives: Another signature ingredient in a Greek salad—these olives have a distinct flavor and add a bit more saltiness. Shop around for the best prices on these! A Mediterranean mix, as I use in my marinated olives recipe, will also work in a pinch.
Grape Tomatoes: These juicy tomatoes add color and texture. I love grape tomatoes, but you can substitute them with cherry tomatoes if they’re priced better at the store.
Cucumber: Adds a crisp, cool crunch that balances out the saltiness from the feta and olives. I peel half of it, leaving some of the skin to create a striped pattern for both aesthetics and texture!
Red Onion: I thinly slice half a red onion for a punch of flavor.
Greek Dressing: I use red wine vinegar, olive oil, honey, salt, black pepper, fresh oregano, olive brine (from the Kalamata olives), Dijon mustard, garlic, and crumbled feta cheese to make my homemade dressing. It’s sweet, tangy, and perfectly balanced—while highlighting the Greek flavors in the salad.

What Else Can I Add?

I’m all about making the most of what you’ve got! So, feel free to add some additional ingredients to this Greek salad recipe if you have them on hand. Here are a few ideas:

Hard-boiled eggs
Capers
Grilled chicken breast or grilled tofu
Artichokes
Roasted chickpeas
Cooked pasta
Homemade croutons
Tuna salad
Avocado slices
Shredded carrots

Shock the onion if you don’t like the raw bite. And no, I don’t mean to scare it! You can ‘shock’ an onion by adding the slices to a bowl of cold water for 10-15 minutes. This will mellow out the sharpness and make it more palatable for those who are sensitive to raw onion.
Use fresh oregano, not dried. Oregano is an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and antioxidant powerhouse in any form. But in this recipe, you should use fresh oregano as it adds a bright, herbaceous flavor to the dressing that’s hard to replicate with dried oregano. Dried herbs are best saved for long-cooking dishes, like stews, soups, and roasts, where they have a chance to rehydrate and release their flavors. I always recommend using whatever type of herb a recipe calls for, and in this case, that’s fresh oregano!
Your dressing will separate, and that’s okay. Because this homemade dressing doesn’t contain emulsifiers or stabilizers like store-bought dressings, it will naturally separate. I just give it a good shake or stir before using it again.

Serving Suggestions

No matter what you serve this salad with, it NEEDS some sort of bread to sop up the delicious dressing. I usually go for pita bread because it’s traditional and delicious, but any crusty bread will do. It also pairs well with grilled meats, roasted vegetables, or any of the mix-ins I mentioned above for an easy lunch option. However, if you want to create a full Greek-inspired meal, I recommend serving it with our Greek chicken wraps or sheet pan Greek chicken and vegetables!

How to Meal Prep Greek Salad

This salad is perfect for meal prepping…but only when stored correctly. No one wants a wilted, sad Greek salad! I recommend keeping the dressing separate from the rest of the ingredients until ready to serve. The dressing is good for up to 1 week when stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Wash and thoroughly dry your veggies. Chop them ahead of time and crumble the feta, but keep them stored in separate airtight containers. Add a paper towel to each container of veggies to absorb any excess moisture and keep them fresh. When ready to serve, simply toss everything together and enjoy! You can store the salad pre-mixed (without the dressing), but the lettuce can wilt quicker this way.

Overhead close up of a bowl of greek salad.

Greek Salad Recipe

This easy Greek Salad recipe is full of fresh flavors and includes the most delicious homemade Greek dressing! A simple side dish for ANY meal.

Course Salad

Cuisine Greek, Mediterranean

Total Cost ($11.37 recipe / $1.42 serving)

Prep Time 15

Total Time 15

Servings servings (2 cups each)

Calories 219kcal

Author Jess Rice

Ingredients

Dressing Ingredients

⅓ cup red wine vinegar $0.53
1 Tbsp honey $0.15
½ tsp salt $0.01
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper $0.10
2 tsp fresh oregano $0.22
2 Tbsp olive brine $0.00
1 tsp Dijon mustard $0.02
1 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled $0.27
4 cloves garlic, minced $0.24
½ cup olive oil $1.55

Salad Ingredients

3 heads romaine, rinsed and chopped into bite-sized pieces* $3.42
⅓ block of feta cheese + 1 Tbsp, about 3 oz, crumbled and divided** $1.35
⅓ cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped $1.44
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved $0.82
1 cucumber, peeled and diced $0.72
½ red onion, sliced thin $0.53

Instructions

Gather the dressing ingredients (red wine vinegar, honey, salt, black pepper, fresh oregano, olive brine, Dijon mustard, crumbled feta cheese, and minced garlic).
Whisk all dressing ingredients together, streaming oil in slowly, and set aside.***
Gather salad ingredients; rinse and chop romaine, crumble feta, chop Kalamata olives, halve tomatoes, peel and dice cucumbers, and julienne (slice thinly) red onion.
Toss all ingredients together with a drizzle of salad dressing until it’s dressed to your liking. Save any leftover dressing in the refrigerator for up to one week.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*I usually end up having to pick off a few of the outer leaves on each head of lettuce because they’re wilted or bruised beyond crispiness! I intended to only use 2 heads of lettuce (the kind that come in the 3 packs at the grocery store) but because some of the leaves looked a little sad, I used all 3.

**Reserve 1 Tbsp of crumbled feta cheese for the dressing

***This dressing is a “temporary emulsion”, so you will want to give it a good whisk (or a shake if you made it in a jar) before dressing your salad.

Nutrition

how to make Greek Salad – step by step photos

Overhead view of the ingredients for greek salad dressing on a wooden cutting board.

Gather ⅓ cup red wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp honey, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, 2 tsp fresh oregano, 2 Tbsp olive brine, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese, and 4 cloves minced garlic to make your salad dressing.

Overhead view of greek salad dressing in a bowl.

Whisk all dressing ingredients together until combined. Stream in ½ cup of olive oil slowly while still whisking, and set aside.

Over head view of greek salad ingredients on a wooden cutting board.

Gather your salad ingredients; rinse and chop 3 heads romaine, crumble ⅓ block of feta, chop ⅓ cup Kalamata olives, slice 1 cup of grape tomatoes in half, peel and dice 1 cucumber, and julienne (slice thinly) ½ a red onion.