Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad

If you are thinking of preparing a meat steak for your guests or planning to cook fish for them, salad is one of the best companions you can offer. It is easy to do and a healthy addition to your main dish. Moreover, if you adopt Mediterranean cuisine to your recipe, the result will be more beneficial and delicious.

A Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad looks like this:

But how can you achieve these tasty looks? We’re giving you a careful step-by-step you can follow easily to offer this Mediterranean-style dish.

Step-by-step on how to prepare the Mediterranean cucumber tomato salad

Before starting with step one, make sure that you have all the ingredients listed below. If you don’t, you can also consider the table in this article, where you will find alternative ingredients for your Mediterranean salad. Now that you’re ready, let’s start with step number 1.

Step 1: Mix lemon juice with olive oil and dried mint

The first step is juicing two lemons and mixing them with olive oil. It shouldn’t be diluted in water. Use ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil instead. This will be used to create the salad dressing. We also recommend adding 1 tablespoon of dried mint to obtain a fresh and slightly acid taste that goes fantastic with cucumbers.

Step 2: Add salt and pepper when homogeneous

Once done mixing the main ingredients of your salad dressing, you can also include salt and pepper and stir with a tablespoon or a small spatula. We recommend using a batter bowl for this or a cup that won’t spill its contents when you’re stirring.

Step 3: Cut the cucumbers into small pieces and store

Now you have the salad dressing ready, save it on the fridge for a little while, and go ahead cutting the vegetables. Start by chopping the cucumbers into small pieces after washing thoroughly. Notice that instead of slices, we cut each cucumber into four sticks and then cut the cucumber sticks into small pieces. You can use 6 Persian cucumbers for this recipe or adapt the number of ingredients, depending on how large and thick cucumbers are.

Step 4: Cut 4 tomatoes into small pieces and store

This is an easy salad recipe and requires cutting two main vegetables. Tomatoes are the second type, and you will do precisely the same: cutting tomatoes in half and then into sticks. Then, cut the bars into small pieces. You need not take out the inner core of the tomato or the tomato seeds, but you can still do it if you want. For this recipe, we recommend using 4 tomatoes.

Step 5: In a bigger bowl, add the cucumbers and tomatoes along with fresh mint, parsley, and green onions

When done chopping cucumbers and tomatoes, take them into a bigger bowl and mix them thoroughly. You can add a few spices in this step, and we recommend using ¼ cup of fresh mint, ¼ cup of fresh parsley, and 4 chopped green onions.

Step 6: Mix the ingredients and add the salad dressing

Make sure that the ingredients are mixed up. You can use a spatula or a wooden spoon for this purpose. You can add the salad dressing and mix the ingredients once again to make sure they join flavors when you’re done.

What other ingredients can I use in a Mediterranean salad?

If you don’t have cucumbers or tomatoes, there are different ways to prepare your Mediterranean salad. Keep the same salad dressing described above and explore with a combination of ingredients below:

Food type	Examples	Recommendations
Vegetables	Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, onion, spinach, kale	Most need previous preparation. We recommend steaming instead of frying. Spinach and kale should be carefully washed and added after mixing the rest of the ingredients.
Fruits	Peas, melons, peaches, strawberries, apples	If you’re incorporating fruits into your Mediterranean salad, choose only one of them. Otherwise, it will be a fruit salad and require a different type of dressing.
Nuts and seeds	Walnuts, almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, flaxseed	They give a particular taste to your salad, but similar to fruits, preferably choose only one of them.
Legumes	Chickpeas, peanuts, peas	They add a source of proteins to your salad and a particular taste to it. Explore combinations and come up with your own.
Tubers	Potato, yam, sweet potato, turnips	If you include tubers in your Mediterranean salad, they shouldn’t make up the most of it.
Whole grains	Whole oats, corn, whole-wheat pasta, quinoa	Make sure that they are truly whole-grains instead of refined products.