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More Healthy Salad Recipes
Persian Shirazi Salad
Shirazi salad is fresh, crunchy, and wonderfully simple. Juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumber, finely diced red onion, herbs, and plenty of lemon come together in a salad that works beautifully alongside grilled meats, rice, kofta, or Persian kotlet. It’s bright, budget-friendly, and exactly the sort of salad that proves vegetables never have to be boring.
Shirazi Salad
Shirazi salad is one of my favourite sides when the weather heats up. It’s light, crunchy, and full of bright flavour thanks to cucumber, tomato, red onion, and a sharp lemon dressing. I love how refreshing it is, especially alongside grilled meats or spicy mains. It’s quick to throw together, uses pantry staples, and keeps well in the fridge. Whether I’m after a simple lunch or the perfect barbecue side, this Persian-inspired salad is always a winner.
Ingredients
- 250g cherry tomatoes, diced
- Large pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 continental cucumber, diced, seeds removed
- 1 yellow capsicum, diced
- 1 bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1/2 bunch fresh mint, chopped
- Juice of 2 limes
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Put the diced tomatoes into a sieve and sprinkle with a large pinch of sea salt flakes. Set aside to drain for 30 minutes. Discard any juice that drains off.
- Add the drained tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, capsicum, parsley, and mint to a large salad bowl.
- Drizzle over the lime juice and extra virgin olive oil and toss well to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Shirazi salad is a classic Persian salad that's all about freshness and texture. Every ingredient is diced finely and evenly, which is what gives it that distinctive look and makes every bite perfectly balanced.
- Salting and draining the tomatoes is the step that prevents this salad from turning watery. Don't skip it and don't rush it. Thirty minutes makes all the difference.
- Deseeding the cucumber also helps keep excess moisture out of the salad. Run a teaspoon down the centre of each half to scoop out the seeds before dicing.
- The finer you dice everything, the more authentic the result. Take your time with the knife work. You want everything roughly the same size so it all comes together in each forkful.
- Lime juice is traditional in Shirazi salad and gives it a brighter, more tropical acidity than lemon. Don't substitute with lemon if you can avoid it.
- Fresh mint is non-negotiable here. It lifts the whole salad and adds a lovely freshness that dried mint simply can't replicate.
- Use a generous amount of parsley. It's not just a garnish in this salad, it's a core ingredient.
- A good quality extra virgin olive oil makes all the difference in a simple salad like this. With so few ingredients, each one needs to earn its place.
- This salad is best assembled and eaten immediately once dressed. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day, though the herbs will wilt and the vegetables will soften slightly.
- Not suitable for freezing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 133Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 76mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 3gSugar: 12gProtein: 2g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
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Persian Shirazi Salad and Why I Fell in Love with Salads In The First Place
I don’t know what it is about salads, but I’m genuinely obsessed with them. Maybe it’s because I grew up in a house where salad was very much an afterthought. We’re talking lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, and celery, served in roughly the same combination at every barbecue. Occasionally we’d get adventurous and add a bit of cheese. On special occasions, someone would bring home a big tub of tabbouleh from the local kebab shop and suddenly we felt incredibly sophisticated. But even then, I always had this sense that salad could be so much more interesting than the sad little bowl sitting politely beside the sausages.
So, as a teenager, I quietly took over salad duty. This was long before I could search for endless recipe inspiration online, so I relied on Mum’s stack of Australian Women’s Weekly cookbooks and whatever recipes happened to appear in the magazines I’d convinced her to buy. I didn’t follow any of them particularly closely, of course. I swapped ingredients, added things that sounded good, and learned through trial and error what made a salad feel complete. These days, you won’t catch a premade salad mix anywhere near my kitchen. I want fresh herbs, proper vegetables, something crunchy, and something sharp enough to wake everything up.
And don’t even get me started on that old Simpsons line, “You don’t win friends with salad.” I absolutely have won friends with salad. More than once. Shirazi salad is exactly the sort of recipe I’d serve to someone who thinks salad is boring. It’s crisp, bright, refreshing, and punchy enough to make you immediately go back for another spoonful. No limp leaves, no sad fridge energy, and definitely no eating it purely because you feel you should.
Salads and the Seasons
Apparently it’s autumn. Could’ve fooled me, Brisbane. The city clearly hasn’t received the memo because we’re still pushing thirty degrees on plenty of days, and I’m wandering around in a sundress while quietly begging the universe for one decent cool breeze. I’ve lived in Sydney and spent years in the UK, so I know what actual seasonal change feels like, and Brisbane’s version of autumn remains deeply suspicious to me. I’ve never been a hot-weather girl, and after a year back in Australia, I can confidently confirm that I’m still not converting.
I’m heading to Adelaide for work in a couple of weeks, though, and I’m already getting far too excited about the possibility of cold mornings and a legitimate reason to wear a jacket. My winter clothes are sitting patiently in storage waiting for their moment, while I keep looking at all the soups and cosy recipes I want to cook and then looking at the temperature outside. The Easter long weekend is coming up, so perhaps I’ll simply ignore the weather, turn on the air conditioning, and pretend it’s cold enough for something bubbling away on the stove.
Until then, salads like this Shirazi salad are saving me. It’s cool, crunchy, zesty, and requires absolutely no cooking, which is exactly what I want when the air feels thick and the thought of turning on the oven makes me mildly resentful. It’s also the kind of thing I’ll happily make a large bowl of and pick at throughout the day. Bonus points if you eat a few forkfuls while standing in front of the open fridge deciding what else you want for dinner. Not that I’ve ever done that, obviously. I absolutely have. Sometimes the best warm-weather meals are the ones that don’t ask you to sweat for them.
