This homemade Turkish Shepherd Salad mezze (appetizer) is made with fresh vegetables: tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and a yummy lemony dressing. It can be used as a dip or rolled up in a pita/ flatbread with falafel. The secret ingredient with this recipe is sumac. It gives it that wonderful authentic flavor.
This was inspired by our easy greek salad, and pairs well with our chicken vegetable shawarma with tzatziki.
Try our other great sides like Roasted Sunchokes with Thyme, Jerusalem Artichokes.
Ingredients
- Roma tomatoes- you can use any tomato, but I've found this works best with a more firm tomato. Cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half lengthwise also work great.
- Cucumber
- Red Onion- for an authentic taste, stick with red.
- Fresh Flat Leaf Italian Parsley- for the best taste, use fresh!
- Green Bell Pepper
- Shallot- minced garlic will also work
- Fresh Mint
- Lemon Juice
- Olive Oil
- Red Wine Vinegar- apple cider vinegar will work in a pinch, but red wine is recommended
- Sumac
- Parika
- Salt
- Black Pepper
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Start by chopping the vegetables and herbs. Chop tomatoes and cucumber up into cubes roughly ½" wide or slightly smaller and place them in a medium sized mixing bowl. Thinly slice the red onion, then chop some of them a few times into smaller pieces and add to the bowl. Finely chop the shallot and add to bowl. Chop the parsley and mint and add to the bowl.
Drizzle olive oil then red wine vinegar over the vegetables.
Squeeze lemon juice over the vegetables. Stir to combine.
Next sprinkle spices (sumac, paprika, salt and pepper) over vegetables and herbs and stir to combine again.
Hint: fresh lemon juice is more flavorful than lemon juice concentrate, but concentrate will do in a pinch.
Substitutions
- Colored Bell Pepper - instead of a green bell pepper, substitute a colored one in.
- Grape or Cherry Tomatoes - use grape or cherry tomatoes for a little bit more tomato flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar- feel free to use apple cider vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. It won't change the taste very much.
Variations
- Spicy - add 1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes to the spices for a little extra spice!
- Extra Vegetables - add one zucchini and one summer squash for some extra vegetables and flavor. Greens beans and more colored bell peppers would make a great addition too.
- Deluxe- top with avocado, Greek yogurt and feta cheese.
Equipment
Storage
Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 2 days. Turkish shepherd salad is best eaten fresh, but it will hold up for about 2 days. After 2 days the tomatoes will start to mush and the leaves will wilt.
We do not recommend to freezing this salad.
Top tip
Use fresh ingredients. It might be tempting to use dry herbs, but the flavor is so much better when using fresh!
Recipe
Turkish Shepherd Salad
Ingredients
- 3 Roma tomatoes
- 1 regular sized cucumber
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 large red onion thinly sliced
- 1 shallot or ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- juice of one lemon about ⅓ cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons sumac
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- fresh black pepper
Instructions
- Chop green bell pepper, cucumber and tomatoes into ½" or slightly smaller chunks. Place in a medium sized mixing bowl. Finely chop shallot and add to the bowl.
- Finely chop parsley and mint and add to the bowl. Stir to combine.
- Drizzle on the olive oil and red wine vinegar. Stir to combine.
- Squeeze the lemon juice over the mixture and stir to combine.
- Top with sumac, paprika, salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- Enjoy! Refrigerate for 1 hour to serve cold.
Nicole
This is so full of flavor and simple to make! I love a good Turkish salad. We used it as a dip and with falafel and tzatziki sauce on flatbread. We used cherry tomatoes and it was amazing. Will make again.
kushigalu
This Turkish salad is so light and refreshing. We loved all the fresh ingredients and it was so flavorful. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to make again.
Tara
Oh yum! I love all the flavor packed into this salad. It tastes so good with the variety of vegetables and herbs.
Anita
This turkish salad is such a refreshing salad. I love the addition of sumac in this, adding such a great flavor to it. So fresh and yummy.
Jamie
I love all the fresh vegetables in this Turkish salad! It's all such a lovely flavor along with the dressing!
Andrea
The whole family loved it!Thanks so much for the recipe. My kids gobble up anything with tomatoes and cucumbers.
JC
This turkish salad was sooo good. It's light and fresh. I loved the use of fresh ingredients like cucumber and tomato and fresh parsley. I loved the sumac in it. Delicious and nutritious!