Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
Published 5/29/2022 • Updated 9/13/2023
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This flavorful cucumber tomato feta salad is made with marinated feta, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh herbs. You’ll never make another cucumber tomato feta salad again.
Easy Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
This cucumber tomato feta salad is an elevated version of a classic. Before mixing up this salad you marinate feta for a few hours and then use the marinade to dress the salad later. It’s divine.
Make this fresh salad for your next BBQ, for a family dinner, or for a salad for the week.
Why you’ll love it!
- The flavors in this cucumber tomato feta salad are out of this world and so delicious.
- You can make this salad for an every day dinner or as a fancier side dish for a party.
- This is a classic mediterranean dish with a fun twist!
Featured Ingredients
Feta: we suggest using fresh block feta for this recipe. Do not use feta crumbles, it tends to disintegrate while marinating.
Lemon peel: you carefully peel a whole lemon and use the peel in the marinade for the feta. Go easy on yourself, the peel doesn’t have to stay in one piece. Use a sharp peeler to get the peel off the lemon!
Garlic: the garlic is a major flavor enhancer of the marinade for the feta. Use fresh garlic. Just be sure to smash it before putting it in the marinade.
Tomatoes: you need 2 cups of chopped tomatoes. We used large, chopped tomatoes, but you can use cherry tomatoes, too.
Onion: sliced red onion adds a great bite to the tomato cucumber salad!
Cucumbers: the fresher the cucumber the better. You can use any type of cucumber, just be sure to slice bite-sized pieces of cucumber.
Fresh herbs: oh baby, the fresh herbs take this salad up a notch.
How to Make Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
Marinate the feta
Cut the block feta into small chunks and add the marinade ingredients to the block feta. Cover and let the feta sit in the refrigerator for 2 hours before making the salad.
prepare the other salad ingredients
Chop, tare, and rip all of the other salad ingredients together in a large bowl and prepare the salad dressing.
The salad dressing is made with part of the marinated feta marinade, so remove the oil and whisk it into the other dressing ingredients. Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients and toss.
toss the salad together and serve
When the feta chunks have marinated long enough add them to the salad and gently toss. Serve alone or with your favorite main dishes.
Top Tips for this Salad
Store the salad in a sieve. If you don’t finish this salad, a hot tip is to store the salad in an elevated sieve in a large bowl or salad spinner so the excess water from the tomatoes and cucumbers drain into the bottom of the bowl.
Wait to mix the salad before serving. The moment you mix all of these ingredients together, the water begins to leak from the tomatoes and cucumbers. Wait to mix the salad right before serving so you don’t end up with a soggy salad.
Olive oil solidifies when you refrigerate it. It may take 15-20 minutes for it to become fluid enough to reserve the liquid for the dressing. Placing the marinated feta on the counter while you are preparing the salad should help with that.
Add fresh herbs. Fresh herbs add a lot of flavor to the salad. Feel free to play around with your favorite combinations. Parsley and dill or basil and cilantro are other great combinations.
FAQ
Yes! It is packed with fresh vegetables, herbs, and a dressing with a healthy fat base.
This salad is amazing how it’s written, but there are some ingredients you could add to the salad to really change up the salad. Greek olives, sliced fresh fennel, or fresh dill would be delicious additions.
Mint, Basil, green onion, and dill are our top pics for this cucumber tomato feta salad.
Storage
Store this cucumber tomato feta salad in a sieve or a salad spinner so that the water from the tomatoes and cucumber drain into the bottom of the bowl and aren’t resting in the water.
Store the salad in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
Ingredients
Marinated Feta
- 8 oz. feta, we used a block
- 1 cup olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
- 1 whole lemon peel
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Dressing
- ¼ cup feta marinade, from above
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
Salad
- 2 cups cucumber, sliced
- 2 cups tomato, diced
- ¼ medium red onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh mint, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh basil, thinly sliced
Instructions
Marinated Feta
- Cut the feta into large, bite-sized chunks and place them into a storage container.
- Next, add the rest of the ingredients for the marinade into the container. Put the lid on and gently shake. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Dressing
- Next, prepare the dressing. This should be done after the feta has been allowed to marinate.
- Remove ¼ cup of the olive oil from the marinated feta and place in a mason jar.
- Place the rest of the ingredients for the dressing into the mason jar and shake.
Salad
- In a large bowl, add the cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix to make sure everything is thoroughly covered.
- Pour the salad onto your serving platter and place the cubed feta across the top.
- Sprinkle the thinly sliced mint and basil on top and serve.
Tips & Notes
- Olive oil solidifies when you refrigerate it. It may take 15-20 minutes for it to become fluid enough to reserve the liquid for the dressing. Placing the marinated feta on the counter while you are preparing the salad should help with that.
- Fresh herbs add a lot of flavor to the salad. Feel free to play around with your favorite combinations. Parsley and dill or basil and cilantro are other great combinations.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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