The perfect accompaniment to any Mediterranean dish, Israeli chopped salad is simple and fresh with tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh herbs and bright lemon.
It wouldn't be a proper Mediterranean dinner party, without the classic Israeli chopped salad, also called Salad Shirazi. I serve this every single time I'm grilling meats or serving a dip, such as Muhammara (Turkish Red Pepper Dip) and of course, classic homemade falafel.
I'm telling you, serve the salad, with falafel and tahini sauce, maybe a little zhoug, and you, my friends have the most fantastic Mediterranean dinner!
Chopped Salad Ingredients
I grew up on this salad and do all sorts of variations. The base of this chopped salad is cucumbers, tomatoes, lemon juice and fresh herbs. From there, you can add other vegetables, such as radishes or even sweet melon and chiles to make a sweet savory chopped salad, (which I made for my First cookbook Weeknight Mediterranean Kitchen.) Here is my Second cookbook, One-Pot Mediterranean.
- Cucumber and Tomatoes: The classic base to any Israeli chopped salad. I love using thin skinned Persian cucumbers and sweet roma tomatoes. Though, in the summer, heirloom tomatoes are fantastic here.
- Lemons: Use fresh lemons if you can, the flavor is unmistakable and brightens up the entire salad.
- Fresh Herbs: This is where you can have fun. I use a combination or either one of fresh mint, fresh parsley and/or cilantro.
- Dressing: Olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar to sweeten the salad up a bit. I often make this with or without the vinegar and just with olive oil and lemon juice, which is lovely as well.
- Salt: A given, a good pinch of kosher salt to flavor the vegetables is a necessity. Season and taste as you go and adjust as needed.
- Other Additions: chopped avocado, chopped radishes, cubed feta cheese, chickpeas and fruit are all fantastic touches.
A Few Tips (for any salad, really)
If making the salad ahead of time, chop the vegetables and add them to a bowl and in another bowl whisk the dressing ingredients and toss salad with dressing right before serving.
Same goes with the fresh herbs, chop them before you are ready to serve so the leaves don't wilt.
Israeli chopped salad is incredible versatile. Feel free to add feta cheese, chopped avocado, chopped red onion or chopped bell pepper.
More great salads
Israeli Chopped Salad
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Ingredients
- 6 Persian cucumbers peeled and chopped
- 3 Medium sized tomatoes
- 1 Lemon juiced
- 1 Small bunch of mint roughly chopped
- ¼ cup Extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅛ cup Balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Begin by chopping the cucumbers and tomatoes into small-medium sized cubes and reserve a bowl.
- In another smaller bowl, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic and lemon juice until it slightly emulsifies and add dressing to chopped vegetables along with the chopped herbs.
- Season with salt and pepper and taste for seasoning. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe was originally posted in 2012 and has been updated February 2020 with added notes and updated photos.
Tina says
This is a normal salad made by most communities who live in the Middle East / Mediterranean region - How is this an Israeli salad ?
Samantha Ferraro says
Israeli salad (Hebrew: סָלָט יְרָקוֹת יִשְׂרְאֵלִי, romanized: salat yerakot yisra'eli, literal translation "Israeli vegetable salad") is a chopped salad of finely diced tomato, onion, cucumber, and bell or chili peppers.[2][1] It has been described as the "most well-known national dish of Israel",[3][4] and is a standard accompaniment to most Israeli meals.[1] Salads following similar recipes, with different names, are widespread and popular throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.[5]
It was adopted by Jewish immigrants to the Levant in the late 19th century, who found the locally grown Kirby cucumbers and tomatoes in popular local salad. It was popularized in the kibbutzim, where the Jewish farmers had local fresh produce at hand.[1]
Pat says
how much balsamic vinegar... 1/4 cup, teaspoon, tablespoon?
Samantha says
It is supposed to be a 1/4 cup. Just realized I did not put the measurement. Thanks for the heads up. To be honest, I just eyeball it, but I do like the tang of the vinegar.
Christilynn Corrigan says
Going to make this for my kick off to summer BBQ! Thanks 🙂
Kim Bee says
This salad is gorgeous Sam. And so is the blog. I dig it completely. I love the color and I love the lemon at the top. The little admin cartoon is adorable.
Isabelle @ Crumb says
Love the new look! Kita's obviously more than just a pretty face and a kickass cook.... but we already knew that, right? 🙂
I love this salad too... I must've eaten a metric ton of it when I visited Israel a couple of years ago! it's so refreshing, especially on hot summer days, so I'm sure it'll be making an appearance on my table soon... especially once the ripe summer tomatoes finally show up.
Jen @ Juanita's Cocina says
Not only is your blog ABSOLUTELY beautiful, but so is this salad.
Also, your font is ROCKIN'!
Kiri W. says
Love the layout! 🙂 Well done, Kita, as always!
And the salad looks perfect for hot days, such a refreshing mix of flavors 🙂
Val Sweeney Cathell says
Sam ~ this site is BEAUTIFUL!!!! Your pics are awesome and it's a very pleasing and easy-to view site!
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
Hi Samantha! Congratulations on your new design! It looks really nice! Kita has been helping a lot of bloggers with website design (I've seen her work on several blogs) and I'm really impressed! Mine needs update one day... This Israeli salad looks so easy to prepare and very delicious. Perfect for spring/summer weather! I love your step by step picture shape/size. It's really cool. 😉