Greek Salad, or Salata, is a recipe that we discovered one Thanksgiving, and we’ve been making it ever since. This Greek Salad is simple and flavorful. It makes a great starter, or side dish to any meal with Mediterranean flavors. It’s also the perfect accompaniment for grilled meat. The combination of flavors are light, fresh, but still robust. I’m telling you. This salad is amazing.

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The recipe for Greek Salad, Salata, came from a children’s cookbook, and it’s supposed to be representative of a true Greek salad, but I can’t verify that. I’ve never been to Greece. I would give credit to the author, and the book, but after a decade, our library no longer has that cookbook, so I can’t share the source of the original recipe. At the time, the cookbook was very old and worn, which made me suspect that the recipes were good. That was several years ago.

At the time, Bus boy was interested in learning to cook, and we try to encourage our children to pursue their interests whenever possible. Since he has always been our pickiest eater, we hoped that encouraging him to cook would help him to increase his food repertoire and try more things.

He selected this Greek salad recipe from the cookbook, and we prepared it as a starter for Thanksgiving Dinner. He helped to tear the lettuce into the bowl, and set about cutting the cherry tomatoes while I chopped the rest of the vegetables.

The salad took longer to prepare than it would have if I’d done the work myself, but he enjoyed making the salad, so it was time well spent. Once it was finished, Baker’s Man and I fell in love with the combination of flavors in this recipe.

What you will need to prepare the Greek Salad (Salata)

From the Pantry

• red wine vinegar
• fresh garlic
• salt
• black pepper
• dried oregano
• extra virgin olive oil
• black olives

From the Refrigerator

• romaine lettuce
• cherry tomatoes
• cucumber
• bell pepper (The recipe calls for green, but I used red today.)
• scallions
• feta cheese

This Greek salad, made from simple ingredients, tasted amazing. Baker’s Man and I really enjoyed it. My brother’s family shared some of the salad with us, and they fell in love, too.

The most time consuming part of this recipe is cutting up the vegetables, but that doesn’t really take much time if you’ve got a sharp knife. It takes much longer if you’re being assisted by a 7 year old who wants to precisely tear the lettuce and cut the cherry tomatoes for you. However long it takes, it’s worth the time and effort.

Did having Bus Boy help make the salad encourage him to eat it? Unfortunately, the answer is “No.” He adamantly refused to try even one bite of lettuce or one piece of cherry tomato. He did boast, however, that he made the salad to everyone who enjoyed it. Is it just me, or are you suspicious when a cook won’t eat their own cooking? Let me know in the comments below.

We’ve made this Greek salad several times over the years, and we love it like this as a side dish, but we also love to have this salad topped with grilled chicken and served with a side of warm pita bread. It’s like one of those fancy restaurant salads, only it’s healthier, tastes better, and it doesn’t cost as much.

You really need to give this salad a try. We know you’ll fall in love with it, too. The only exception to this is if you don’t like garlic. The addition of the fresh garlic clove to the dressing definitely gives a strong taste of garlic. We love this, but one of my friends isn’t a huge fan of garlic, so this wouldn’t be her favorite dressing.

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The following nutrition information was calculated for one serving (one-sixth) of the Greek Salad (Salata) prepared according to the recipe above.

Disclaimer:  Nutritional information is calculated using online tools such as those available at cronometer.com or verywellfit.com.  We make every attempt to ensure that the information is calculated correctly, but this information should be considered estimates.   Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe.  In addition, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition-fact sources, databases, and the algorithms used.   You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.  Under no circumstances will PattyCakesPantry.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information provided.