Turkish Watermelon & Feta Salad

- Amanda

We’re halfway through September, if you can believe it, and that means summer comes to it’s official close this weekend. And I’ve got the perfect salad to send off the season with a bang. If you still have some warm weather and sweet watermelon in your neck of the woods, you have enough of an excuse to give this a try. It’s my go to salad for guests, parties, or any type of get together from May through September. The sweet and salty pairing with fresh mint, truly is a killer combo.

The first time I heard about feta with watermelon from my Turkish husband (boyfriend at the time,) I wasn’t so sure about it. I kind of thought it sounded strange and after an unpleasant incident with a big bowl of watermelon and chocolate milk when I was kid, I’ve made it a rule to pretty much keep dairy and watermelon separate. That is, until I met this amazing trio.

Here in turkey, during the warmer months many places serve beautiful wedges of watermelon with a few slices of feta on the plate. Both are refreshingly cold and it’s a great snack in between dips in the pool and basking in the summer sunshine. Sometimes they serve it with mint and or just the cheese and fruit. For me, the mint definitely takes it to the next level. You can opt to cut it into cubes and serve in the form of a salad, or go the more Turkish route and simply layers wedges or chunks on a plate. Either way, don’t let summer end without giving this a try.

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Turkish Watermelon & Feta Salad

Combining watermelon and feta is a traditional Turkish summer snack. And for good reason. The sweet and salty combo makes for a truly refreshing treat not to mention absolutely beautiful too.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Servings 6

Ingredients

  • 1 seedless watermelon, cut into 1" cubes, chilled
  • 3 persion cucumbers, sliced into rounds, chilled *or other small cucumber
  • 4 oz feta cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes, chilled
  • 3 tbsps chopped mint
  • 1/2 lime, juiced
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. On a big platter or bowl, layer the cubed watermelon.

  2. Arrange the sliced cucumber and cubed feta on top.

  3. Squeeze the juice of half a lime and the olive oil over everything and sprinkle the mint on top.

  4. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Recipe Notes

*Everything can be cut and individually stored in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.

*You can also slice the watermelon and feta into wedges and serve it on a plate for a different presentation.