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    Home » Recipes » Sides

    Czech Shopska Salad – Šopský salát

    Published: Jul 18, 2021 · Modified: Jan 2, 2022 by Petra Kupská

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    Summer days make it tempting to have a light salad of fresh vegetables. Today, I have a classic recipe for the famous Shopska salad for you, which is also very popular in the Czech Republic.

    shopska salad served in a bowl
    Table of Contents hide
    What Is Shopska Salad?
    Origin
    Ingredients
    Instructions
    Serving
    Cooking Tips
    Czech Shopska Salad

    What Is Shopska Salad?

    Shopska salad is a vegetable salad made from fresh tomatoes, yellow banana peppers, onion, and cucumbers. It is seasoned with quality oil and drizzled with vinegar. Feta-style cheese shines as an essential component.

    Enjoy the salad as a side dish to a main meal or as a light meal on its own.

    In the Czech Republic, we call this type of salad "šopský salát ".

    Origin

    Shopska salad clearly comes from the Balkan peninsula, the location of former Yugoslavia. This federation gradually broke up into separate states in the last decade of the 20th century, dissolving completely in 2008.

    It is not entirely easy to determine the origin of shopska salad, as each of the successor states appropriates it as a national culinary treasure.

    The salad can be found everywhere in the modern Balkan countries such as Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia on a local restaurant menu.

    However, the origin of the shopska salad is generally attributed to the Bulgarians. Czechs soon imported this dish to the Czech Republic because Bulgaria has always been a popular holiday destination for them, and the salad tastes simply delicious.

    Enough chatter, and let's check out the recipe!

    Ingredients

    shopska salad ingredients
    • English cucumber; also known as European cucumber. It has a long, slender shape, does not contain seeds, and has a slightly sweet taste.
    • Tomatoes; ripe, mid-sided
    • Yellow banana pepper; with a mild, sweet taste
    • Yellow onion
    • Sunflower oil; or another good quality, rather neutral-tasting cooking oil, such as canola
    • White wine vinegar; or classic vinegar, pay attention to the dosage because each type of vinegar has a different distinct taste
    • Feta style cheese; the authentic recipe calls for the so-called Sirene cheese, a white brined cheese with a crumbly texture, sold in blocks. Feta cheese, however, serves just as well.

    ✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

    Instructions

    STEP 1: Peel the onion, clean the vegetables, you can also peel the cucumber.

    STEP 2: Finely chop the onion. Cut the cucumber, tomatoes, and banana pepper into small cubes about ¼ inch in size.

    chopped vegetables

    STEP 3: Mix briefly and arrange in a salad bowl.

    STEP 4: Drizzle with good quality oil and vinegar.

    making shopska salad.

    SEP 5: Top with crumbled Feta-style cheese.

    Serving

    Serve the shopska salad as a side dish to a main meal or as a light meal on its own.

    If you like, chill it in the fridge. However, take it out of the cooler and leave it on the kitchen counter for a while before serving.

    czech shopska salad šopský salát recipe

    Tip for serving: Add vinegar and oil to the salad so that everyone can season it to their taste.

    Cooking Tips

    • If there is any salad left over, store it covered in the fridge. I recommend eating it within two days; otherwise, the vegetables will soften and not be as fresh and crunchy.
    • If you wonder what cheese to use shopska salad, I recommend the Feta cheese, a safe bet. The cheese is quite salty, so you don't need to add more salt to the salad.

    More salad recipes

    • Tomato salad – Czech "rajčatový salát"
    • Lettuce salad with buttermilk dressing
    • Cucumber salad – Czech "rajčatový salát"

    Recipe card

    czech shopska salad šopský salát recipe

    Czech Shopska Salad

    A refreshing summer salad of tomatoes, banana peppers, cucumbers and onions. Seasoned with vinegar, oil, topped with feta-style cheese. Known in the Czech Republic as Šopský salát.
    4 from 2 votes
    Print Pin
    Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Total Time: 15 minutes minutes
    Servings: 1
    Author: Petra Kupská
    Prevent your screen from going dark
    Course: Salad
    Cuisine: Czech
    Keyword: Czech Salads, Vegetable Recipes

