🥗 STARTER
Shopska Salata
Diced tomato, cucumber, and pepper under a snowy blanket of grated white cheese, Bulgaria's national salad.
Bulgarian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~254 cal · 9g protein · 12g carbs · 20g fat · 3g fiber · 6g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Shopska salata is the national salad of Bulgaria and a source of real pride, its colours, red, white, and green, said to echo the Bulgarian flag. It is the essential opener to a meal, especially in summer and alongside a glass of rakia.
Fresh diced tomato, cucumber, and roasted or raw pepper are dressed simply with oil and vinegar, then finished with a thick, snowy layer of grated sirene, the tangy Bulgarian brined white cheese. Cool, crisp, and sharp, it is a study in how a few perfect ingredients need very little to shine.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 4 ripe tomatoes, diced
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 roasted red pepper, diced
- 1/2 red onion, finely chopped
- 1 cup sirene (Bulgarian white cheese), gratedHard to find? feta - sirene is brined white cheese in the same family; feta is usually a little firmer and saltier, so taste before you add salt elsewhere
- 3 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
- 1Toss the tomato, cucumber, pepper, and onion together in a bowl.
- 2Dress lightly with the oil, vinegar, and a little salt.
- 3Pile onto a plate and cover the top completely with a thick layer of grated cheese.✎ Chef’s noteGrate the cheese in a generous, even blanket over the top rather than mixing it through. The snowy cap is the signature of a shopska.
- 4Scatter with parsley and serve cold.
Bulgarian national salad.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sofia. The charms baked into the New Year banitsa are kusmeti, and the oldest form is not a coin but a cornel twig, its buds counted to say what kind of luck the year will bring. The pastry is coiled rather than stacked flat, so every slice cuts across the spiral.
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Bulgaria. Bulgarian cooking is famous for yogurt and white brine cheese, from the cold soup tarator to banitsa pastry and shopska salad. Yogurt itself is far older than Bulgaria, probably Neolithic and from Mesopotamia or Central Asia, but the bacterium that makes it, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, was isolated from Bulgarian yogurt by Stamen Grigorov in 1905 and carries the country's name. Garden vegetables, grilled meats, and a Balkan-Ottoman heritage define the table.
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Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bulgaria
Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup)A chilled Bulgarian summer soup of thinned yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts, finished with a drizzle of oil.
BanitsaCoiled phyllo layered with tangy white cheese and egg, baked into a golden spiral, Bulgaria’s breakfast and New Year charm.
KavarmaA slow-cooked Bulgarian clay-pot stew of meat, peppers, onions, and mushrooms in a savory sauce.
Browse all Bulgaria recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Bulgaria meal
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Shopska Salata?
Diced tomato, cucumber, and pepper under a snowy blanket of grated white cheese, Bulgaria's national salad.
Where does Shopska Salata come from?
Shopska Salata is a Bulgarian dish from Sofia, Bulgaria.
Can Shopska Salata be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Shopska Salata recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Shopska Salata safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Shopska Salata take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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