Mediterranean Cucumber Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and Lemon Vinaigrette

Mediterranean Cucumber Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes and Lemon Vinaigrette is the perfect fresh, simple side dish for the summertime. Toss cucumbers and tomatoes in a bright lemony vinaigrette with fresh herbs, finish with feta crumbles and serve with your favorite summer dishes.

Whenever the weather warms up, I’m reminded of the summers spent in our little backyard veggie garden picking fresh cucumbers straight off the vine. My sister and I could barely keep up with how many they produced.

We’d make simple cucumber salad all the time that summer, just chopped cucumbers doused in Italian dressing.

Oh-so-simple and oh-so-delicious.

For this recipe, I wanted to honor this simple childhood salad while elevating it a bit, so I added fresh heirloom tomatoes and swapped out the basic dressing for a bright, fresh vinaigrette with lemon and herbs.

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Why I love this recipe:

This Mediterranean Cucumber Salad recipe is the perfect example of simple but elevated.

Fresh cucumbers and tomatoes tossed in a homemade lemon vinaigrette with parsley, oregano, rosemary, and thyme, finished with feta cheese. It’s bright, fresh, and feels fancy without requiring much effort.

You can serve it chilled as a starter or as a side for your favorite summer dish. (We love it alongside grilled burgers and grilled marinated chicken, but it pairs with most any summer entree!)

More summer side dish recipes to try: Oven Roasted Tomatoes | Grilled Peach Salad with Burrata | Oven Roasted Okra | Grilled Zucchini |

What you need to make this recipe:

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• Sharp knife and wooden cutting board
• Serrated knife (for the tomatoes)
• Large mixing bowl
• Tongs
• Mason jar
• Liquid measuring cup
• Citrus juicer
• Zester

Here are the fresh ingredients that you need to get from the grocery store:

• Cucumbers — you may use whatever type of cucumbers you can get your hands on. I prefer to use English cucumbers or Persian cucumbers because the skin is a little bit thinner.
• Heirloom tomatoes — my recipe calls for mini heirloom tomatoes, but you can use any small tomatoes that you can find that are nice and sweet. Feel free to use grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, etc., in this recipe.
• Feta cheese — we just need a little bit of this to sprinkle as a garnish. Measure with your heart.
• Extra virgin olive oil — or another good tasting oil like avocado oil. I do not recommend using a really potent oil like sesame oil or coconut oil because it will overtake the bright flavor of the lemon and herbs.
• Lemons — you need 1-2 lemons for their juice and zest. Juice the lemons in your house for the best result. The shelf-stable lemon juice will not give you the same brightness as freshly squeezed lemon juice. The same goes for the zest. Zest the lemon first and then cut it in half and squeeze it for juice.
• Kosher salt — medium-grain kosher salt is what I stock in my kitchen. You can use a similarly sized sea salt. You can use table salt, but you will need to use less because it is saltier than kosher salt.
• Black pepper — freshly cracked black pepper really adds a nice punch to recipes. You can use a pepper mill if you don’t have a pepper mill and just have ground black pepper from the grocery store. That will absolutely work.
• Fresh herbs — we use a combination of fresh oregano, fresh parsley, fresh rosemary and fresh thyme in this lemony vinaigrette. You can use dried herbs, though they will not be as punchy as the fresh ones, and I really prefer fresh herbs in instances like this.

Variations and substitutions:

Add more Mediterranean flavors by adding chopped kalamata olives, red onion, artichokes and/or chickpeas.

Swap out the fresh herbs with others you have on hand, like fresh mint, fresh dill, fresh basil, etc.

Use a different dressing, like this homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette Salad Dressing.

How to make Tomato Cucumber Salad

Make the vinaigrette. Measure the olive oil and lemon juice into a mason jar. Add lemon zest, salt, pepper, and chopped herbs, then shake vigorously until combined and set aside.

Prep the ingredients for the salad. Peel the cucumbers with a vegetable peeler. Use the prongs of a fork to create ridges along the sides of the cucumber, then slice. Slice the tomatoes in half or quarters, depending on their size.

Make the salad. Place the sliced cucumbers and tomatoes in a large bowl. Pour the dressing over them and toss. Garnish with feta cheese crumbles and enjoy immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick tips and tricks to the best cucumber and tomato salad:

• Do the cucumber trick. I know it sounds silly to peel and then scrape the exterior of the cucumbers with fork, but it helps the cucumber soak up the vinaigrette.
• Use quality feta. We use just a little bit of this, so a good feta makes a real difference.
• Use those fresh herbs. This is where that right flavor comes from, along with the fresh lemon.
• Chill before serving. While you can definitely have this at room temperature, I love to pop it in the fridge for a little bit before bringing it to the table because it tastes wonderful and crisp when cold.
• Adjust to your tastebuds. The lemon vinaigrette may vary based on how juicy your lemon is. You can add more lemon juice or olive oil to balance it out if needed. If it tastes bitter, you can add a pinch of granulated sugar.

Wanna make this goodness for yourself and yours?

Here’s how you can do it…