One of my favorite lunch spots on the planet, Malibu Farm, has a Greek Salad on the menu that’s served on top of a thick wedge of juicy watermelon. It’s a surprising presentation that’s as beautiful as it is delicious—turns out that sweet watermelon is the perfect foil for the briny olives, salty feta, and summery tomatoes that make up a more traditional Greek salad recipe.
I recently hosted a Greek Isle-inspired bridal shower dinner for our producer Michelle, and I immediately started dreaming about Malibu Farm’s summery spin on the classic salad. Since I wanted to serve everything family style, I decided to turn those flavors into a watermelon chopped Greek salad. Instead of doing individually plated watermelon wedges requiring a knife and fork, I chopped everything into equal-sized pieces that would create the perfect flavor combination in every bite. Here’s how it came together…
My trick for making the best chopped Greek salad
The secret to the best chopped Greek salad is cutting everything into roughly the same size, so that each forkful is bursting with salty-sweet-crunchy-briny goodness. I love that this uses the classic Greek salad ingredients—tomatoes, cucumber, feta, and olives—and combines them with the surprising addition of watermelon to make this salad feel special and worthy of a summer dinner party.
What to serve with this Chopped Greek Salad
This salad is hearty enough to be the centerpiece of a light vegetarian dinner. Just pair with pita bread and hummus to make it a meal. Or, add a protein boost by adding chickpeas or serving alongside falafel, roast chicken, or sliced steak.
Since it holds up great on a buffet (see notes below), this is the perfect elevated summer salad to bring to a barbecue or potluck since it can hang out at room temp for awhile and only gets better.
Leftovers notes
Unlike salads that contain leafy greens, this Watermelon Chopped Greek Salad holds up beautifully in the fridge. I pack it in my Zwilling Fresh & Save and devour it for lunch (with some pita) all week long. I would say that it even gets a little better when it sits in the fridge for a bit. The lemon juice and oil, combined with the brined olives, give a slight “pickled” flavor to the watermelon that is actually addictive.
Hope you love this watermelon chopped Greek salad as much as we do! If you make it, be sure to leave a comment and tag us on Instagram so we can see your version.
Watermelon Chopped Greek Salad
Serves 4
This watermelon chopped Greek salad is a summery spin on the classic.
Prep
15 minutes
Categories
Ingredients
- 4 cups cubed watermelon, plus 4 - 6 watermelon wedges for laying on bottom of serving platter
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta
- 1/2 cup pitted marinated kalamata olives
- 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
- 1 seedless cucumber, chopped
- 1/4 sliced red onion
- 1/2 cup chopped mint leaves sprinkled over
- juice of 1 lemon
- squeeze of honey
- extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- On a serving platter, lay watermelon wedges in a single layer.
- Top with cubed watermelon, then layer on tomatoes, cucumber, onion, feta, olives, and mint in an even layer.
- Squeeze a lemon over top, then drizzle with olive oil and honey. Season with salt and pepper. Eat!
Beautiful! And Yummy, thank you.