Chef Dimitra
Cretan Vlita Vrasta (Βλήτα Βραστά)
Crete's summer horta: soft amaranth greens, tender stalks, potatoes, and small zucchini, dressed while warm with sharp lemon and green-gold olive oil, the way a weeknight table actually eats them.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Mainland Horiatiki Salata (Χωριάτικη)
Created by
Horiatiki has no lettuce in it and never did: summer tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, onion, olives, a slab of feta, oregano, and the oil that makes the bowl worth bread.
Salads
Greek
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Outdoor Dining
15 min
Active Time
0 min cook•15 min total
Yield4 servings
Horiatiki, the village salad of the Greek summer table, belongs first to the mainland fields and then to every island table that has a ripe tomato and a good cheese. It is tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, onion, olives, and feta in a slab, never lettuce. Lettuce is for cooler months. A summer tomato doesn't need leaves to prove itself.
The method is almost nothing, so the ingredients must be everything. Salt the tomatoes first and let them give a little juice, then add the oil. That tomato juice and green-gold olive oil make the dressing in the bowl, not in a jar. Λίγα και καλά, a few things, and good ones.
Keep the feta whole on top, because that is how the table shares it: each person breaks off a bite with tomato and bread. My mother in Thessaloniki would leave the last slick of oil and tomato juice for whoever had the best piece of bread. Usually, that was not the shy person.
Horiatiki means village-style salad, but the composed taverna plate with a slab of feta became widely standardized in Greece in the second half of the 20th century. Its older root is the rural summer table: tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olives, oil, and local cheese eaten when the garden was heavy and lettuce was out of season. Regional versions still show their surnames through the olive, the cheese, and whether vinegar appears at all.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
ripe summer tomatoes
Quantity
700g
cut into rough wedges
cucumber
Quantity
250g
partly peeled and cut into thick half-moons
green bell pepper
Quantity
120g
sliced into thin rings
red onion
Quantity
80g
thinly sliced
Kalamata or Throubes olives
Quantity
100g
whole
Greek feta
Quantity
200g
kept in one slab
extra virgin Koroneiki olive oil
Quantity
60ml
red wine vinegar (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
dried Greek oregano
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| ripe summer tomatoescut into rough wedges | 700g |
| cucumberpartly peeled and cut into thick half-moons | 250g |
| green bell peppersliced into thin rings | 120g |
| red onionthinly sliced | 80g |
| Kalamata or Throubes oliveswhole | 100g |
| Greek fetakept in one slab | 200g |
| extra virgin Koroneiki olive oil | 60ml |
| red wine vinegar (optional) | 1 tablespoon |
| dried Greek oregano | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
Equipment Needed
- •wide shallow serving bowl, about 28cm
- •small serrated tomato knife
Instructions
- 1
Cut the vegetables
Cut the tomatoes into rough wedges over the serving bowl so their juices fall where they belong. Slice the cucumber thickly, the onion thinly, and the green pepper into rings. Horiatiki is not chopped small. It should look like a village table made it, generous and plain.
- 2
Salt the tomatoes
Sprinkle the salt over the tomatoes and let them stand for 5 minutes while you gather the feta and olives. This is the one method that decides the salad. Salt pulls a little juice from the ripe tomato, and that juice mixes with the olive oil into the only dressing Horiatiki needs.
If the tomatoes are pale or hard, cook something else today. The right method on a sad tomato still gives you a sad salad. - 3
Dress simply
Add the cucumber, onion, pepper, and olives to the bowl. Pour over the olive oil and the vinegar, if you use it, then turn everything once or twice with your hands or two spoons. Do not beat it into a bottled-style dressing. The tomato juice will do the work.
- 4
Lay the feta
Lay the feta in one slab over the vegetables, not crumbled through them. Scatter the oregano over the feta and drizzle a little oil from the bottom of the bowl across the top. Serve at once, with bread for the juices.
Chef Tips
- •Use tomatoes only in season, heavy for their size and fragrant at the stem. If they taste like water, wait. Greek cooking already has a calendar.
- •Do not refrigerate the finished salad. Cold dulls the tomato and stiffens the oil. Make it just before eating, and keep the vegetables cool before cutting if the day is very hot.
- •Bread is not optional in spirit. The best part is the last spoonful of tomato juice, olive oil, oregano, and feta salt at the bottom of the bowl.
Advance Preparation
- •Slice the onion up to 2 hours ahead and keep it covered in the refrigerator if you want it milder.
- •Wash and dry the vegetables earlier in the day, but cut and salt the tomatoes only just before serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 380g)
Calories
370 calories
Total Fat
30 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
20 g
Cholesterol
45 mg
Sodium
1260 mg
Total Carbohydrates
17 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
10 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Greek Salads & Horta
Browse the full collection
Chef Dimitra
Cycladic Mavromatika Salata (Μαυρομάτικα Σαλάτα)
In the Cyclades, mavromatika salata is the Lenten bean salad that needs no plan: black-eyed peas boiled tender, dressed warm with lemon, oil, onion, parsley, and little else.
Chef Dimitra
Dakos Kritis (Ντάκος Κρήτης)
Dakos Kritis is Crete's barley rusk salad, softened with grated ripe tomato and finished with mizithra, oregano, olives, and green-gold oil.
Chef Dimitra
Horta Vrasta of Epirus (Χόρτα Βραστά Ηπείρου)
Epirote horta vrasta are boiled wild greens dressed warm with lemon and olive oil, plain as a stone and better for it.