Horiatiki Salad: Authentic Greek Salad Recipe for One

A proper horiatiki salad needs no hob, no oven and no recipe book, which makes it perfect van food. I made this one in Florie, squeezed into a tiny unofficial parking spot at an observatory point overlooking the water at Iznájar, in Córdoba province. Lunch was a chopping board, a sharp knife and a view.

Horiatiki is the Greek village salad, the authentic Greek salad as it is made in Greece. The rules are simple. There is no lettuce, not a leaf of it. The vegetables are cut chunky and rustic: wedges of ripe tomato, thick slices of cucumber, rings of green pepper and thin red onion. The olives go in whole. And the feta is not crumbled. It sits on top as one thick slab, and you break into it as you eat. Everything else is olive oil and dried oregano.

The view deserves a mention too. The water at Iznájar looks like a lake, but it is actually a reservoir, and a big one, stretching away below the viewpoint. The spot is small enough that Florie only just fits, but it is quiet, and I have stayed here before, overnight too. There are no signs saying you can't park or stop overnight, though it is always worth checking when you arrive. It is the sort of place where you don't want to be fiddling with a stove. You want something you can put together in a few minutes and eat while looking at the water.

The olives are the best part of this particular salad. They came from my neighbour Antonio, whose olive groves back onto the rear of Casa Adora. They are Picual, the variety Jaén province is famous for, and they were brined. Greek Kalamata olives are the traditional choice, and if you have them, use them. But I'm quite happy swapping them for olives grown a few metres from my own back wall.

The feta is Eridanous, from Lidl's Greek range. It is PDO feta, made from sheep's and goat's milk, and it is salty enough that the salad needs no extra salt at all. A 200g slab is generous for one person, and that is rather the point.

Makes 1 — a proper feed for one, no cooking required.

Ingredients for horiatiki salad

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes
• Several slices of cucumber (pepino)
• 1 small green pepper
• ½ red onion
• A handful of green olives (I used brined Picual)
• 200g slab of feta (I used Eridanous PDO)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Dried oregano
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Cut the vegetables chunky. Cut the tomatoes into thick wedges and the cucumber into thick slices. Slice the green pepper into rings and the red onion thinly. Rustic, not neat, is the whole idea.

Build the salad. Tip the tomatoes and cucumber onto a plate or into a shallow bowl, then add the pepper rings and onion. Scatter the olives over the top.

Add the feta. Lay the whole 200g slab on top of the vegetables. Don't crumble it.

Dress it. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil, letting it run over the feta and down into the vegetables. Sprinkle dried oregano over the feta and finish with freshly ground black pepper. There is no salt, because the feta and the olives bring plenty.

Eat straight away. Break into the feta with your fork as you go. The tomato juice and olive oil that collect in the bottom of the plate are your dressing, so make sure you get them.

Notes

Everything depends on the tomatoes. Use ripe ones, at room temperature, not straight from the fridge, because a pale tomato will let down the whole plate.

I leave out the vinegar. Ripe tomatoes and brined olives give all the acidity this salad needs, although a splash of red wine vinegar is common in some parts of Greece, so add some if you like it.

Capers, caper berries and barley rusks (paximadia) are traditional extras that soak up the juices. I didn't use them this time, but they are worth trying if you have them.

Look for PDO on the feta label, which means it is the real thing, made in Greece from sheep's milk or a mix of sheep's and goat's milk.

If you are after a Greek salad recipe with lettuce, this is not it. A horiatiki salad traditionally has none, and it is better without.

This salad also sits happily on a mezedes table. In my no-cook Greek mezedes dinner, a Greek salad shares the plate with feta, olives, gigantes and tzatziki.

Simple, fresh and honest. Nothing here needs cooking, and nothing needs hiding.

If this salad made your lunch, you can buy me a coffee ☕ on Ko-fi.

Footnote

This horiatiki salad is featured in my Greek Recipes Hub, Campervan Cooking Hub, Cheese Recipes Hub, Veg, Fruit & Pulses Hub and Veggie & Vegan Hub.

Find more recipes and food adventures here.

Wonky photos, proper food, genuine adventures — The Flexible Chef