The Best Greek Salad Dressing

Best Greek Salad Recipe

Greek Salad , is one of the tastiest, healthiest salads. Made with mouthwatering & crisp vegetables. Also, it’s rich in antioxidants due to the extra virgin olive oil and olives!

Unlike other salads, you don’t need to prepare a dressing for it, nor cook anything. Just cut some veggies and mix with some Greek olive oil, top with feta cheese and Kalamata Olives.

How To Make Greek Salad Dressing

Most times, I add everything to a wide-mouth mason jar and hand it over to the kids to shake it up like crazy. The mustard helps emulsify the dressing, which means the oil and vinegar dont separate as easily as they would in other dressings.

In my home, we make this so often that I keep a jar of just the dried spices in my spice cabinet, and then I measure what I need for this recipe. As written, this makes two tablespoons of spices. I triple or quadruple the spices and then measure out two tablespoons to make the dressing.

Doing it this way also means I have a Greek spice blend ready to go for roasting vegetables or seasoning our meat!

Horiatiki: Greek Village Salad

In Greece, Horiatiki or Greek village salad, is served most often from early spring to the early part of fall. And it’s truly the best use of the season’s quality produce including juicy tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell peppers, and onions.

Quality Greek kalamata olives and creamy feta cheese, made from sheeps milk, are a must in this salad. And the cheese is never crumbled, but served in large chunks or blocks crowning the beautiful fresh salad!

The dressing is as simple as they come, a splash of good extra virgin olive oil and citrus .

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How To Make This Greek Salad Dressing:

This salad dressing is a combination of a few basic everyday ingredients. Olive oil, red wine, fresh veggies, dried Greek oregano and feta cheese.

Using a blender or food processor makes this Greek salad dressing super easy and ready in just five minutes. All the ingredients go into the blender or food processor at once. Just whizz them together until it is a thick creamy dressing.

To make a creamy Greek salad dressing, add all the ingredients except oil to a blender. With the blender running on high speed, slowly pour the oil into blender until mixture is creamy.

How To Make The Best Greek Salad

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The Best Homemade Greek Dressing

Classic Greek vinaigrette is bright and tangy.

Oil, vinegar, and mustard combine beautifully with lemon and spices, making a dressing that is rather thin and light but also quite bold. And while this Greek dressing adds vibrant seasonings and a great bite to the salad bowl, it does so without overpowering the freshness and flavors of the other salad ingredients.

It is made with just a handful of simple, gluten-free pantry staples, and even stays good for up to 3 weeks in the fridge.

How To Store Greek Salad Dressing

Just like any other dressing that has been opened! Keep it tightly sealed in a cruet or an old salad dressing bottle and refrigerate until you are ready to use it again.

Since homemade dressing doesnt have any preservatives in it, use it up within a month. This wont be hard since there are so many great ways to use Greek salad dressing!

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What Ingredients You Need

You will love how basic the ingredients list is for making the best Greek Salad Dressing. Together they create a wonderfully refreshing and tasty crave-able vinaigrette.

Heres everything you need to make the Perfect Greek Salad Dressing recipe:

• Extra-virgin olive oil a must-have for authentic Greek dressing
• Lemonfresh lemon juice and zest add great acidity
• Red wine vinegaradds a hint of intriguing sour taste to the dressing
• Dijon Mustardtangy and slightly savory
• Dried Oreganofor a taste of Mediterranean flavor
• Garlicagain, an essential for Greek cuisine!
• Crumbled Fetafeel free to leave out for a vegan vinaigrette
• Salt and Pepper just a dash of each to finish

You can also include other seasonings in this Greek Salad Dressing recipe. Crushed red pepper adds a kick of heat, and try garlic powder for extra garlic-y goodness.

Or, a bit of honey is delicious for a sweeter Greek vinaigrette!

How To Use This Ladolemono Greek Dressing

Like I said earlier, you can use this dressing or lemon vinaigrette in a variety of ways:

• As a salad dressing. This is the obvious use here, and you can’t go wrong with that. I just used it on my favorite grilled chicken salad.You can use it on almost any green salads or maybe even Mediterranean orzo salad or Italian pasta salad in place of the typical dressing used. I mentioned earlier that the dressing for a traditional Greek salad is typically a splash of good olive oil and red wine vinegar. And often times, bottles of both condiments are set on the table so you can use as much oil and vinegar and you like. That said, if you want to use a couple of tablespoons of this lemon and olive oil dressing instead over your Greek salad you absolutely can!
• As a sauce. You can drizzle ladolemono over grilled fish, chicken, or even grilled vegetables. I don’t mind a little over my quick pan-seared salmon or trout, for example.
• As a marinade. Earlier, I shared a yogurt based chicken marinade, and this lemon dressing can work very similarly. When using a lemon-based marinade for chicken though, I typically allow no more than 2 hours of marinating in the fridge.

