Hello spring! As we enter this new season, I have so many new and exciting recipes to share! One of my favorite recipes being my Mediterranean salad skewers. These salad skewers are a perfect addition to your Easter brunch, Passover seder, a picnic, or even the kids lunch. They are easy to make, virtually mess-free, and they look so cute on the table!

How To: Preparing the Mediterranean Salad Skewers

To make these salad skewers, first prepare all the salad ingredients; Cut the cucumbers into half-inch rounds, cut the feta into bite-sized pieces, and cut the tomatoes and olives in half. From there, place the cucumbers on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Then, take a skewer or toothpick and place it into the center of the cucumber. Add the feta, olives and tomatoes to the skewer, on top of the cucumber. Finally, take high-quality extra-virgin olive oil and drizzle it over the salad skewers for the finishing touch!

Salad Skewer Variations

Although I made a Mediterranean salad skewer, you can also take this idea and use it to create other salads. Some salad skewer ideas I would recommend are:

• Israeli Salad Skewers:
  • Layer cucumbers, tomato, and red onion on a skewer
  • Season with salt and pepper
  • Drizzle with high-quality extra-virgin olive oil.
• Caesar Salad Skewers:
  • Layer romaine, parmesan cheese shards (or my cheese crisps), and croutons on a skewer
  • Dip into or drizzle on caesar dressing
• Wedge Salad Skewers:
  • Layer iceberg lettuce, bacon, tomato and blue cheese on a skewer
  • Dip into or drizzle ranch dressing
• Nicoise Salad Skewers:
  • Layer potatoes, bibb/boston lettuce, egg, radish, tomato, green bean, nicoise olive and tuna onto a skewer
  • Dip into or drizzle dressing
• Cobb Salad Skewers:
  • Layer greens, chicken, cucumber, egg, tomato, bacon, onion and avocado onto a skewer
  • Drizzle with a red wine vinaigrette 

These are just a few more ideas, in addition to my Mediterranean salad skewers, but feel free to make it your own with leftover fruits and veggies you have at home!

Health Benefits

These Mediterranean salad skewers are a great way to get your veggies in. Between the cucumber, tomato and olives, some star nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin K, monounsaturated fat, vitamin E and lycopene.1,2,3 Vitamin C is known to help with your skin health. Specifically, it acts as an antioxidant, and helps to promote the formation of collagen.4 The vitamin K plays a role in blood clotting and possibly bone health.5 

Monounsaturated fat is needed to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins, those being the vitamin E and K in this recipe (the other two fat-soluble vitamins are vitamin A and vitamin D). Additionally, monounsaturated fat has protective benefits when it comes to heart health by lowering levels of LDL cholesterol.6 Vitamin E plays a role as an antioxidant, protect the cells from oxidative stress.6 Lastly lycopene, similar to vitamin E, is an antioxidant, as well.7

The veggies aren’t the only foods in this dish offering nutrients, so are the dairy and oil! Feta cheese provides a good source of calcium, which helps to build and maintain bone.8 Extra-virgin olive oil, like the olives, also contain monounsaturated fat. One research study shows that extra-virgin olive oil has both anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.9

Each of these foods have more to offer than just being delicious!

Similar Pages

For more recipes like my mediterranean salad skewers, check out my Spinach Berry Salad, my Plum Fruit Avocado Salad, and my Snap Pea Salad!

Resources

1. Link R. 7 Health Benefits of Eating Cucumber. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-of-cucumber#section1. Published May 19, 2017. Accessed March 28, 2020.
2. Bjarnadottir A. Tomatoes 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/tomatoes#benefits. Published March 25, 2019. Accessed March 28, 2020.
3. Bjarnadottir A. Olives 101: Nutrition Facts and Health Benefits. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/olives. Published May 21, 2019. Accessed March 28, 2020.
4. Pullar JM, Carr AC, Vissers MCM. The Roles of Vitamin C in Skin Health. Nutrients. 2017;9(8):866. doi:10.3390/nu9080866.
5. Megan Ware RDN. Vitamin K: Health benefits, daily intake, and sources. Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219867#sources. Published January 22, 2018. Accessed March 28, 2020.
6. Monounsaturated Fat. www.heart.org. https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/fats/monounsaturated-fats. Accessed March 28, 2020.
7. Petre A. Lycopene: Health Benefits and Top Food Sources. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/lycopene#cancer. Published October 3, 2018. Accessed March 28, 2020.
8. Semeco A. Feta Cheese: Good or Bad? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/feta-cheese-good-or-bad#section6. Published January 4, 2017. Accessed March 28, 2020.
9. Nocella C, Cammisotto V, Fianchini L, et al. Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Cardiovascular Diseases: Benefits for Human Health. Endocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets. 2018;18(1):4-13. doi: 10.2174/1871530317666171114121533.

Mediterranean Salad Skewers

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Keyword: appetizers, bite size, skewers, vegetarian

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 hothouse cucumber
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¼ pound feta cheese cut into bite-sized cubes
• 8 pitted olives halved
• 8 grape or cherry tomatoes halved
• 1 tablespoon high quality recommended extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

• Cut cucumber into ½-inch thick slices. Place slices on a plate and season with salt and pepper.
• Top each piece with feta. Place one olive half and one tomato half on a toothpick then thread remaining toothpick through the feta and cucumber slice. Continue with all cucumber, feta, olives, and tomatoes.
• Drizzle with oil.

Video