Vegetarian

Shirazi Salad (Salad-e Shirazi)

Name: Shirazi Salad (Salad-e Shirazi)
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Persian
Ingredients: 3 Persian cucumbers, finely diced; 3 ripe tomatoes, finely diced, seeds and excess juice removed; 1 small red onion, finely diced; 2 tbsp fresh lime juice; 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil; 1 tsp dried mint, crumbled; salt and black pepper to taste

Finely diced cucumber, tomato, and onion with dried mint and lime -- Persia's everyday salad.

Vegetarian Vegan Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Nut-Free

Bowl of Persian Shirazi salad, finely diced cucumber, tomato, and onion — A small, even dice is part of what makes this salad recognizable.

Prep15 min

Cook--

Total25 min

Servings 4 servings

DifficultyEasy

Cucumber, tomato, and onion cut into a small, uniform dice, dressed simply with lime juice, olive oil, and dried mint -- named for the city of Shiraz, and served at nearly every Persian meal, from weeknight dinners to Nowruz spreads.

Ingredients

3 Persian cucumbers, finely diced
3 ripe tomatoes, finely diced, seeds and excess juice removed
1 small red onion, finely diced
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried mint, crumbled
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Cut the cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion into a small, even dice, about the size of a pea.
Draining excess tomato juice and seeds before dicing keeps the finished salad from turning watery.
Combine the diced vegetables in a bowl.
Add the lime juice, olive oil, dried mint, salt, and pepper, and toss well.
Let the salad sit for 10 minutes so the vegetables release a little liquid and the dressing mellows, then toss again before serving. 10 min
Dried mint, not fresh, is traditional here -- it has a deeper, slightly musty flavor that fresh mint doesn't replicate.

Notes

Shirazi salad is named for the city of Shiraz in southern Iran, and appears alongside nearly every Persian meal, including the Nowruz (Persian New Year) spread.
Persian cucumbers are thin-skinned and nearly seedless -- if using a standard cucumber, peel it and scoop out the seedy core first.
Keep the dice small and even; this isn't a chopped salad in the Western sense, and larger pieces change the texture entirely.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving (3/4 cup) -- estimated, not lab-tested.
Nutrient	Amount
Calories	70 kcal
Total Fat	4 g
Saturated Fat	0.5 g
Carbohydrates	7 g
Fiber	1.5 g
Sugar	4 g
Protein	1 g
Sodium	90 mg
Cholesterol	0 mg
Values are estimates based on standard ingredient data, not laboratory analysis.

Photo: Titanas, CC BY-SA 2.0. Cropped to 3:2 and re-encoded as WebP/JPEG for web delivery.