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Helpful Tips Tricks & Equipment

• Be sure to use a high-quality extra-virgin olive oil in any salad dressing, as the flavor will shine through.
• When using fresh garlic in a salad dressing, I like to make sure it’s very finely minced. If I’m going to whisk or shake my dressing, I push a garlic clove through a garlic press, or finely mince and then mash with the side of my knife. If I’m using my mini food processor to assemble my dressing, I pulse the garlic clove first to chop it up before adding the rest of the ingredients and processing.
• That being said, if fresh raw garlic is too strong for your taste, you may substitute ¼ to ½ teaspoon garlic powder instead.
• I typically make my dressing with dried oregano, but if you’d like to substitute fresh chopped oregano, use three times the amount…1 tablespoon fresh instead of 1 teaspoon dried.
• Fresh-squeezed lemon juice is best, but you can also use bottled lemon juice as long as “lemon juice” is the only ingredient.
• If you find this vinaigrette to be too tangy or acidic, you can add a small pinch of sugar or a tiny squeeze of honey. It won’t be enough to make the dressing sweet, but just enough the mellow out the acidity.
• For a Creamy Greek Salad Dressing, you may incorporate 2 to 3 tablespoons of Greek yogurt. However, if doing so, you may need to slightly increase the salt.

Easy Greek Salad Dressing Recipe

Not your ordinary salad dressing, this Easy Greek Salad Dressing is loaded with fresh mediterranean flavors. Kalamata olives, feta cheese, olive oil and herbs are combined to create the most powerful flavor youll ever add to your salads. Makes a great marinade for chicken, beef and lamb, too!

Soooo.Im totally addicted to Bachelor in Paradise. I dont want to be but when Im finally able to get the TV all to myself and the dogs are snoring to my left and right.AND I have a pint of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream in my hand.its the best thing on television at that very moment.

Its mindless and silly and my husband absolutely hates it. But I think hes secretly hooked too because sometimes hell plop down next to me and watch the whole thing. I think deep down we both remember what it was like to be single and all the ridiculous things youd do for love.

Like stalk your ex when youre on a break. I may have done that once at the urging of my best friend who was supposed to be the voice of reason and take me straight home after a night of drinking.

BUT Ill save that story for another day because Im 3/4s of the way through my pint of ice cream and salads will be on the menu for the remainder of the week. Well just blame it on the two hour episode of B-I-P.

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Greek Salad Tips And Variations:

• No lettuce: I know, I know, youre thinking a salad with no lettuce? But traditionally in Greece, their salads are served with no lettuce.
• Feta Cheese: The crumbles of cheese throughout the salad are a favorite of mine. However, if you are going for an authentic Greek presentation, place large chunks or blocks of feta cheese on the top of the salad instead.
• Serve with: In Greece you will find this salad served with bread. Also, I love the contrast of pairing this cool, fresh salad with a creamy warm soup. Something about the yin and yang of that is just so perfect!
• Storing: Eat it up quick because this salad will not last long in the refrigerator. Once prepared, the salad will last a maximum of 2 days, but you will probably experience sogginess. Instead, I suggest you store the ingredients separately from the lettuce and mix up individual serving sizes as needed.
• Optional Ingredients: Sometimes I love to just keep adding on to this delicious Greek salad. Capers, lemon or lime juice, shrimp or chicken, red onion , avocado . Really the options are limitless with this extremely versatile flavor base.
• How to store olives: Unopened your olives can be stored at room temperature up to 2 years. Opened olives need to be refrigerated in their own liquid in a non-metal container. When stored properly, they will last for 1 to 2 months after opening.

Make This A Creamy Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing

Turn the tables on the typical Greek salad dressing and use YOGURT instead of oil! Youll get a completely different recipe, and it will still have a great punch of Greek flavors.

To do this, mix the red wine vinegar and spices in the jar first and then add yogurt one scoop at a time until you have half of the amount of oil called for in the recipe. This allows you to control how thick and creamy you want your Greek salad dressing to be.

At this point, you can finish the rest of the amount with yogurt, or you can add oil if its too thick. Remember that the beauty of NOT buying Greek salad dressing is that you can make it just how you want!

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Greek Salad With The Best Dressing

Alyssa RiversJump to Recipe

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Greek Salad is a fresh, crunchy, vibrant salad with the BEST Greek dressing! Every bite is packed with color and the best flavors that will keep you digging in for more!