    Ingredients

    • ½ English cucumber or any seedless fresh cucumber
    • 3 Tomatoes ripe, mid-sized
    • ½ Yellow banana pepper or any sweet yellow/white/green pepper
    • ½ Yellow onion mid-sized
    • 1 Tbsp White wine vinegar or any common vinegar - add in small doses and check the taste
    • 1 Tbsp Sunflower oil or any quality vegetable oil such as canola
    • 2 oz (55 g) Feta-style cheese Feta, Sirene

    Instructions

    • Peel the onion, clean the vegetables, you can also peel the cucumber.
    • Finely chop the onion. Cut the cucumber, tomatoes, and banana pepper into small cubes about ¼ inch in size.
    • Mix briefly and arrange in a salad bowl.
    • Drizzle with good quality oil and vinegar.
    • Top with crumbled Feta-style cheese.

    Notes

    1. Makes 1 portion. If you want more yields, simply multiply the amount in the recipe by the number of portions.
    2. SERVING: Serve the shopska salad as a side dish to a main meal or as a light meal on its own. If you like, chill it in the fridge. However, take it out of the cooler and leave it on the kitchen counter for a while before serving.
    3. Tip for serving: Add vinegar and oil to the salad so that everyone can season it to their taste.
    4. If there is any salad leftover, store it covered in the fridge. I recommend eating it within two days; otherwise, the vegetables will soften and not be fresh and crunchy.
    5. If you wonder what cheese to use shopska salad, I recommend Feta cheese, a safe bet. The cheese is quite salty, so salt is not added to the salad separately.

    DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:

    Conversion chart
    Do you like the recipe?I would be happy for your feedback! Please, rate the recipe and share your opinion or questions in comments bellow. Thank you very much.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Viktor

      August 10, 2021 at 3:40 pm

      4 stars
      Original, Balkan style Shopska salat is without vinegar.

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        August 10, 2021 at 5:08 pm

        Ahoj Viktor, thank you for your comment. We do use vinegar in the Czech version of the Shopska salad. But for sure, that doesn't mean that the original recipe doesn't contain it. Either way, the salad tastes great!

        Reply
    2. Frančeska

      September 01, 2021 at 8:16 pm

      4 stars
      Ahoj Petra! I stumbled across your website yesterday when I typed "šopsky Salat" into Google-- we are going through a hot spell in the San Francisco Bay Area and I was craving this delicious salad and the chance to use my home grown cucumbers. I am making it for dinner tonight with a California twist: due to the pandemic, I am not able to get Balkan cheese, so I'm substituting goat cheese because I feel it has the necessary tang.
      I was really excited when I saw your website and recipes-- the "Cook Like Czechs" name is great. I had the opportunity to study architecture for a summer at čVUT in Prague in 1993... I fell in love with the city, the country and the Czech people, so much so that I went back for three weeks the following summer with my mom. Seeing all of your food photos made me smile. I remember eating SO MANY of those things! I too have two teenage boys age 14 and 11 and I agree, school and work from home for the past 18 months during Covid has been a challenge. My creative outlet is growing my own vegetables and cooking delicious things! I'm really excited to try some of your other recipes 🙂

      Reply
      • Petra Kupská

        September 09, 2021 at 9:11 am

        Hi Frančeska, thank you for such a beautiful message and memories of the Czech Republic in the early nineties! At that time, we were shortly after the coup; after 40 years, the communist regime disappeared, and we entered a new era of democracy 🙂 I remember that time, and I have to smile. Life was different back then; people were full of vigor and enthusiasm. I believe you enjoyed your time studying in Prague! (apropos, the classic Czech recipes have not changed, the dishes remain the same 🙂
        Thank you also for the comment about the Šopský salad. Goat cheese is an interesting idea; I mostly use it to garnish beetroot and walnut spread.
        Many greetings to you, your family, and the two little boys you have 🙂 Petra

        Reply

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    Hi there, I’m Petra, a self-taught home cook and a Czech mom of two teen boys with more than 20 years of cooking experience. I am here to share traditional recipes from the Czech Republic, a small country in the very heart of Europe.

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