Horiatiki Salad (Greek Salad or Village Salad)

July 29, 2019 by Edyta 35 Comments

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Edyta

Author at Eating European

Recipe developer, photographer and the writer behind the Eating European food blog of European and Mediterranean healthy and delicious recipes

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What is Horiatiki Salad

Horiatiki Salad, or village salad, is what is known in the US as Greek Salad. It is a very humble dish that uses fresh and simple ingredients. It’s in season from late spring to early fall – when the tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers are at their peak.

We’re now at the end of July on East Coast of US and the big, meaty tomatoes are just about to ripen up….but they’re not quite there yet.

However, the small, cherry tomatoes are taking over my tomato garden and they too are super delicious; that’s why I used them here in this recipe for my Horiatiki Salad.

I know, that this Horiatiki Salad should have big tomatoes cut up over the bowl to get all the juices marinating in there, but I am a huge proponent of using whatever is in season. Hence my use of little cherry tomatoes in this recipe. And you can pretty much find good quality cherry tomatoes all year long so you could potentially enjoy this salad throughout a year.

So, fast forward about 2 weeks & I’ll be using my beefsteak tomatoes for this amazingly simple salad. To be perfectly clear, a real Greek salad never contains lettuce!

What are Typical Ingredients in Greek Horiatiki Salad

Here’s a list of what Greek Salad contains:

Tomatoes;
Cucumbers;
Green peppers (not red or yellow);
Red onion;
Kalamata olives;
Good quality sheep’s milk feta (served as a block and not crumbled);
Good quality, fragrant extra virgin olive oil (preferably from kalamata olives);
Red wine vinegar; &
Lots of dried oregano (preferably Greek dried oregano)!

Extra kick for a Greek Salad

Even though this salad is perfect on its own, I decided to spice up every bite with some Greek Peperoncini. You can add them whole or you can chop them. You can actually buy them already chopped if that’s your preference. They do add a little kick to this simple Horiatiki Salad and I love them.

I’ve visited Greek islands on a few occasions in my life, and every time I’ve landed in Greece I wanted to have my Horiatiki Salad immediately. There’s nothing better than fresh vegetables with super fragrant olive oil, a splash of red wine vinegar and dried oregano.

At least that’s what I thought until I went into a Greek Tavern in New York, and they served my favorite Horiatiki Salad with peperoncini too. I was blown away.

Ever since I’ve always added pepperoncini to my Greek Salads. Try it and let me know how you like it.

How to Make Horatiki Salad

Step by step tutorial on how to make Greek Salad:

Cut up tomatoes and cucumbers;
Slice bell peppers and red onions;
Prepare pepperoncini and olives;
Combine vegetables with olives and pepperoncini, then pour over dressing & top with a block of feta…then serve!

What to Serve Horiatiki Salad with

You can serve this humble Greek Salad with basically everything: all your favorite meat like lamb, chicken or burgers, fish and shellfish or vegetarian dishes. Here are a couple of my suggestions:

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