The Best Mediterranean Diet Snacks

The best Mediterranean diet snacks are the easiest Mediterranean diet snacks.

I don’t know about you, but to me, simply eating fruit as a snack was not an option (or a very sad option) for many years.

When I buy an apple, I have to turn it into a muffin or a smoothie. If I get almonds, I need to grind them into flour, so I can make cookies with them.

It’s called instincts.

What do you mean, have an orange and a handful of almonds during the afternoon slump?

Do you want me to peel that orange and get my hands all sticky? What am I, a cat?

No. I need coffee and a cake.

Snacks need to be packaged neatly either in a plastic wrap by someone else or a container by me. They cannot be wrapped in a peel. We’re not animals.

But I guess we still are. No matter how much our environment seems to be changing, we’re still at our core from nature. That is why the more we go away from it, the sicker we become.

And the reason the Mediterranean diet is probably the healthiest diet in the world is that it is all about living with what nature has to offer. It is actually super simple, accessible, and honestly – quite cheap.

It is all about enjoying minimally processed, seasonally available foods that basically come from the Earth or the sea. They might not be neatly packaged. They may be a bit messy, but those are the foods we can digest and absorb nutrients from. The nutrients we need to live.

So, I have prepared a list of snacks that you can either grow in your garden or buy at the store and enjoy. Or if you like to overcomplicate things like I do sometimes, I’ve got some sweet and savory snack recipes below.

No-Prep Mediterranean Snacks You Can Buy Or Grow

• Raw seasonal fruit. Think watermelon, melon, peaches, cherries and berries in summer; figs, apples, pears during fall; strawberries in spring and citrus fruits during winter. Most of these just need to be washed or peeled. They will satisfy your sweet tooth and provide fiber as well as vitamin C – an antioxidant that many of us don’t seem to get enough of. Specifically, many people who are overweight are also vitamin C-deficient.
• Raw or Roasted Nuts & Seeds. Walnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and hazelnuts are all perfectly healthy and a big part of the Mediterranean diet.
• Olives. Green olives and Kalamata olives are my favorites, especially when I want something salty.

Something I love to make and something you want to share with others is a snack plate. Include olives, a dip you like – like hummus or tzatziki, cut up carrots, peppers, cucumbers or even radishes. It’s so simple, but it tastes amazing!

Sweet Mediterranean Diet Snack Recipes

Now, if you want to overcomplicate things a bit, here are some recipes to do that. They’re still easy to make, but you need to make them – not as easy as grabbing an apple and biting into it.

• Yogurt with fruit and nuts
• Sauteed Apples With Nuts
• Apple Oatmeal Cake
• Easy Oatmeal Fig Bars
• Flourless Nut, Fruit and Honey Cake
• Flourless Almond Cookies
• Dried dates filled with tahini. This is not really a recipe, but it’s something I have made in the past and liked. You basically take a pitted date, cut it in half length-wise and add tahini or nut butter in the middle. Or even a chopped nuts like walnuts, almonds or peanuts. It’s sweet and quick!

• Toast with fresh tomato sauce. For this, you just grab one or two ripe tomatoes and blend with a little bit of olive oil, a handful of basil leaves, and 1-2 cloves of garlic. Add some salt and spread on top of a toast. It’s actually similar to the Spanish pan con tomate breakfast.
• Hummus with carrots or peppers. I usually make the hummus on my own, but if you have a favorite store-bought brand – it’s even easier!
• Tzatziki and Vegetables. Another one that you can whip up in minutes or buy at the store. Chop some vegetables and dip!
• Olive tapenade with crackers or toast. Another thing you might like is olive paste or olive tapenade with crackers or toasted bread. For a lower-carb version have it with some peppers or carrots.
• Artichoke paste with toast or crackers. I discovered this a few years ago at the store and basically, it’s blended artichokes in olive oil with some spices. I love it with toasted bread. Sometimes I even add garlic to it.

Savory Vegetable Spreads And Dips

In case you want to actually prepare savory snacks, here are some great, easy recipes. You can have them as a snack with crackers or cut up vegetables – I usually use them as a spread on bread. You can also serve these as appetizers or have them in bowls.

• Roasted Vegetable Spread – roasted eggplant, peppers and carrots are the main ingredients for this one.
• Feta Zucchini Dip – The concept is: roast, saute or grill zucchini, add feta and garlic and mash. Easy and delicious.
• Zucchini Parmesan Spread. I love this when zucchini is in season, because I can use up a lot of it! And it’s delicious.
• Roasted Pepper Feta Dip – basically mix roasted peppers with garlic and feta cheese. What can go wrong? NOTHING.
• Mashed Chickpea Bruschetta – I like to make a batch of the “mashed” chickpeas for whenever I need something quick. Be it for breakfast, lunch or snacks.

So these were my favorite snacks, what are your favorite snacks? Do you go for simple things like fruit or nuts or do you also want to overcomplicate things?

In any case, I hope you got some snack inspiration for the Mediterranean diet and if you’re looking for more Mediterranean diet recipes check out these as well as my beginner-friendly One-Week Mediterranean Meal Plan.