You’ll love this quick and easy dairy free Greek salad. It’s such a versatile dish and goes with a wide range of meals as a side dish. Or enjoy a generous serve on its own as a healthy main. Made with a handful of fresh ingredients and creamy dairy free Feta cheese, it’s not only allergy-friendly but also gluten free and suitable for vegans too.
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Jump to RecipeDairy free Greek salad ingredients
To make our allergy-friendly Greek salad, you’ll need:
- 3 medium (or 2 large) Lebanese cucumbers
- 4 medium ripe tomatoes (Roma recommended)
- 1 medium red onion, finely sliced
- 1 cup black or Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 200g (7oz) dairy free Feta cheese, cut into small cubes or crumbled
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon Oregano (dried, or fresh, and finely chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon of white sugar or sweetener
Feta or fetta?
Traditional Greek salad is made with Greek Feta cheese, a traditional style of cheese made from sheep milk or a mix of sheep and goat milk. Popular store bought fetta (made in other countries) is often made with cow’s milk. Most people with a cow’s milk protein allergy are also allergic to sheep and goat milk as well. (We have to avoid all milks from mammals.)
Dairy free Feta cheese
To make an allergy-friendly, vegan and dairy free Greek salad, we’ve swapped out the fetta for a non-dairy variety. If you don’t have soy allergies, you could use a soy based fetta. However, we have made our dairy free Greek salad with a coconut based Feta.
For this recipe we used Bio Cheese dairy free Feta. (And yes, it is Feta with one “t”, as it’s actually made in Greece). This is dairy free, gluten free and vegan and doesn’t contain nuts or soy. The flavour is quite mild and doesn’t taste too strongly of coconut. The texture is quite smooth and creamy but not as crumbly as traditional fetta. However, it adds important body and colour to the salad. We also like Sheese brand vegan Feta, which is also coconut based and soy free.
An important thing to remember about products that are labelled as “dairy free”. Many are made with tree nuts to achieve the creamy texture so be careful if you have nut allergies. And just because something is labelled “vegan”, doesn’t guarantee that it is dairy free, so make sure that you read the ingredients and any allergen warnings carefully. You can read more in our post Is vegan food always dairy and egg free?
If you can’t find a suitable fetta cheese that meets your allergy requirements, you can of course just leave it out.
Method
Greek salad is quick and easy to make because it only uses a few fresh ingredients. You can save some time by using pitted olives, so that you don’t have to remove the pits/stones yourself. (If you do need to remove the pits from whole olives, I highly recommend using an olive pitter.)
Slice the cucumbers in half lengthways and use a teaspoon to remove most of the seeds before dicing into small pieces.
Dice the tomatoes into bite size pieces.
Peel the red onion, halve, and slice into thin slices using a sharp knife.
Remove the pits from the olives (if not already pitted) and slice in half.
Place the cucumber, tomatoes, onion and olive in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Cut the dairy free Feta into small cubes (or crumble) and add to the salad.
To make the dressing, add olive oil, white wine vinegar, oregano and sugar to a small bowl and whisk well. Or for a very easy way to make dressing, add the dressing ingredients to a small jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well to combine.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. If you have fresh oregano available, use a sprig to garnish the salad.
Greek salad is best enjoyed the same day, or within 24 hours. If you leave it in the fridge too long, the dairy free Feta cheese will get too soft and the vegetables will lose their crispness.
This recipe serves 6-8 as a side dish.
Enjoy this dairy free Greek salad as a side dish with your main, or even just by itself. If you aren’t vegan or vegetarian, Greek salad goes well with chicken, lamb or seafood, but it also works beautifully with plant based protein.
More allergy-friendly recipes
For another delicious Greek inspired recipe, try our vegan Skordalia garlic and potato dip or dairy free Tzatziki dip. Or for another quick and easy salad recipe, see our fresh pineapple, cucumber and mint salad recipe.
You’ll also find lots more dairy free and allergy-friendly recipes on our recipe page.
Easy Dairy Free Greek Salad (Gluten Free, Vegan)
Equipment
- 1 chopping board
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 Large bowl
- 1 small lidded jar (optional)
Ingredients
- 3 medium (or 2 large) Lebanese cucumbers
- 4 medium ripe tomatoes (Roma recommended)
- 1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup black or Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 200 g dairy free Feta cheese, cut into small cubes or crumbled
- 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon oregano (dried or fresh and finely chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
Instructions
- Slice the cucumbers in half lengthways and use a teaspoon to remove most of the seeds before dicing into small pieces.
- Dice the tomatoes into bite size pieces.
- Peel the red onion, halve, and slice into thin slices using a sharp knife.
- Remove the pits/stones from the olives (if not already pitted) and slice in half. (If you do need to remove the pits from whole olives, using an olive pitter makes this quick and easy).
- Place the cucumber, tomatoes, onion and olive in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Cut the dairy free Feta into small cubes (or crumble) and add to the salad.
- To make the dressing, add olive oil, white wine vinegar, oregano and sugar to a small bowl and whisk well. Or for a very easy way to make dressing, add the dressing ingredients to a small jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well to combine.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. If you have fresh oregano available, use a sprig to garnish the salad.
