🥔 SIDE
Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad)
Diced ripe tomatoes, cucumber and onion with a little hot pepper, dressed simply with sunflower oil, vinegar and salt, the summer salad set beside every plate of Serbian grilled meat.
Serbian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 0 min
~164 cal · 4g protein · 17g carbs · 10g fat · 4g fiber · 9g sugars · 1g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Srpska salata, Serbian salad, is the plainest and most constant dish on the Serbian summer table. It is simply fresh tomatoes, cucumber and onion, cut into small pieces, with a little hot pepper, the feferon or a similar chilli, and dressed with sunflower oil or olive oil, a splash of vinegar and salt. Nothing else is needed when the tomatoes are ripe.
It is served in summer with roast and grilled meat, ćevapi and pljeskavica, as a side dish or on the table from the start of the meal as a salad to pick at. Unlike its neighbour, the šopska salad, it has no grated cheese on top, although some cooks add a little.
The rule is to dress it just before serving, so the vegetables stay crisp, and to have bread at hand for the juices left in the bowl.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 (about 600 g) ripe tomatoes, cut into small chunks
- 2 cucumbers, peeled or striped and diced
- 1 onion, white or red, finely chopped
- 1 hot green pepper (feferon), finely sliced, or to taste
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- 1Cut the tomatoes into bite-sized chunks, cutting out the hard core, and put them in a serving bowl.
- 2Peel the cucumbers, or peel them in stripes, halve them lengthways if they are thick and dice or slice them into half moons. Add to the bowl with the chopped onion.
- 3Slice the hot pepper into thin rings, removing the seeds if you want it milder, and scatter it over the vegetables.
- 4Just before serving, sprinkle with salt, pour over the oil and vinegar and toss gently.✎ Chef’s noteSalt draws water out of the tomatoes and cucumber, so dress the salad at the last minute to keep it crisp.
- 5Serve at once beside ćevapi, pljeskavica or other meat, with bread for the juices.
Serbian summer table.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Šumadija (Belgrade). Autumn is when the year's condiments are made. Roasted red peppers are peeled and cooked down into ajvar in quantities meant to last until spring, plums go into rakija, and the pig is killed later in the season. The grill and the table follow that rhythm for the rest of the year.
🗺️
Serbia. Serbian cooking is generous and grill-loving, ćevapi, stuffed cabbage (sarma), grilled meats, and rich ajvar pepper relish. Balkan, Ottoman, and Central European roots meet over bread, cheese, and rakija.
🌍
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 Serbia
Pasulj (Serbian Bean Stew)Slow-cooked white beans with smoked pork, onion and paprika, finished with a fried-onion and paprika roux (zaprska) that gives the stew its deep colour and flavour.
Sarma (Sour Cabbage Rolls)Sour-cabbage leaves rolled around spiced meat and rice, braised low over smoked ribs, the dish that anchors every Serbian slava.
ProjaA crumbly Serbian cornbread studded with white cheese, baked until golden and eaten with kajmak.
Browse all Serbia 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 Serbia meal
Šumadijski Čaj (Serbian Hot Rakija)Drink
VaniliceDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad)?
Diced ripe tomatoes, cucumber and onion with a little hot pepper, dressed simply with sunflower oil, vinegar and salt, the summer salad set beside every plate of Serbian grilled meat.
Where does Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) come from?
Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) is a Serbian dish from Šumadija (Belgrade), Serbia.
Can Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) 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 Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) 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 Srpska Salata (Serbian Salad) take to make?
About 15 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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