Israeli Salad is a refreshing, bright salad that is crisp and full of flavor. It’s simple to make and a perfect addition to grilled meats.
With all the delicious flavor this salad brings, it is a great add on to your favorite grilled meats or Middle Eastern meals. For more delicious Salad Recipes, try my Greek Salad or my Tomato Mozzarella Salad.
Why You’ll Love This Salad?
- Easily prepped salad the family will love ready in just 10 minutes!
- Add this salad to any grilled or baked meat for a quick meal.
Sabrina’s Israeli Salad Recipe
This full of flavor salad is a great add on to any easy weeknight meal. There’s no need for extra prep time or complicated steps. You’ll just chop the vegetables, mix the easy dressing and toss it all together. The whole dish only takes a few minutes, and it tastes amazing with a variety of different dinner recipes.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 2 Persian cucumbers , peeled and finely diced
- 4 vine tomatoes , cored, de-seeded and finely diced
- 1 red onion finely , finely diced
- 1/2 cup parsley , finely diced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint , minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add the cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion and parsley to a large bowl.
- Whisk together the olive oil lemon juice, mint, salt and black pepper.
- Add to the vegetables, toss to coat.
- Serve immediately or serve at room temperature.
Nutrition
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Chef’s Note
This recipe calls for fresh parsley and mint, cutting the herbs is important and varies slightly. For the parsley, you’ll start by slicing off the thick bottom part of the stem. The thinner stems at the top taste fine and can be included in the recipe. Lay the leaves and stem that you plan to use for the recipe in a bunch on your cutting board. Then use a sharp knife to chop the parsley into coarse (not too small pieces). You may need to regather the herbs into a pile a few times while cutting. The difference when mincing the mint is that you won’t want any stem in the recipe. So, it’s best to pluck the leaves off by hand. Then you’ll chop them the same way you chopped the parsley except into finer pieces.
Table of contents
About this Recipe
This classic salad has three main vegetable components. The chopped cucumber, tomato, and red onion come together in a beautiful combination of colors and flavors. This salad has a cool, crisp flavor from the cucumbers, and some sweet and tangy flavor from the tomatoes. Then it’s all brought together with the perfect zesty dressing. Each bite is an explosion of amazing taste and texture.
What is an Israeli Salad?
This Israeli Salad recipe is a traditional dish served alongside most Israeli meals. It’s an easy chopped salad made with cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. Then those diced veggies are tossed in a simple yet flavorful lemon and olive oil dressing to serve.
Ingredients
- Cucumbers: For a classic Israeli Salad, you’ll want to use Persian cucumbers. Persian cucumbers have thin skin, are less watery than other cucumber varieties, and have a mild flavor. They’re also much smaller than English cucumbers.
- Tomatoes: Ripe tomatoes are another core ingredient to this middle eastern salad. When picking out the tomatoes, avoid any with dark spots or blemishes. You want the tomatoes to be fairly firm, but with give if you were to squeeze them (don’t squeeze them hard, or you’ll end up with a mess).
- Onion: Red onion is a slightly milder option than yellow onion, which makes it perfect to go along with these fresh ingredients.
- Parsley: When prepping the parsley, you don’t want to dice it too small. Cut them into rough pieces that are small enough to distribute throughout the vegetable blend but not so fine that they disappear.
- Olive Oil: The oil acts as the base for the salad dressing. If you want different oil options, sunflower oil, peanut oil, or safflower oil make good alternatives.
- Lemon Juice: The fresh lemon juice adds a tart, tangy flavor to the recipe. It also enhances the naturally sweet and tangy qualities of the vegetables.
Can this be made ahead of time?
Yes, you can, this is a quick toss together salad. Peel and slice the veggies and toss them together in a salad bowl. Cover the dish in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge. They’ll keep well for 2-3 days. I recommend waiting to add the dressing until you are ready to eat. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and add them to a mason jar or another airtight container to store separately in the fridge. Right before serving, shake the dressing well to recombine the oil, lemon juice, and seasonings. Then drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss it all together.
Serving Ideas
- If you want to make this salad into the perfect summer meal on its own, you can add leftover chicken to the vegetables. Shredded Rotisserie Chicken is an easy addition to the vegetable mixture. Adding it to the vegetables makes this amazing salad into a filling main course that you could enjoy for lunch or dinner.
- This salad would taste great served along with protein dishes like my recipes for Chicken Shawarma, Middle Eastern Ground Beef Bowl, or Mediterranean Chicken and Rice.
- You could also enjoy a salad and soup combo by serving it along with hearty Chicken and Rice Soup.
How to Store
- Serve: This salad tastes its best served fresh. You can wait for the salad ingredients to come to room temperature before serving if you’ve been refrigerating them up to that point. But you don’t want to leave the salad uncovered at room temperature for more than a few hours.
- Store: If you have any leftovers, you can cover the salad bowl or transfer them to an airtight container. The recipe can keep well stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. But the sooner you eat it, the more crispy and fresh the vegetables will still taste.
- Freeze: Unfortunately, the vegetables won’t maintain their texture if you freeze and defrost them. So, if you don’t finish this salad within a few days, it’s better to throw it out and make a fresh batch. However, this dish is so delicious and versatile that we’ve never had a problem finishing it quickly.
Variations
- More Veggies: You can always dice different kinds of fresh vegetables to add to your salad blend. For a slight alteration, you can swap out vine tomatoes for grape or cherry tomatoes if those are what you have. Or, make new veggie additions like diced bell peppers, eggplant, or chili peppers.
- Cheese: If you want to add a cheese topping, there are a few different kinds of fresh cheese that would taste great with this recipe. Feta cheese, goat cheese, or provolone would all taste wonderful with the flavors in the salad.
- Meat Ingredients: If you want to make this side salad recipe into more of the main course, you can add filling meat. If you have any leftover grilled or roast chicken, chop the meat into bite-sized pieces, then toss it with the salad ingredients.
- Filling Additions: Or, if you want to keep the recipe vegetarian while still making it more filling, you can make a pasta, chickpea, rice, or couscous salad. Prepare your choice of base ingredients, like brown rice or couscous. Then toss together the vegetable salad and serve it over the top.
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The key to this salad really is that fine dice! It’s so incredibly refreshing and crisp. I served it alongside some grilled chicken and hummus, and it’s my new favorite way to use summer cucumbers and tomatoes.
What a perfect use of garden vegetables. The chicken and hummus sound like a wonderful pairing. Thank you for enjoying, and for the positive review.