Maroulosalata (Greek Lettuce Salad)

The perfect vision of green, this Greek Maroulosalata, lettuce salad is verdantly vivacious. A crunchy, herbaceous salad with a salty and creamy feta cheese. It’s quick, easy and guaranteed to bring any dinner to life.

Greek salads are quite often summed up by the most famous version with tomatoes, feta, olives and red onion - but there are so many delicious, healthy salads dotted around the Greek Isles to sample instead.

Maroulosalata, is one such delight. At its simplest, it's a combination of lettuce, herbs with a sharp lemon dressing. A crunchy, light and fresh side dish. Many variations exist that bring other greenery into play. In my version I add cucumber and spring onion (green onion) and a sharp feta cheese which makes for a more substantial and flavourful offering. It's one of my go to salads all year round as it pairs with everything!

What's Ahead?

What is Maroulosalata?

Maroulosalata derives from the Greek words 'Marouli - μαρούλι' (Lettuce) and 'Salata - σαλάτα' (Salad) - to make 'Lettuce salad'. Various recipes exist but at its core the salad includes lettuce, herbs and a sharp lemon and oil dressing.

Why it works?

It's refreshing - if truth be told, I prefer a simple green salad with everything. Not only does it look great, I love the simplicity of a few green ingredients in a bowl with a sharp feta crumbled on top. It's clean, crisp and pretty much my perfect salad.

It's also my go-to spring and summer salad, served as a side dish with roasted meats and fish. I love nothing more than a simple roasted chicken with a mountain of Maroulosalata.

Stuff You'll Need

For my version, I have a few more ingredients than the uber-traditional version, but nothing out of the ordinary. It's so simple to put my maroulosalata together - here's what you'll need.

• Lettuce - find a crunchy variety like Romaine, Baby Gem, Cos or Iceberg.
• Spring onion - (green onion) for their fragrant sharpness.
• Cucumber - for their mellow and cooling qualities.
• Fresh herbs - Dill and parsley bring all the fragrance and personality - you could also change up the flavour with a little fresh mint, oregano or tarragon.
• Lemon, oil and vinegar - make a simple dressing with extra virgin olive oil (Greek of course) whisked together with fresh lemon juice and a little white or red wine vinegar.
• Feta cheese - I splurge on the most expensive I can get for this salad.
• Dried oregano - A little pinch of dried Greek oregano goes a long way and leaves that quintessentially Greek flavour at the end.

Pro Tips

This salad is traditionally made using very few ingredients, but I think it's a very versatile recipe that can be adapted to include a few more key green ingredients to dial up the complexity of flavour and texture. Other than extras like spring onion and cucumber, you could add green bell pepper (capsicum), sliced crunchy celery, sliced green olives or a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds at the end.

Serving & Storage Suggestions

You can make the salad in advance and keep refrigerated (covered in plastic wrap), leave off the dressing and feta until you're ready to serve. Do that last minute to avoid everything becoming soggy.

This salad is best eaten right away once dressed. It's so easy to eat, that there won't be any leftovers!

If you do make a huge bowl and think you may have leftovers, dress the salad, and add the feta in portions instead of in one go. Without dressing and feta, the maroulosalata will stay fresh for 2-3 days in the fridge (covered in plastic wrap). Pour over the lemon dressing and feta when you're ready to serve.

Ready to get started?

There's no cooking involved in this light and bright Greek salad, so it's a quick and easy recipe every time. It's versatile too and is happy to play alongside so many other flavours.

I particularly love it paired with grilled meats or fish - it's so delicious with a rotisserie chicken so that's dinner sorted without turning on the stove. Hope you enjoy my fabulous maroulosalata recipe!

More of my favourite Greek recipes

If you liked this recipe for Maroulosalata, I'm sure you'll love some more of my best Greek recipes.

• Arakas Latheros (Greek Peas)
• Greek Lemon Orzo Soup with Chicken
• Greek Lentil Salad
• Greek Strapatsada
• Briam (Greek Roasted Vegetables)
• Greek Lamb Marinade
• Greek Tarhana Soup with Lentils & Herbs
• Tomato & Feta Salad
• Cypriot Sheftalia

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