This is a no-cook olive and herb salad built from pitted mixed olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, parsley, and cilantro, dressed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a touch of honey. It takes 20 minutes start to finish and requires no special equipment. The honest reason to make it: itโs genuinely easy, the ingredient list is short, and the briny-fresh combination works well alongside grilled meat or as a light standalone lunch.
The technique that matters
The single most important step is letting the dressed salad rest for 10 minutes before serving. This isnโt just waiting around โ the salt in the olives and the vinegar in the dressing start to soften the raw onion slightly and pull the flavors together. Skip it and the salad tastes like separate ingredients sitting next to each other. The second thing worth doing carefully is whisking the dressing until it looks slightly creamy and unified before you pour it on. Olive oil and vinegar separate fast; if you just drizzle them on unmixed, youโll get bites that are all acid and bites that are all oil. Thirty seconds of whisking in a small bowl fixes that completely.
About the ingredients
- Mixed olives: Look for them at an olive bar or in the deli section rather than a standard jar โ the flavor is noticeably better. If you can only find jarred, rinse them briefly to dial back excess brine, which can make the whole salad taste salty before youโve added any seasoning.
- Red onion: Raw red onion can be sharp enough to overpower everything else. If yours smells very pungent, soak the sliced onion in cold water for 5 minutes, then pat dry before adding it. The bite softens without losing the flavor.
- Cilantro: If cilantro tastes soapy to you, swap it for an equal amount of fresh mint or extra flat-leaf parsley. Both work with the olive-and-vinegar dressing.
- Honey: This is a small amount โ just enough to round out the acidity. Maple syrup is a direct swap if you need the salad to be strictly vegan.
Keeping it fresh
Dress it at the table โ a pre-dressed salad goes limp fast. If youโre making this ahead, keep the chopped vegetables and olives in one airtight container in the fridge and the whisked dressing in a small jar, then combine them right before eating. Prepped but undressed, the salad holds well for up to 24 hours. Once dressed, the cucumber releases water and the herbs start to wilt; plan to eat it within an hour. If you have leftovers that have already been dressed, drain off any pooled liquid before storing and eat them the next day โ the texture wonโt be crisp, but the flavor is still good stirred into grain bowls or tucked into a wrap.
Mistakes to avoid
- Not tasting the olives before seasoning: Olives vary a lot in saltiness. Taste one before you add any salt to the dressing โ you may not need any at all, or just a very small pinch.
- Chopping the herbs too far ahead: Parsley and cilantro turn dark and lose their fresh smell quickly once cut. Chop them right before assembling, not an hour in advance.
- Using watery cucumber without checking: English cucumbers are fine to use as-is, but standard field cucumbers have more water and larger seeds. If using a field cucumber, scoop out the seeds with a spoon before dicing to keep the salad from getting watery.
- Overdressing: With a salad this small in volume, itโs easy to add too much dressing. Start with about two-thirds of what you made, toss, and add more only if it looks dry. You can always add more; you canโt take it back.
- Skipping the rough chop on olives: Leaving olives whole means every bite is either all-olive or none. A rough chop distributes the briny flavor evenly through the salad so itโs present in every forkful.
Uruguayan Olive and Herb Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup mixed olives pitted and roughly chopped, preferably a mix of green and black
- ยฝ cup organic cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup cucumber diced
- ยผ cup red onion thinly sliced
- ยผ cup fresh parsley chopped
- ยผ cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil high quality
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 pinch salt to taste
- 1 pinch ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the mixed olives, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, parsley, and cilantro.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper to create a dressing.
- Pour the dressing over the salad, gently tossing until all the ingredients are evenly coated.
- Let the salad sit for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Common questions
Can I make this salad the night before?
You can prep all the components the night before, but donโt dress it until right before serving. Store the chopped vegetables, olives, and herbs together in a sealed container in the fridge, and keep the dressing in a separate jar โ combine them within an hour of eating.
What kind of olives should I use if I canโt find a mixed variety?
Any pitted olive works โ green Castelvetrano olives are mild and meaty, while Kalamata olives are bolder and more acidic. Using just one type is fine; the recipe calls for a mix mainly to vary the flavor, not because itโs essential to the structure of the salad.
The dressing seems very small โ is that enough to coat everything?
Yes, for four servings itโs enough, especially because the olives already carry a lot of their own brine and oil. Toss thoroughly and let the salad rest the full 10 minutes; the dressing distributes more evenly as it sits.
I donโt like cilantro โ does leaving it out throw off the balance?
Leaving it out is fine, but replace it with something to keep the herb volume up. Fresh mint or extra flat-leaf parsley both work well here and hold up against the briny olives without getting lost.
1
Fresh, tasty, and easy! Big hit! Recipe for 10 calls for 3 cups of olivesโฆ. Used 1/3 each of black, kalamata, and Italian castelvetrano green olives. Served nested in arugula.