This refreshing Georgian salad is served over creamy walnut dressing and is full of nutritious, crunchy vegetables and aromatic herbs. It’s Whole30, paleo, low-carb and vegan-friendly.
After my visit to Ukraine, I have become fascinated with Georgian cuisine. Wait, what? That’s right. Although I love Ukrainian food (try my root vegetable salad called vinegret or my borscht recipe), it was Georgian food that grabbed my attention on this trip.
I have already paleo-adapted the famous Georgian garlic chicken here and I really wanted to make my own version of the Georgian salad with walnut dressing.
Every restaurant serves this salad, which is quite similar to a Greek salad but instead of feta, oregano and olive oil dressing, it’s dressed with a garlicky, walnut dressing and topped with a generous amount of fresh herbs like coriander and parsley. It’s super simple to make (although I put a little extra effort into the dressing) and is really fresh and tasty. I hope it becomes a favourite of yours.
Georgian Salad Recipe Tips
In a traditional Georgian recipe, the dressing isn’t usually blended into a creamy sauce but I wanted to add my own twist and this velvety dressing works really well.
If you don’t have a blender or a food processor, feel free to chop the walnuts and garlic finely and mix in with the rest of the dressing ingredients.
If you don’t eat walnuts, feel free to use almonds, hazelnuts or a mix of nuts. Seeds could be used for those avoiding nuts.
I used crunchy cucumbers and tomatoes with a lot of fresh herbs but you can easily bulk it up with salad leaves and add things like radishes, red peppers and carrots. Feel free to add some grilled chicken or salmon for extra protein and make it into a complete meal.
You might also like my Tomato Ricotta Salad with Parsley Lemon Gremolata
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Ingredients
- Punnet of cherry tomatoes halved (as many as you want, really)
- 2-3 small cucumbers sliced
- 1 spring onion white and green parts sliced or chopped
- 6-8 walnuts chopped
- Handful of fresh parsley and coriander/cilantro chopped
For the walnut sauce/dressing
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar can also be used
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon coriander seed powder
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- Generous pinch of salt
- Extras to serve: olive oil and lemon juice
Instructions
- Prepare the salad ingredients and set aside.
- Add the walnut dressing ingredients to a blender or a food processor. Purée and process unto a smooth and thick sauce (it should turn a lovely light brown/beige colour like a hot chocolate drink).
- Now, there are two ways to serve the salad. You can layer and spread the sauce on the bottom of the bowl, which is what I did. Mix the salad ingredients and add over the sauce. This way, when you scoop the salad to serve, you will mix it with the dressing right at the table. Alternatively, mix the salad and serve the dressing on the side or/and drizzle some over the top.
- Finally, drizzle everything with a little olive oil and lemon juice, and sprinkle with a little sea salt and pepper.
I tried this recently, have absolutely love it! I add fresh coriander instead of coriander seeds
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed, it’s a little hidden gem, this one.
You left out the most important ingredient imho: basil.
I also add pomegranate.
I’ve had it with lots of different herbs so I think it’s about whatever you have on hand at the time. I reckon basil would be wonderful!!! And pomegranate, yum 🙂
Looking forward to this tasty and delicious recipe – yum!!! Thanks for sharing your travel inspirational recipes.
Beautiful salad and I’m especially intrigued about the walnut dressing. I always appreciate healthy salad recipes. They are so healthy and friendly year-round !
I haven’t had a Georgian salad or dressing before. It looks so good and I love the ingredients in that dressing!
This looks amazing! The walnuts must b so tasty in this dressing!
Walnuts, garlic and coriander blended together sounds SO good; they’re my favorite nut. LOVELY!
That walnut dressing looks insanely delicious! Definitely going to try this out on the weekend – perfect for dining al fresco!
This looks so unique…and the contrast of textures and flavors…swoon! Tomatoes are just starting to fruit, can;t wait to harvest and make this!
I love the combination of fresh produce and creamy dressing- I’m sure it’s so delicious!
This salad is so pretty and vibrant! I love those little cucumbers, I’ve never seen any like that – I’ll have to look for some this summer.
I’ve never had Georgian food before but sounds amazing! I love everything about that dressing.
It is salad season, There is a heat wave right now where I live, and the house has no AC! I am super excited to try this bad boy.
I hear ya about the heatwave. It seems all I can stomach at the moment is salads and smoothies.
The PERFECT summer salad. So fresh!! YUM!!