Greek salad (or Horiatiki salata) (Χωριάτικη Σαλάτα)

Greek village salad, or horiatiki, is a staple in every Greek kitchen. An amazing combination of vine-ripened tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, Kalamata olives and feta. Although there are some variations, olive oil and Greek oregano are staple dressing ingredients.

They say you are what you eat.  If that’s the case, then in the summer months, I am a villager. When garden tomatoes have ripened, I use them to make, and eat, delicious Greek salad, also called a horiatiki salata (horio means village in Greek).  I eat this salad every day.  Not almost every day…but every, single, day.  And I never tire of it.

It would be next to impossible to tire of a salad so full of flavour and amazing texture. For me, Greek salad or horiatiki salata is a gift of summer; easy to prepare, filling, deliciously fragrant and healthy.  In fact, the only down side is that I live in Canada, where local, vine-ripened tomatoes are not readily available year round.

Key ingredients

Although the two versions of Greek salad which I present below differ somewhat, you will notice that neither version contains lettuce.  That’s because lettuce has no place in a horiatiki salata.  Now, I know that there have been great lettuce debates; that there are people who strongly believe that a respectable Greek salad may, or must, contain lettuce.  There are also those individuals who believe that there should be no rules; that lettuce can be added, (or not), at will, and that freedom of salad expression is a fundamental right; that a Greek salad is whatever the person making it, says it is.  I say, NO WAY!  Freedom is great, and you can add whatever you want to your other salads…but if you’re making a Greek salad, save the leafy greens for a maroulosalata.

You will definitely need:

Tomatoes I rarely make horiatiki salata if I don’t have access to garden ripe tomatoes. There are other salads to enjoy outside of peak tomato season.

Cucumber I use any cucumbers that I have on hand, including Lebanese cucumbers or English cucumbers. I always wash them of course, and I peel them if I feel that the peel is too thick; otherwise I leave the peel on.

Red onion The onion is kept raw so I prefer red onions because I find their flavour is not as strong as your typical yellow onion.

Feta Greek feta is always used. Made with sheep milk or a combination of sheep and goat milk, the flavour is far superior to Greek-style feta, which is usually made with cow milk.

Olive oil I am generous with the amount of olive oil I add to my horiatiki. A great big glug of Greek olive oil combines with the juices of the tomato and the other ingredients and the result is amazing.

Greek oregano So fragrant! I always have a stash of Greek oregano on hand; it really elevates any dish.

Kalamata olives There are different sizes of Kalamata olives and I use either in my salad. Sometimes I pit them first, but I usually leave them with the pit. A few olives added makes a delicious difference.

Salt Most recipes include salt, but the salt in a horiatiki is really important. It adds flavour, but it also helps to draw out the juices in the tomato, helping to build a delicious liquid that you can literally drink out of the bowl.

You may also want to add:

Green bell pepper Most, but not all Greek village salads include slivers of green pepper. Their peppery bite and fresh, crisp flavour add a lovely dimension to the salad.

Capers To complement the brininess of the olives, capers can also be added to your horiatiki. I love capers because they are easy – no pits to deal with.

Paximadia (barley rusks) These are hard and need to be broken up into smaller crouton-like pieces before being added to the salad. Mix them around and enjoy how they soak up the liquid from the tomatoes and olive oil.

Red wine vinegar A bit controversial, but sometimes adding a touch of red wine vinegar can help augment the flavour of your tomatoes.

How to make it!

Making a horiatiki salata is such fun, and regardless of how many add-ins you include (will there be green peppers in your salad?), the general idea is to cut up your ingredients as you like, and toss everything together.

Here are a few key points to remember when making the best Greek village salad:

• I like to make my salad and then let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving it. This allows the juices of the tomato to really blend together with the oregano and olive oil – so good!
• Your tomatoes and cucumber should be cut into bite size pieces.
• After washing your vegetables, be sure to dry them well – you don’t want water diluting any of the flavours.
• Traditionally, a horiatiki salad is served with a slab of feta sitting on top of it – not cut into chunks, not crumbled. Know this, acknowledge it, and then do what you like with the feta :).
• Pitting your Kalamata olives makes it easy to eat them in your salad, but traditionally, the pit is left in.
• Not everyone loves eating raw onions. If you want the flavour of the onion, without actually eating it, leave the onion in larger pieces in your salad. Then, after tossing and imparting their flavour, they can be removed.

Recipe substitutions

If you can’t find Kalamata olives (I`m really sorry) you can always use a different type.  You can read about some different olive variations here.  If all you can get your hands on however are the canned, pitted, black or green olives…forget it! These taste like plastic so it is better to go olive-less.

I sometimes use shallots instead of red onion in my Greek horiatiki salad. They are equally mild and delicious.

Recipe variations

Although my parents and my sister Billie make horiatiki salata as often as I do in the summer, we each have our own variation.  On day, over coffee and notebooks, while planning our future recipe posts, we got to talking about Greek salad and it became clear that we each had our favourite way of preparing this staple Greek dish.  So, we decided that it might be fun to showcase both mine and Billie’s variations, which we very creatively named: Greek Salad 1 and Greek Salad 2.  Both are delicious, and quite similar, however you may notice that Greek Salad 1 is tidy, structured, classic, and very well organized…like one of us (ahem…me).  Greek Salad 2 on the other hand is creatively scattered, somewhat carefree, and, well, frankly, a little bit messy…like the other one of us.  We wonder if you can guess which one of us created each salad 🙂 .

Greek Salad 2 includes paximadia, broken up into bite sized pieces, which act as rustic Greek croutons in your salad.  Paximadia are typically barley rusks; you may recognize them from the other traditional Greek salad called Cretan dakos. They are quite hard and benefit from soaking in the salad juices which get created when you mix together the tomatoes, olive oil and, in the case of Greek Salad 2, red wine vinegar. The inclusion of paximadia can replace the need for some nice dunking bread…but not necessarily.

Helpful hints

Great tomatoes are key!

The main component of a horiatiki salata is the tomatoes.  Do not get lazy here; do not cut corners.  If you have tomatoes in your garden, you are in luck!  Plucked straight off the vine, these will be the best tomatoes you could possibly ask for.  If you don’t have your own tomato plants, make friends with a gardener!  Failing that, be sure to select only vine-ripened tomatoes at the market or grocer.  They may cost more than the mealy, barely red, hard tomatoes you can otherwise find, but they will be worth every, single penny.  Seriously.

Never refrigerate your tomatoes

Once you have your tomatoes, be sure to keep them on the counter until you are ready to use them.  Refrigerating beautiful, red, juicy tomatoes is a sin.  I haven’t studied the science behind this (although others have); I simply know that refrigeration affects their flavour, and sometimes, their texture.

Greek feta above all else

The tomatoes are of course important, but so are all of the other ingredients.  In particular, the feta you will use will significantly impact the flavour of your salad; try your best to use a good quality Greek feta. I have compiled a post of great feta facts, which explains why Greek feta, made with sheep or sheep and goat milk is superior to all other feta.

Not everything needs to be measured

I suggest that you use the quantities listed below as a guide.  If you like more cucumber in your Greek salad, go ahead and add more.  If you prefer less feta (what kind of a monster are you?!), go ahead and add less.  These are the quantities that Billie and I prefer, and so, these are the ones we have shared. 😉

Watch: Video to make Greek horiatiki salad

Thanks for sharing!