Greek Chicken Salad

Greek Chicken Salad is a delicious combination of fresh vegetables, seasoned boneless chicken breasts and a homemade Greek dressing you'll love! It's bursting with classic flavors in a hearty, filling, low calorie salad recipe.

Whether you are looking for a healthy dinner idea, a satisfying lunch option or new meal prep recipe this Chicken Greek Salad is a favorite way to change things up. Classic Greek salad paired with homemade Greek dressing deliver bold fresh flavors.

Fresh vegetables, oregano, lemon, salty feta cheese and perfectly cooked juicy boneless chicken breasts in a simple homemade Greek salad dressing make this Greek chicken salad recipe a favorite any time of the year.

Jump to:

• What makes this skinny?
• Recipe Ingredient Notes
• How to make Greek Chicken Salad
• Expert Tip
• How to make it skinnier
• Other Variations
• How to Store
• More recipes you'll love!
• Recipe
• Recipe

What makes this skinny?

• Lots of fresh vegetables. The salad is all fresh vegetables with the exception of the feta cheese. We've left off the typical higher calorie ingredients like kalamata olives or avocados but you can add them if you wish.
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts. This lean protein makes the salad more filling and is cooked with minimal fat.
• Reduced fat feta cheese. For ¼ cup regular feta crumbles are 70 calories and reduced-fat feta crumbles are 50 calories. The flavor and the texture is essentially the same but we love the calorie savings.
• Dressing used as desired. Two tablespoons is a usual serving size of dressing and it perfect for one serving of this Greek salad too. We broke out the salad from the dressing and have shared some skinny ways to use the dressing below.

Recipe Ingredient Notes

Greek Dressing

Extra virgin olive oil. You'll need ½ cup.

Red wine vinegar. Also ½ cup.

Garlic cloves. Two cloves minced.

Fresh lemon juice. The juice of half a lemon is added for classic Greek flavor. We use a handheld juicer which is great at squeezing out all the juice.

Fresh oregano leaves. One tablespoon of fresh oregano leaves removed from the stem adds fantastic flavor to the Greek dressing.

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Greek Salad

Boneless skinless chicken breasts. You'll need 1 pound.

Paprika. Use regular paprika (not smoked). 1 teaspoon paprika

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Italian seasoning. This delicious combination of classic Mediterranean herbs gives great flavor. Make the Italian seasoning blend yourself or buy it pre-made in the spice section of the grocery store.

Chopped romaine lettuce. You'll need 6 cups of chopped lettuce. Use romaine solo or mix with spring mix for more color and flavor.

English cucumber or Persian cucumber. These types of cucumbers are basically seedless so you don't need to remove the seeds. They also do not need to be peeled! And they don't have the bitterness regular cucumbers can have. Use ½ an English cucumber or two small Persian cucumbers. They can be sliced into half moons or chopped.

Cherry tomatoes. Two cups, each tomato sliced in half.

Red onion. Use ½ a medium red onion, sliced.

Green bell pepper. You'll use 1 cup sliced or chopped green pepper (seeds and membrane removed before slicing).

Reduced fat feta cheese crumbles. Reduced fat feta cheese tastes the same are regular feta just with fewer calories! You can buy already crumbled reduced fat feta or crumble it yourself from a block of cheese.

Fresh oregano leaves. These give a fresh herby flavor to the salad. You'll need 2 tablespoons of fresh oregano leaves removed from the stem.

How to make Greek Chicken Salad

STEP 1. Make the dressing

In a small bowl whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl. Or place all ingredients in a small mason jar, seal, and give it a good shake to combine. Set aside.

STEP 2. Cook the chicken

Season both sides of the chicken breasts with paprika, salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning.

Heat olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook for 7 to 8 minutes per side, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.

Transfer the cooked chicken to a plate or cutting board, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

STEP 3. Make the salad

Place the lettuce in a large bowl or on a platter. Top with the other salad ingredients: cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, green peppers. Toss and place chicken on top. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and fresh oregano.

Serve dressing on the side.

Expert Tip

Thickness of chicken breasts determine cooking time. These days chicken breasts can vary wildly in side. One pound could be 2 breasts or 4.

To determine if the chicken is fully cooked always use an instant read food thermometer and make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. The chicken will continue to rise in temperature once taken out of the pan so it can be removed around 163 degrees f.

How to make it skinnier

The dressing is usually the calorie heavy hitter in a fresh vegetables salad. For multiple reasons we don't recommend dressing the entire salad (for one it won't keep if you have leftovers). We allocate 2 tablespoons of dressing which is plenty when tossed well into a portion of the salad. But here are some other ideas!

• Always serve the dressing on the side. Less is more calorie-wise and allowing diners to add their own let's you have control of your dressing amount.
• Doctor store bought skinny dressing. If you have a skinny vinaigrette or oil and vinegar dressing from the store, doctor it up with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some fresh oregano leaves. You'll get the Greek flavor without more calories.
• The fork dip technique. Instead of adding the dressing to your salad serving, dip your fork into the dressing before stabbing it into the salad to grab a forkful. It will keep the dressing use low and adds plenty of flavor bite to bite.

Other Variations

• Change up the greens. Romaine lettuce is fresh and crunchy. We love to mix it with spring greens. Any greens you like can be used (alone or mixed). Try baby spinach, mixed greens, baby kale, iceberg lettuce or butter lettuce.
• Use our air fryer chicken breast recipe. If you love to air fry instead of cook on the stovetop follow our air fryer chicken breast recipe using the seasonings in this recipe.
• Other uses for the dressing. The dressing is great as a delicious marinade for chicken or fish as well as on other salads.
• Use leftover chicken or turkey. Instead of cooking the chicken from scratch you can use leftover chicken or turkey (great after Thanksgiving). It won't have the same seasonings but is still delicious and faster to make! Just add to the salad after combining the other ingredients.
• Add some parsley or mint. Adding more fresh herbs just amps up the flavor (like our Arabic Salad with parsley and mint). Add a tablespoon of either or both herbs to the salad before tossing.
• Add sliced pepperocinis. If you love some tang, slice up some of these pickled peppers and toss them into the salad.

How to Store

The salad (without dressing) will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Great for meal prepping; put the salad and chicken in meal prep containers and keep the dressing separate.

DRESSING: store in a sealed jar or glass container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Serve at room temperature for best flavor.

If the dressing has been added to the salad it will become soggy when stored in the refrigerator (still edible but the texture is not as nice).

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