Shopska Salad

Bulgaria's take on the classic Greek salad

Print Recipe

Prep Time 45

Course Salad

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 8 servings

Equipment

1 cutting board
1 chef's knife
1 large bowl with sealing lid
1 small bowl for mashing cheese
1 strong fork for mashing cheese
1 salad tongs

Ingredients

Preferred

1 medium onion Vidalia preferred, else sweet, yellow, or white.
2 medium cucumbers
1 medium green pepper
1 bunch green onion
2-3 lbs tomatoes Roma, "on the vine", or heirloom preferred
16 oz Sirene cheese aka "Bulgarian white cheese". Similar to feta, and can be substituted with feta. But get Sirene, it's just so much better.

Optional

dried or fresh dill
8 oz pitted olives
4 oz pepperocini or banana peppers
mint
parsley
other fresh herbs

Topping to serve

salt
lemon juice

Instructions

Prep the vegetables

Slice the onion in half, then slice each side. Cut each side into thirds. Place in bowl.
Add dill, olives, herbs, pepperocini and/or banana peppers, if using them.
Close the lid and shake the bowl to break up the onion and mix it with the dill, herbs, and pickled veggies.
Split & slice cucumbers into half-moon pieces. Don't sliver them, use pieces thick enough to stab with a fork.
Core green pepper, cut into quarters or eights. Cut into thin slices, but not slivers.
Sliver green onions.
Add all veggies EXCEPT tomatoes, close the lid, and shake to mix.
Quarter the tomatoes, then slice each quarter into 7-10 slices.
Add tomatoes to veggie mix, close lid, and shake again to mix.

Mash the cheese & place it on top

Place a section of Sirene in a separate bowl.
Use a strong fork to mash the Sirene into crumbles.
Spread the crumbles over the salad mix.
Repeat until all Sirene is mashed & placed over the veggies.

Use Salad Tongs to serve

Using tongs, place a serving in a separate bowl.
Sprinkle salt over the serving.
Sprinkle lemon juice over the serving.

Notes

Shopska was invented as the Bulgarian "national salad", as an answer to Greek salad, which is very similar, except Greek salad usually has lettuce, and uses feta instead of Sirene.

Sirene is probably the best cheese on the planet. It's like feta, but softer and creamier. I get it at a local mediterranean store. You can buy it online, but if you live in a bigger city, just visit a mediterranean store and if they don't already stock it, just ask them to. My local mediterranean store started stocking it at my request, and they now carry 3-4 varieties because of how much demand there is. It frequently sells out. They didn't even know it existed until I asked, and now it's a top seller. Probably because it's an incredibly good cheese!

I never liked salad much, but Shopska showed me that I like salad, I just don't really like lettuce. Shopska is a great salad without any lettuce, but still an actual vegetable-based salad (unlike, for example, pasta salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, etc.).

I fell in love with Shopska when I visited Bulgaria, and have eaten Shopska for lunch practically every day since about 2020. It's great because it's tasty, pretty healthy, and easy to meal-prep. Just make a big bowl of it on Saturday or Sunday, and spoon out a serving all week long.

Don't add lettuce to this! I mean, you can if you want, but it's best without lettuce.

You can add other ingredients like celery or carrots if you want, but that moves you away from Shopska and into something else.

I toss the salad a few times before adding the tomatoes, because when you toss it with the tomatoes, they release a lot of water. So tossing it without the tomatoes, then adding them, then re-tossing it with the tomatoes, minimizes how much water the tomatoes release.

Don't toss the salad after adding the Sirene! Leave the Sirene spread evenly over the top of the salad.

Traditionally Shopska is served with only Sirene cheese topping, or with salt and lemon juice. You can use salad dressing, if you prefer, but that's not how Shopska is served in Bulgaria.

I have a great Balsamic Vinagrette recipe if you want to use that instead of salt & lemon juice.