Greek Salmon Salad

This Greek salmon salad features flaky pan-seared (or grilled!) salmon, spinach, kalamata olives, green olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and tangy feta. It's dressed with homemade zesty lemon balsamic dressing. Made in under 30 minutes, it's a quick and easy lunch, snack, or a light summer dinner.

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Greek, Italian, Mediterranean

Keyword greek salmon salad, salmon salad

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 736kcal

Author Julia

Ingredients

Salad Dressing

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard or more
½ teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Vegetables

8 oz cherry or grape tomatoes (red and yellow) sliced in half
1 large cucumber quartered
½ cup pitted black olives sliced
½ cup pitted green olives sliced (I used Castelvetrano olives)
⅓ cup red onion sliced
5 oz baby spinach

Feta cheese mixture

4 oz feta cheese diced into small cubes
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
freshly ground black pepper

Salmon

2 lb salmon (4 fillets)
¼ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil divided

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Make salad dressing and combine with veggies

Combine all salad dressing ingredients in a small mason jar. Whisk with a fork until emulsified.
In a large mixing bowl, combine and toss together sliced cherry tomatoes, quartered cucumber slices, olives, sliced red onions, and the salad dressing. Set aside.

Prepare feta cheese mixture

In a small bowl, toss together cubed feta cheese with extra virgin olive oil, dried oregano, and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

Pan-sear the salmon

Preheat a large, high-sided skillet (preferably cast iron) over medium heat on the stovetop for approximately 4 minutes until it is hot. I used 4 skin-on salmon fillets. Season the flesh side of the salmon with paprika, dried oregano, salt, and pepper, rubbing the spices onto the fish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the heated skillet—the oil should sizzle. Place the salmon fillets into the skillet, skin side up. Gently move them around with a spatula to coat the bottoms with olive oil and prevent sticking. Cook undisturbed over medium heat for 4 minutes.
Turn the salmon over so the skin side is now facing down. Continue cooking over medium or low-medium heat for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
If you prefer to keep the salmon skin intact, you can skip this step: To remove the skin, gently slide a wide spatula between each salmon fillet and the skin to separate the flesh. Transfer the skinless salmon to a plate. Remove skins from the skillet. You can eat them later or discard them if you don't like them.

Assembly

Place baby spinach in each of 4 large individual salad bowls. Arrange pan-seared salmon fillets on top. Spoon over the vegetable and salad dressing mixture. Finish by sprinkling the feta cheese mixture on top.

Nutrition