I absolutely cant get enough of salads with a feta crumble in them. I find myself poking around in the salad to try to get some in every bite! For more salads with feta cheese try Grilled Berry Feta Chicken Salad or Italian Avocado Cucumber Tomato Salad.

What Is Greek Salad Dressing Made Of

This dressing is made of:

• Fresh lemon juice. I used juice of 2 large lemons or ¼ cup of lemon juice.
• Dry oregano. This is optional, but if you like a little more flavor, use about 2 teaspoons of dry oregano.
• Fresh garlic. 1 garlic clove, minced, should do it. And this is also another optional ingredient to add a little punch.
• Kosher salt and black pepper. This is to your liking, but I ended up using about ¾ teaspoon of each
• Extra virgin olive oil. Use a quality extra virgin olive oil as the flavor will really shine through in this dressing. Take a look at my favorite olive oils, you’ll find a good selection of quality oils with high polyphenols and low acidity levels, some with a pleasant, light and fruity finish and others more intense with a peppery finish. I’ve tried this lemon vinaigrette with different olive oils and really enjoyed it.

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Other Delicious Uses For Greek Salad Dressing

The great thing about this dressing is that it serves so many amazing purposes!

• It is a super easy topper on a cold pasta salad!
• It makes an excellent marinade for beef, pork, chicken, and seafood.
• Try as a tangy dipping sauce on a veggie platter or for a creamy dip, add about 1/2 a cup to sour cream to 3 tablespoons of dressing.
• Or even toss with whipped mashed potatoes.

Did you know you can even toss it with popcorn? Sprinkle a little parmesan on top for a gourmet treat! Drizzle Greek dressing over roasted or sautéed veggies like these grilled brussels sprouts.

What Is Greek Salad Dressing

The traditional greek salad dressing has a few key ingredients: quality olive oil, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and garlic. Dried oregano is also used, as this is the traditional herb the Greeks sprinkle over slabs of fresh feta when your order a horiatiki salata in the Plaka.

It is said that Greek cooks pour olive oil, lemon juice, good-quality red wine vinegar, and garlic over pretty much everything they eat from lamb to potatoes to salads. Of course, they also have access to some of the best olive oil in the world.

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How To Make An Authentic Greek Dressing Recipe

First, start with the best quality olive oil you can afford . This will serve as the base of your dressing.

Next, the vinegar. I dont think I realized how DELICIOUS red wine vinegar is until I made this salad dressing! Officially my new favorite type of vinegar. This brand is really really good.

Also, garlic is key! To make prep time faster, use a garlic press instead of mincing the garlic by hand. My pampered chef garlic press has seen plenty of use over the years, and its the best quality one Ive tried.

Just add olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, dijon mustard and herbs to a medium sized jar and shake, shake, shake! This will emulsify your dressing perfectly. Or, you can whisk all the ingredients together in a small bowl.

The addition of dijon mustard is totally optional and just gives the greek dressing an extra kick. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I dont. Its wonderful either way.

What Is The Difference Between Kalamata Olives And Black Olives

First of all, Kalamata olives are purple whereas black olives are..wait for itblack. However, in addition to the obvious color differences, there are some other differences between the two olives as well. Kalamata olives are known as Greek black olives but are bigger and more oblong in shape than a black olive. The cool thing is they are picked by hand in order to avoid bruising the olives. They have a stone in the middle and are usually not pitted before being served. They are bitter when they are first picked so they go through a process of debittering which can take up to 3 months! Their flavor is compared to that of a fine wine.

In contrast, a black olive that we would generally find in a jar at the grocery store is actually picked green then pumped with oxygen to turn them black, their new color is kept by adding ferrous gluconate. Both olives are high in sodium, rich in healthy fats and contain a natural antioxidants. I prefer a mixture of the two in my greek salad because I think together they are just right.

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How Long Will This Dressing Last

This salad dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. As it sits it will separate so give it a good shake before using to bring back the creaminess again. A salad dressing container like this makes it easy to store, shake, and pour.

This Greek salad dressing is so good and so versatile you may want to make a double batch to have on hand.

Ways To Enjoy Greek Dressing

This recipe is perfect on a salad to accompany just about any type of meal.

Or you can top your salad with some protein to make it a meal in and of itself.

This dressing also makes a mean marinade for chicken or flank steak or shrimp.

So are you a fan of Mediterranean cuisine?

Do you adore a good Greek salad?

Either way, I’ve got your back with this tangy, tasty Greek Salad Dressing recipe!

I hope you’ll add it to your homemade dressing regular rotation as I’ve added it to mine.

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