In this Mediterranean twist on classic Israeli salad, cucumbers and tomatoes are combined with sweet bell peppers and fresh mint. The salad is topped with feta cheese and dressed with olive oil, lemon, and a touch of cinnamon. It’s a symphony of regional flavors, light and tantalizing.
Many Middle Eastern salads feature the same basic components – Persian cucumbers (the small thin ones), tomatoes, olive oil and lemon juice. What makes this salad Israeli, you might ask? While it is extremely popular throughout Israel, this salad actually evolved from a Turkish preparation known as shepherd’s salad – coban salatsi. It is also closely related to a Persian salad known as salad shirazi. What you call this salad largely depends on your regional connections.
My husband grew up in Israel, so in our home this is considered an Israeli salad – and there are a myriad of ways to dress it up. We always have a block of feta on hand, which is a natural topping to this fresh and crunchy salad. I like to add bell peppers to the feta version, and dress it with the usual lemon and olive oil. For the final twist, I add a touch of cinnamon. While it might sound strange, that hint of warm spice really helps the other flavors to pop.
Serve this salad as a side dish, or with toasted, buttered whole grain sourdough as a light vegetarian entrée.
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Israeli Salad with Feta Cheese and Mint
Ingredients
- 1 pound Persian cucumbers, diced
- 1 pound ripe red tomatoes, seeded and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine diced vegetables and chopped mint.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and cinnamon.
- Pour dressing over the salad and toss until well combined.
- Pour half of the crumbled feta into the salad bowl and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle the remaining feta over the top of the salad. Serve.
Nutrition
I added 3/4 cup toasted and cooked pearl couscous to the salad, along with the juice of 1 whole lemon.
It made for a substantial salad and was absolutely delicious.
After “classic Izraeli” hummus, tabbouleh or fallafel, we got on our hands a “classic Izraeli” salad, in fact a 100 % Shopska salata from the Balkans 🙂
Hi Tori, I enjoy your posts and use several recipes in my rotation. For this recipe, do you think the dressing and vegetables would hold well if made and prepped the day before event?
Hi Jude, glad you’re enjoying them. You can prep things ahead – and assemble them just before serving. Keep chopped vegetables in one covered container, mint in another, feta in another, and dressing in another. Just before serving, assemble all the ingredients and dress the salad. Shake the dressing before adding to the vegetables. Save feta for last, gently incorporate it into the salad so it doesn’t dissolve. Enjoy!
Love your recipes! I want to make this salad but can’t eat raw peppers of any color. Can you recommend a substitute for the peppers ? I see a suggestion below to add black olives. Is there something more substantial?
I’m already signed up. Thanks.
Hi Noni! I would add another 1/4 cup of Persian cucumbers, and 1/2 cup shredded carrot. Olives are nice but the feta is very salty and so are olives, so if adding them I would cut back a bit on the feta.
Can you tell me which food processor you used for this salad? I love how the pieces are tiny. Thanks!
Hi Shani! I hand-chopped this salad, but if you want my recommendation for a food processor, this is the one I use: Cuisinart Elite
This looks so good! I am going to make it for my Diversity in Society class as part of my Sephardic food presentation!
Just discovered your site whilst looking for a recipe to use my soupy yogurt. I can make yogurt just fine with cow milk, but when I use my goat’s milk, it usually turns out VERY watery. So I made your cucumber dill yogurt soup. 🙂 Dinner tonight was homemade pita, hummus, and the yogurt soup.
I am planning to make feta (plenty of fresh goat milk on hand), and as the garden vegetables are coming on, I will try this salad recipe – almost all the ingredients from my farm! (can’t figure out how to make our own olive oil or cinnamon, so we’ll have to use what we’ve bought in.)
I tried this recipe out for a work pot luck and it was a great hit, although they thought it was some sort of salsa or dip at first. I had to leave a quarter of the way through to get some work done and by the time that I was back most of it was gone.
Thanks for the recipe!
Great Daniel! Thanks for letting me know.
hi tori,beautiful pictures
I still make this today,learned to make this in medical school in israel its a great salad and still love to eat it with majetes herring just like they do in tel aviv
During our trip to Israel, we ate tons of this salad.
Now we’re addicted to it so fresh and colorful
i have made this a number of times especially during summer days. it is absolutely delicious, but i made a separate dressing without the cinnamon because my late husband was
allergic to it. this salad also makes great gazpacho by adding a deseeded hot pepper of your choice. i eliminate the salt coz the cheese is salty enough and just sprinkle it on the gazpacho. as a salad or even as a dip, this is really good and easy to make. Thank you for sharing, Tori
I too am married to an Israeli, and I make an Israeli salad with almost every meal. I like playing around with the mix as well – my favorite add-ins are black olives (California or Kalamata) and pine nuts. My family also loves when I substitute goat cheese for feta on occasion.
What a beautiful salad! food for the eyes! in my case I’ll replace the feta with tofu but the rest of the family will have it your way, lovely! 🙂
So colorful and delicious!