Avocado Salad
What goes into an avocado and feta salad?
For 2 servings of avocado salad you need 1 ripe avocado, 100 g of feta, 2 tomatoes, a cucumber, a red bell pepper, a red onion, 15–20 black olives and a bunch of lettuce. Sprinkle the diced avocado with 1 tsp of lemon juice so the flesh doesn't brown. The dressing has no mayonnaise: 50 ml of olive oil and a pinch of oregano.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Avocado 1
- Red onion 1
- Lettuce 1 bunch
- Tomatoes 2
- Cucumber 1
- Red bell pepper 1
- Black olives (pitted) 15–20
- Feta 100 g
- Parsley 2–3 sprigs
- Olive oil 50 ml
- Lemon juice 1 tsp
- Dried oregano 1–2 pinches
Step-by-step recipe
Lettuce and avocado
You can use any lettuce or salad leaves for this dish. There’s great leaf lettuce, or head lettuce; pick whatever you like.
Prepare the lettuce. Lettuce is delicate and wilts quickly, so it’s worth soaking it in cold water for a few hours first; the leaves will turn crisp.
Before you start, shake off the water; you can even pat the drops dry with a paper towel. It’s better not to cut the leaves with a knife, so the juice doesn’t run out. Do what most cooks do and tear the leaves into pieces by hand. Put the torn leaves into a large, deep bowl.
Prepare the avocado. Avocados are usually sold by the piece, not by weight. One fruit is enough for two: a nice green pear-shaped one. An avocado has a large pit, bigger than a walnut. Cut the fruit down to the pit with a knife and split it into two halves. Remove the pit.
You could throw it away, of course, but why not plant it in soil? It grows into a pretty little tree. I often have fun doing that. Too bad it can’t survive our frosts.
Peel the thick green skin off the avocado halves; it comes off easily. Cut the flesh into small cubes, a little larger than the potatoes in an Olivier salad. Sprinkle the diced avocado with 1 tsp lemon juice and toss. The acidic juice keeps the flesh from browning and oxidizing. It also gives the salad a distinctive flavor.
Assembling the salad
Seed and stem the red bell pepper, and slice it crosswise into very thin strips. Add to the salad bowl.
Drain all the liquid from the bowl where the avocado was tossed with lemon. Add the avocado to the salad bowl. Add the whole pitted black olives right away.
Without seeding or peeling, cut the tomato into large wedges. Add to the rest of the ingredients.
Peel the red (purple) onion and slice it into very thin rings. An elongated onion works best. By the way, since many people don’t like raw onion in their food, how much you use, or whether you use it at all, is strictly up to you.
At the very end, add a diced fresh cucumber, or two. To make the cucumber nice and crunchy, soak it in cold water together with the lettuce. No need to peel it, though if it’s a little bitter, you’d better peel it.
Add the diced feta. Feta (Φέτα) is a traditional cheese made from sheep’s milk with some goat’s milk added, Greece’s calling card. It’s a bit like brynza, but softer and more delicate. Sprinkle the salad with 1–2 pinches of dried oregano and finely chopped parsley (leaves only).
Toss the ingredients very gently. Not vigorously, but slowly. Just turn them over, trying not to damage the delicate ingredients.
Serving
Right before serving, drizzle the salad with olive oil, the very best you can find.
Avocado salad goes wonderfully with almost any meat or fish dish. And as an appetizer, it’s superb!
I highly recommend this avocado salad. Surprisingly, it strikes a great balance of ingredients, calories and “lightness”.
Calories and macros
565 kcal
Serving ≈ 530 g
- Protein12 g9% of kcal
- Fat49 g79% of kcal
- Carbs17 g13% of kcal
100 g107 kcalProtein 2.3 gFat 9.2 gCarbs 3.3 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.
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To Get It Right
Which avocado to buy
For an avocado salad you need a ripe fruit: it gives slightly when pressed with a finger, and the skin comes away from the flesh easily. A hard avocado can be left at room temperature for a couple of days to ripen.
Feta and swaps
- For the avocado salad, better not to replace the feta with brynza or hard cheese, as is often done with Greek salad: feta is softer and more delicate, and the salad turns out different without it.
- If you don’t like fresh bell pepper, you can use pickled pepper instead, as some readers do.
What to do ahead
The avocado salad can be partly prepared ahead: soak the lettuce and cucumber in cold water a few hours in advance. But dice the avocado and dress the salad with oil right before serving: cut avocado browns, and dressed leaves wilt quickly.
Have your own trick for this recipe?
Questions and answers
What is the best dressing for avocado salad?
Olive oil, the very best you can find, about 50 ml for two servings. Lemon juice sprinkled over the avocado adds sourness, and dried oregano adds aroma.
How is avocado salad different from Greek salad?
It’s essentially a Greek salad with lettuce and avocado added to the usual vegetables, olives and feta. I once tried this version, and on the menu it was called “avocado salad”.
Do eggs and avocado go together?
Yes, a hard-boiled egg goes well with avocado. You can add 1–2 eggs cut into wedges to this salad along with the feta.
Can you add shrimp or salmon to avocado salad?
You can: avocado goes well with seafood and fish. Add boiled peeled shrimp or cubes of lightly salted salmon along with the feta, and make the rest as in the recipe.