Cucumber, Tomato and Onion Salad

This low carb cucumber, tomato and onion salad is my version of shopska salad that I had on vacation recently. It’s a chopped vegetable salad with a light dressing and topped with a creamy soft cheese. The combination of fresh flavors make this a delicious summer salad you crave on hot days. Each serving has just 5.2g carbs and 8.6g protein!

You might also like this low carb chopped garden salad recipe.

I’ve been talking a lot about my recent vacation where we went to Italy to the birth place of my husband and his sister’s family and Slovenia for my brother in law’s family. We had such a wonderful time and seriously great food. Case in point was this simple but delicious low carb cucumber, tomato and onion salad which is my version of shopska salad that we had in Slovenia.

I’ve made it several times since we came back because it’s so simple but really tasty. What I really can’t wait for is to make it with juicy tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers from the garden which we should be getting any day now.

What is shopska salad?

Shopska salad is a simple salad with southeastern Europe roots. There are many variations of this dish but it’s usually a combination of ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, roasted peppers and sirene which is a salty brined cheese. (Learn more.)

The shopska salad I had was from a restaurant right around the corner from our apartment and it was so good we ate there a few times. It didn’t seem to have the roasted peppers so I kept that out.

Also I have yet to find sirene cheese where I live but I have not given up. Some people make it with feta cheese. I tried it but I found it wasn’t creamy enough so I substituted something else. One to our ingredients!

Recipe ingredients I used and substitutions.

The basic ingredients I used for this tasty dish was fresh tomatoes, crispy cucumbers, onions, mozzarella cheese, vinegar, olive oil, salt and black pepper.

Mozzarella Cheese
I think this is one of the most important ingredient in the dish. I used fresh mozzarella cheese and add a bit of salt to give it that brined taste. The other important note is that I shredded it with a coarse grater to get it to look and taste like the salad I had on vacation.

Do not use regular shredded mozzarella in a bag. It’s not the same thing. You could substitute feta cheese or some other soft, salty cheese as a substitute.

Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Onions
I prefer roma tomatoes for this recipe because they are not as water or have a lot of seeds like regular tomatoes. The fresher and riper the better. You could substitute with ripe cherry tomatoes or even grape tomatoes but I would slice them in halves or quarters.

I used small Persian cucumbers because they seem more crunchier to me than regular cucumbers and they don’t have many seeds really. You could also use seedless cucumber like an English cucumber. 

And lastly I used red onions because I like them but Vidalia sweet onions or green onions would work well too or even the standard white onion if you want.

For the simple dressing it’s just red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, salt and black pepper. I think you will want to use a vinegar with a mild flavor like apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar if you don’t have red wine vinegar. Balsamic vinegar may be a bit too much. I used extra virgin olive oil but you can use any kind of olive oil you want.

How to make this low carb cucumber, tomato and onion salad.

Step 1: First coarsely grate the fresh mozzarella cheese. You want to create bigger pieces of cheese and not use finely shredded cheese for this. It’s a bit tricky to grate fresh mozzarella as it’s so soft. In a pinch you could finely dice it too. Place the cheese in a bowl and mix it with ¼ teaspoon salt and set aside.

Do not use regular shredded mozzarella, it won’t taste the same.

Step 2: Chop the tomatoes and cucumbers (keep skin on) into bite size pieces. When you chop the tomatoes add to a big mixing bowl but try to drain any excess juice or seeds that appear when you chop them. Slice the raw onions into thin slices and add to the bowl as well.

Step 3: In a small bowl whisk together the salt, black pepper, vinegar and olive oil. Pour over top the vegetables and mix to combine.

Step 4: Top the cucumber tomato salad with the shredded and salted cheese and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container or cover with plastic wrap. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

While I often recommend fresh herbs for salads, this one really doesn’t need any. However if you want to add some herbs I would suggest parsley, mint, cilantro or fresh basil leaves.

This is the perfect salad for a summer lunch especially if you are using fresh garden tomatoes and cucumbers. It’s cool and crunchy and surprisingly filling. I also love that it’s low carb! But if you don’t care about carbs you can eat it with some crusty bread.

This colorful tomato cucumber salad would also be a good dish to serve with any meaty main dish that you cook on the grill like this marinated flank steak, chicken breast or these turkey burgers.

More low carb salad recipes you might like.

Salads are my thing and ate at least 1 a day and always order them at restaurants. I have over 80 delicious salad recipes and here are 25 keto large salad recipes and 18 keto salad dressing recipes you might like. But here are a couple of my favorite healthy recipes for summer.

• keto creamy broccoli cauliflower bacon salad
• keto Big Mac or taco Cobb
• low carb zucchini linguine salad
• keto Asian slaw, southwestern coleslaw or avocado lime slaw
• low carb grilled romaine wedge or tuna spring roll salad

Well I hope you enjoy this low carb cucumber, tomato and onion salad which is my version shopska salad. I’m still on the hunt for that sirene cheese but I’m really pleased with my substitute. I hope you enjoy this refreshing side dish as much as we did. 

The nutritional information for 1 serving of this recipe is 195 calories / 14.3g fat / 6.8g carbs / 1.6g fiber / 8.6g protein = 5.2g net carbs