This refreshing watermelon salad recipe is meant for hot summer days. Made with feta, cucumber, and mint, it's a perfect mix of savory and sweet.
This watermelon salad recipe is everything I want on a summer day. At this time of year, I can’t get enough of salads made with peak-season fruits and veggies. I especially love a good sweet and salty combination. This watermelon salad with feta, cucumber, mint, and a tangy lime dressing is exactly that.
The recipe takes minutes to throw together, and it’s incredibly refreshing. Try it once, and—if you’re anything like me—you’ll have it on repeat for the rest of watermelon season.
Watermelon Salad Recipe Ingredients
If you’ve never tried watermelon in a savory setting, you have to make this recipe ASAP. Juicy and fresh, the melon goes SO well with the other creamy, crisp, tangy, and spicy components in this salad. Here’s what makes it so delicious:
- Red onion, for a sharp, savory bite of flavor
- Cucumber, for a cool, crisp addition
- Feta cheese, for a creamy, tangy element
- Avocado, for extra creaminess. Watermelon + lime + avocado = a match made in heaven.
- Fresh basil and mint, for aromatic, herbal notes (Mint + watermelon is one of my favorite combos too!)
- Serrano pepper, for a little heat. Skip it if you’re sensitive to spice.
- And a bright lime dressing, to tie it all together.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Watermelon Feta Salad Recipe Variations
This watermelon feta salad is a great one to play with. Here are some of my favorite ways to change it up:
- Don’t like spice? Skip the chile. The salad will still be delicious.
- Add a little crunch with a handful of toasted walnuts or cashews.
- Make this salad a full meal by serving it on a bed of arugula with some quinoa mixed in.
- Or change up the fruit and substitute strawberries for the watermelon.
Let me know what variations you try!
What to Serve with Watermelon Salad
I love to make this salad for cookouts. It pairs well with whatever you’re grilling, whether that be portobello mushroom burgers, black bean burgers, veggie burgers, or grilled corn on the cob.
It’s also good with picnic sandwiches like this Caprese sandwich, this chickpea salad sandwich, an egg salad sandwich, or these healthy lunch wraps.
If you have extra watermelon, make watermelon margaritas, watermelon popsicles, or watermelon juice. Enjoy!
More Favorite Summer Salads
If you love this recipe, try one of these summer salads next:
- Strawberry Salad
- Mango Salad
- Cucumber Salad
- Tomato Salad
- Greek Salad
- Or any of these 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Watermelon Salad with Feta & Mint
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ½ garlic clove, minced
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
For the salad
- 5 cups cubed watermelon
- Heaping 1 cup diced English cucumber
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 avocado, cubed
- ⅓ cup torn fresh mint or basil leaves
- ½ jalapeño or serrano pepper, thinly sliced, optional
- Sea salt
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic and salt.
- Arrange the watermelon, cucumber, and red onions on a large plate or platter. Drizzle with half the dressing. Top with the feta, avocado, mint, and serrano pepper, if using, and drizzle with remaining dressing. Season to taste and serve.
This looks really excellent. I have a hard time finding a watermelon that has any flavor. How do you select your watermelon at the market?
Hi Jen, the mini watermelons at Trader Joes are really good right now (pictured), and the watermelon at Whole Foods right now is really flavorful too. Of course, once they’re at the farmers market, that’s always a safe bet.
Thanks! Both of those stores are on my walk home, I’ll have to pick one up!
I want to try it. Looks great. I always follow you. I love you so much. Thanks.
Just made this with some leftover watermelon. I LOVE how convenient your side bar is, just a click and all the watermelon recipes come up. I didn’t have lime so I had to substitute with lemons. Delish! Thanks for all the great recipes!
So glad you liked it! Thanks for the feedback – I’m glad the sidebar is helpful 🙂
I have made this twice in the last two days and I am completely obsessed! Everything goes together so perfectly! I put mine on a bigger bed of mixed greens but otherwise followed exactly and it’s SO good – officially my salad of the summer! Thanks for sharing!
this salad appears to be perfect conceptually… Its beautiful and completely balnced with flavors… Acid + Fat + Spice + Sweet = Delicious… Thank you so much… avocado and watermelon never occurred to me before.. but you set it forth in a recipe where i cannot see a reason why not
This looks delicious. And pretty too!
I love the idea of the watermelon and spiciness — so summery. This is going on the list for sure. Thanks, as always, for the inspiration!
I love that these watermelons have black seeds! Even when I buy organic at my local farm market, I have a hard time finding the black seeds I grew up loving to spit out! In any event, lovely salad! I’m glad you got to enjoy this one, and for probably half the price.
It’s like you always know what’s waiting to be used in my kitchen! Just picked up a watermelon yesterday!
This looks beautiful, and so delicious! I love simple dishes like this one for the summer. I’ve flagged it as a must-try–I just bought a gorgeous little watermelon and this is what I’m going to make with it, thank you for sharing! 🙂
Hi
I love your blogue. So pretty photos… you use love in it.
I love everything…
(and I adore your kitchen too 🙂
Kisses
Cláudia
This looks wonderful! I want to make it this weekend, too 😉
I love the spicy in this!! So my thing and my gosh, this is so pretty. I love it and need to make is this weekend!
Man, there’s nothing more disappointing than a bad restaurant salad. I take that back—I ordered a grilled cheese at a bistro that I really like the other day, hoping to receive a decadent, lightly charred, cheesy affair, and it was a total disappointment. How can they get a grilled cheese wrong, but a curried carrot soup so right?! Doesn’t make sense. Anyway, this salad looks perfect. Glad you got your watermelon fix.
Ha, I feel like more places get grilled cheese wrong than right… although yum, about the curried carrot soup, I could totally go for that right now!
The southeast asian in me loves sweet and spicy – esp. when you throw in some fruit. Thanks for this.
thanks! I just love the balance of sweet & spicy foods 🙂
This seriously looks perfect in every way. I haven’t made a watermelon salad yet this summer – I need to make this before the season is over! Better late than never!
ha, yep that’s what I was thinking… should have thought of this in, say, July, but oh well 🙂
Ugh, I hate that! All that money for a disappointing salad. This salad is so pretty. I would hate to touch it or eat it and destroy how perfect it looks!
oh but it’s so fun to make it pretty and then mess it all up 🙂
argh- i hate when that happens. This salad has all my fav ingredients 🙂
glad I’m not the only one 🙂
I loooove the look of this salad! Can’t wait to try!
thanks Katrina!
Your photos are always so incredible. I’m definitely making this ASAP, before summer is officially over!
thanks! I know, it’s hard to believe summer is almost over (and this is my first watermelon recipe!)
Making it for a our social distance labor day party ..i always try new dishes and have ad this several times now that I have fresh basil and fresh mint I can’t wait to make it ..its an explosion if favors and color!!