This Greek Maroulosalata is easy to make in just 10 minutes, featuring a refreshing mix of lettuce, veggies, herbs, and creamy feta. I serve it with a simple red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing, either as a side to a Greek-inspired feast or as a light meal with my favorite proteins.
I don’t do boring salads, and neither should you. The next time you have a head of iceberg lettuce on hand, transform it into this fully loaded Classic Chef Salad. And those summer fruits and veggies are begging to be tossed in this colorful Strawberry Spinach Salad.
Greek Lettuce Salad
Maroulosalata (pronounced mah-roo-lo-sah-LAH-tah) is a type of Greek lettuce salad. It’s pretty different from a traditional Greek salad made with chunks of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and olives, but it’s twice as fresh and vibrant.
The authentic Greek lettuce salad recipe is a staple of many Greek meals, especially in spring, when the main ingredients—romaine lettuce, fresh dill, and green onions—are at their peak. Tossed in olive oil and lemon juice or red wine vinegar, it’s bright, crisp, and incredibly tasty.
My version is pretty close to the traditional one, except for a few extra ingredients. I’ve added escarole, diced cucumbers, and feta because, well, is it even a Greek salad without feta? But really, as long as your produce is super fresh, almost any lettuce blend, veggie, or herb will fit right in.
Whether you’re serving it with your favorite Greek spread or topping it with a grilled protein for a quick lunch, maroulosalata is the kind of recipe that proves you don’t need twenty ingredients and a complicated dressing to make a salad everyone actually wants to eat.
Ingredients and Substitutions
A true Greek lettuce salad is all about the quality of what you’ve got. These are the ingredients, but you can easily substitute or scale most of these up or down as you’d like:
- Lettuce – Most modern recipes use romaine or a 50-50 blend of romaine and curly escarole, which is what I went with. Iceberg, little gem, butterhead, endive, frisée, or radicchio can also be added.
- Herbs, Fresh dill is a must. I also added flat-leaf parsley for some earthiness and green onions for a bite. If you want more, use fresh chives and/or mint leaves.
- Cucumbers – Either Persian or English cucumbers. Most of the time, I’ll scoop out the seeds in advance to avoid a watery salad.
- Feta Cheese , use a high-quality feta in brine and crumble it.
- Dressing – I’m a firm believer that a proper maroulosalata dressing is just high-quality Greek olive oil (like Koroneiki) and red wine vinegar (or fresh lemon juice). However, the sturdy lettuce leaves can also handle a more complex vinaigrette, like this Greek Dressing.
- Seasonings, salt and pepper.
How to Make Maroulosalata
Prep the produce: After washing and drying, roughly chop the romaine and escarole, finely mince the fresh dill and parsley, thinly slice the green onions, and dice the cucumber.
Build the salad: Next, toss it all into a large salad bowl, along with the crumbled feta.
Add the dressing: Drizzle the vinegar (or lemon juice) and olive oil over top and season the salad generously with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Toss and serve: To finish, gently toss everything together, give it a quick taste, and add another pinch of salt if needed. Serve it immediately with cruets of olive oil and red wine vinegar at the table.
Chef Tip + Notes
My #1 rule with salads is to dry the greens as thoroughly as possible. I don’t want damp lettuce and herbs because then the dressing will pool at the bottom of the bowl. I use my salad spinner to dry my lettuce and herbs, but if you don’t have one, lay your greens on a clean kitchen towel, roll it up like a giant burrito, and give it a gentle squeeze until they’re dry.
- Toss gently: To coat the lettuce and veggies without bruising the delicate fresh herbs, I reach in with my clean hands, lift the greens, and gently toss until everything is coated in the dressing.
- Don’t dress too soon: I don’t even think about adding the dressing until we’re ready to sit down and eat. Because the lettuce is so thinly chopped, it’ll turn into a soggy, limp mess faster than you’d think.
- Salt just before serving: Salt is great for flavor, but it draws water out of the vegetables. To keep those veggies crisp, wait to add the salt until the very last second.
- Add-in ideas: I love this Greek lettuce and dill salad as-is; however, there’s plenty of room for even more ingredients. Try adding thinly sliced green bell peppers, fennel, matchstick-cut radishes, toasted pine nuts, pepitas, sliced Kalamata olives, and/or capers.
Serving Suggestions
This is one of those great all-purpose salads that instantly lightens up a heavier meal. In summer, I’ll pair it with these Grilled Lamb Lollipops or some Greek-marinated grilled chicken. And when it’s too cold to grill, I love serving it with my Pan Seared Halibut and a bowl of these Greek Lemon Potatoes with lots of pita and tzatziki on the side.
I eat a salad almost every day for lunch, including this Greek lettuce salad. When I’m not topping it with shredded chicken or seared steak, I wrap it in a pita and add some falafel and garlic sauce to make it a more filling meal.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I serve this salad right away to prevent the greens from wilting. Sometimes, I’ll chop the lettuce, herbs, and veggies a few hours ahead of time and keep them in separate airtight containers in the fridge to save time before assembling.
How to Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for 1 day.
More Greek-Inspired Recipes
- Greek Chicken Souvlaki
- Greek-Style Lamb Shank
- Greek Avgolemono Soup
- Greek Lemon Chicken and Potatoes
- Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass
Maroulosalata Recipe (Greek Lettuce and Dill Salad)
Ingredients
- ½ head roughly chopped romaine
- ½ head roughly chopped curly escarole, optional
- ¼ cup finely minced parsley
- ¼ cup finely minced fresh dill
- 4-5 thinly sliced green onions
- 1 cup medium-diced cucumbers
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- red wine vinegar to taste
- olive oil to taste
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add the romaine, escarole, parsley, dill, green onions, cucumbers, and feta cheese to a large salad bowl.
- Drizzle on vinegar and oil, and season with salt and pepper.
- Toss together the salad and serve with an additional side of vinegar and oil.
Maroulosalata Recipe