Why Shirazi Salad Works
Shirazi salad is one of those deceptively simple recipes that just works. Crisp cucumber, juicy tomato, finely diced red onion, herbs, lemon, and good seasoning come together into something far more exciting than the ingredient list suggests. Every bite has crunch, freshness, acidity, and just enough bite from the onion to keep things interesting. Nothing is hiding behind a heavy dressing, and nothing needs to. It’s a salad that relies entirely on fresh ingredients doing what they do best, which is why I keep coming back to it.
I make this one regularly because it goes with almost everything. Serve it beside grilled meat, spoon it alongside rice, tuck it into wraps, or add it to a picnic plate with hummus and warm bread. I especially love it with Persian kotlet and saffron rice, where all that cool, lemony freshness cuts through the richness of the meat beautifully. It’ll also happily sit beside kofta, lamb, chicken, or whatever you’ve got cooking. Honestly, I’ve been known to eat a bowl on its own and call it lunch, because sometimes that sharp, juicy combination is exactly what I’m craving.
The key for me, as with so many salads, is seasoning properly and letting the ingredients taste like themselves. I always salt my tomatoes because it brings out their flavour, and I like the onion diced finely enough that it doesn’t hijack every mouthful. That’s really all the fussing required. No mystery ingredients, no complicated dressing, and no unnecessary performance. Just a fresh, budget-friendly salad that earns its place on the table every time. So if you still think salads are something you endure on the side of a proper meal, make this one. I’m fairly confident it’ll change your mind, or at least, you might finally understand why I’m so obsessed.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I need to salt and drain the tomatoes? Tomatoes release a significant amount of liquid once they’re cut and dressed, which will make the salad watery and dilute the dressing within minutes of assembling. Salting them and letting them drain for thirty minutes draws that excess liquid out before it gets into the salad. Don’t skip this step and don’t rush it.
Can I use lemon juice instead of lime? Lime is traditional in Shirazi salad and gives it a brighter, more distinctly Persian character than lemon would. If lime is genuinely unavailable then lemon works as a substitute, but the flavour profile shifts noticeably. Use lime if you can find it.
Does the size of the dice actually matter? Yes. Fine, even dice is what gives Shirazi salad its distinctive look and what makes every forkful perfectly balanced with a bit of everything in it. Chunky, uneven pieces mean you get a mouthful of cucumber here and a mouthful of tomato there rather than everything together. Take your time with the knife work.
Ingredient breakdown
Cherry tomatoes
Diced and salted before anything else happens, which draws out the excess liquid that would otherwise make the salad watery within minutes of dressing. Put them in a sieve, sprinkle with salt, and leave them for a full thirty minutes. Discard whatever drains off. Cherry tomatoes are sweeter and have less water content than larger tomatoes, which makes them a better choice here even after the draining step.
Red onion
Diced finely and added raw, which gives the salad a sharp, slightly pungent bite that cuts through the freshness of the herbs and the acidity of the lime juice. Red onion has a more complex, slightly sweeter flavour than brown onion in its raw state, which suits this salad better. If raw onion is too much for you, soak the diced pieces in cold water for ten minutes before adding them.
Continental cucumber
Deseeded before dicing, which is the other moisture-management step alongside salting the tomatoes. Run a teaspoon down the centre of each halved cucumber to scoop out the seeds before you dice it. Continental cucumber has a thinner skin and fewer seeds than a standard cucumber, which makes it easier to prep and better textured in a finely diced salad like this.
Yellow capsicum
Added for sweetness, crunch, and colour. Yellow capsicum is milder and sweeter than red or green, which suits the delicate balance of this salad. Dice it to roughly the same size as everything else so it integrates properly rather than dominating individual bites.
Flat-leaf parsley
A full bunch, chopped, which makes it a core ingredient rather than a garnish. Flat-leaf parsley has a clean, slightly peppery flavour that runs through the whole salad and is one of the defining characteristics of a proper Shirazi. Use the full amount even if it looks like a lot going in.
Fresh mint
Half a bunch, chopped, which lifts the whole salad and adds a freshness that nothing else in the ingredient list provides. Fresh mint only. Dried mint has a completely different flavour profile and won’t give you the same result in a raw herb salad like this.
Lime juice
The acid component of the dressing and traditional to Shirazi salad specifically. Two limes gives you a generous, bright acidity that suits the fresh herbs and crisp vegetables beautifully. Don’t substitute with lemon if you can avoid it because the flavour is noticeably different and less authentic to the original.
Extra virgin olive oil
The fat component of the dressing, adding richness and helping the lime juice coat every piece of vegetable and herb evenly. Use a good quality extra virgin here because it’s going on raw in a simple salad where every ingredient is doing visible work.
Maldon sea salt flakes
Used at two points: first to draw the moisture out of the tomatoes, and then to season the finished salad to taste after dressing. The tomatoes will already be seasoned from the draining step so taste carefully before adding more at the end.
Serve this with
- Grilled lamb, chicken, or kotlet, where the bright, acidic salad cuts through the richness of the meat beautifully.
- Warm flatbreads and hummus as part of a mezze spread, where it adds freshness and colour alongside the heavier elements.
- Alongside rice dishes or Persian stews as a crisp, vibrant contrast to something warm and substantial.
