Grilled Chicken Greek Salad

This Grilled Chicken Greek Salad is light, fresh and perfect for a warm weather get-together. This salad mixes together lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, olives and feta with fresh herbs and a light dressing. The tender, juicy Greek marinated chicken thighs are the perfect protein to serve on a Greek salad.

GRILLED CHICKEN GREEK SALAD

My family loves Grilled Greek Chicken, and salad is something I enjoy almost daily over the warm summer months.

One of my favorite summer combinations is today’s Grilled Chicken Greek Salad.

When Mike and I were in Greece we ate so many Greek salads and I just loved them all. Between the fresh, crunchy vegetables, tangy feta cheese and light lemony dressing, it just works perfectly together.

This salad is served with a light and zesty lemon and olive oil dressing, creamy feta cheese, fresh vegetables and fresh herbs. 

You really can’t beat the simple flavors of a good Greek salad with chicken and you can mix things up and add the ingredients and flavors you and your family enjoy eating.

Not only does this make a great easy lunch or dinner dish, but it can also be packed into containers for any picnic, or even a tasty lunch on the go.

I love Greek flavors so much in salads and bowls that I often rotate between this Greek Quinoa Bowl, Greek Orzo Pasta Salad, Greek Quinoa Salad, Greek Chickpea Salad and this Spiralized Greek Style Salad.

What Ingredients are in This Grilled Chicken Greek Salad?

• Chicken:  I prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs to make this dish as I find the dark thigh meat has the best flavor. You could also use chicken breast if you prefer, you may just need to adjust cooking times. If you don’t have time to grill you could use rotisserie chicken as a shortcut.
• Lettuce: I use romaine lettuce as it has great flavor and crunch. However, you can use any other variety of crunchy lettuce in this easy Greek salad too.
• Tomatoes: I love adding fresh veggies to salads. I add cherry tomatoes to this salad as they have a great sweet flavor, you could use any variety of tomato.
• Cucumbers: I love adding crisp cucumbers to Greek Salads. You can use regular cucumbers but I suggest english cucumbers.
• Onion: I add 1/2 small red onion to the salad. I prefer red onion for it’s milder flavor to a yellow or white onion. You could also use shallots.
• Bell Pepper: Use any color of bell pepper, I opted for one red bell pepper and one green bell pepper for the flavor combination.
• Olives: No Greek salad is complete without olives, I used a cup of tangy kalamata olives but use any variety of olive that you enjoy eating.
• Cheese: I used feta cheese in this salad but you could swap goat cheese if you want.

Ingredients for the Marinade & Homemade Greek Salad Dressing

• Oil: I always use extra virgin olive oil, however you can use regular olive oil or another light flavored oil too.
• Lemon: The lemon juice adds acidity to the marinade and salad dressing. Try adding lemon zest for extra lemony flavor.
• Vinegar: Red wine vinegar also add some acidity to the salad dressing, you could also use white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
• Garlic: I recommend using fresh garlic as it has the best flavor, but garlic paste would work too.
• Dried Herbs: I like to use a combination of dried oregano and thyme in this marinade, and oregano again in the salad dressing. You could also use fresh dill.
• Seasoning: Alongside sea salt and black pepper, I use a combination of spices including paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper in the marinade. If there is a spice you don’t like then leave it out.

How to Make Grilled Chicken Greek Salad?

1. Prepare the Chicken: Start by trimming the fat from the chicken as necessary and place the thighs into a large ziplock bag or a large container.

2. Prepare the Marinade: To make the marinade combine the olive oil, lemon, garlic cloves, oregano, thyme, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper in a small bowl or mason jar and mix well.

3. Add Marinade: Pour the marinade over the chicken and massage the marinade into the meat until the meat is coated with the marinade.

4. Refrigerate: Refrigerate for two hours in a sealed ziplock bag or a sealed container. After marinating, allow the chicken to sit at room temperature, covered in the bag of marinade for 15-20 minutes while the grill preheats.

5. Grill the Chicken: Preheat the grill to medium-high heat and brush the grill grates with oil. Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard any leftover marinade.

6. Grill Chicken: Place the chicken on the grill and cook for 5 minutes per side or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. Remove the chicken from the grill and let rest for two minutes then slice up the chicken.

7. Prepare the Dressing: In a medium mixing bowl combine the lemon, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano and whisk to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

8. Assemble the Salad: Arrange the lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, bell pepper and olives, feta, dill and parsley on a large platter.  Add the cooked chicken to the platter and serve the salad with the dressing on the side and let your guests create their own Greek salad bowl.

Serve with pita bread or naan bread.

Does Chicken Go Well with Greek Salad?

Grilled chicken is great to pair with Greek salad as it adds extra protein to the dish.

I like to marinade the chicken thighs first to add a real punch of flavor and create a tender piece of chicken to the finished salad. You could also use chicken breasts or chicken tenders. This really is a delicious greek chicken salad that is perfect for the summer.

Recipe Hints and Tips for this Greek Chicken Salad Recipe

• The salad dressing can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. Leftover salad dressing can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
• If you want to get ahead, you can prepare the various parts of the salad and place them into individual, covered bowls in the refrigerator until you are ready to assemble the salad.
• Only dress the salad when ready to eat, otherwise the veggies will wilt and start to soften.
• Add extra veggies, like artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes or swap the fresh bell peppers for roasted peppers.
• Swap the grilled chicken for some pan seared tuna steaks, pan fried shrimps or grilled lamb steaks/chops.
• Feta cheese is traditional in a Greek salad but you can swap it for some grilled halloumi instead.  

Other Chicken Recipes You Might Like:

YOGURT MARINATED CHICKEN

OVEN BAKED CHICKEN THIGHS

GRILLED CHICKEN THIGHS WITH GREEK MARINADE

MOROCCAN CHICKEN THIGHS 

GREEK CHICKEN WITH TZATZIKI 

SUN-DRIED TOMATO GOAT CHEESE CHICKEN