Grilled Greek Chicken Salad Recipe

Easy & Delicious Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

This grilled Greek chicken salad is a perfect light and refreshing choice loaded with protein and tons of delicious Mediterranean flavours! You can top this delicious salad with the dressing that is also the marinade for the chicken and/or with homemade (or store-bought) tzatziki. We’re including a quick tzatziki recipe too.

Make no mistake, this Greek chicken salad is a meal, it’s not an appetizer or side dish, it is your main course and you will be deliciously full! Make sure to check out my secret at the bottom when it comes to pita bread or is it pita bread? hmmm

Disclosure:  I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this site are my own.

Hot weather? No problem this chicken is grilled!

I don’t know about you but since it’s July here, we’re getting our hot summer weather and I hate warming the house up more by turning the oven on. I love to grill on the BBQ and I even do it up until the fall, sometimes the winter if I can get away with it. So even better if I can grill this Greek chicken and serve it warm or cold and use the leftovers for oh so many meals.

That’s if it lasts long enough to use up for leftovers! Don’t worry though I’ll share how to bake this chicken too. 

Tzatziki or no Tzatziki?

Is it even Greek food if you don’t have tzatziki? Asking for a friend, kidding, you need the tzatziki. Okay maybe need is a strong word, you want it and although it’s technically not needed with the flavourful marinade/dressing it’s the perfect finishing touch to this grilled Greek chicken salad. After all, you’ll also want to dip some pita bread into that tasty tzatziki whether you make your own or you use store bought, either way is good. So I didn’t “drizzle” the tzatziki on the salad in a pretty pattern or prettily at all, I decided I might as well show you how my family would actually eat this salad. Hubby likes to slather on the tzatziki and I like enough for it to add flavour to the salad so we went for an in-between our likes for dolloping the tzatziki on our salad. This is how they would look if I served these at home for just my family, no decorating, just putting all the goodies on and eating the yummy food lol

Chicken Breasts or Chicken Thighs?

I went with chicken breasts for this recipe because I wanted lower fat and calories. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with either one, both bring a ton of flavour to the salad and it comes down to preference. If you’re worried about your chicken getting dry gi with thighs but if you marinate the chicken breasts overnight I would be surprised if they come out dry at all even if you overcook them a bit. Don’t worry we’ll give you some tips to avoid under and overcooking your chicken!Whether it’s chicken breast of chicken thighs that you use for this recipe remember that quality matters. That’s why I only buy chicken with the Raised by a Canadian Farmer logo (see below) on it as I know it guarantees quality. This logo also ensures that the chicken you buy has come from a farm that has a mandatory, robust, third- party-audited Animal Care Program and adheres to a strict mandatory On-Farm Food Safety Program. If you don’t see the logo below at your local grocery store, ask a manager to bring it in, it’s worth it!

 

Let’s get to this grilled Greek chicken salad recipe shall we and then I will share some more tips and options for making this tasty meal. 

Yield: 4-6

Grilled Greek Chicken Salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

This grilled Greek chicken salad is a perfect light and refreshing choice loaded with protein and tons of delicious Mediterranean flavours! You can top this delicious salad with the dressing that is also the marinade for the chicken and/or with homemade (or store-bought) tzatziki. We're including a quick tzatziki recipe too.

Print

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 4 teaspoons minced garlic (or 4 large garlic cloves, minced)
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Cracked pepper

Salad

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes (or grape tomatoes) halved
• 1 large cucumber
• 1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• 1 large head of romaine lettuce (optional)
• Green pepper (optional), diced
• Diced red onion (optional)

Tzatziki - Optional

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and grated
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade in a medium to large bowl. Once mixed reserve 1/3 cup for dressing.
2. For the remaining 2/3 cups of marinade add the chicken to it and evenly coat. Marinate for a minimum 30 minutes (to overnight) in the fridge.
3. While the chicken is marinating, prepare the tzatziki.
4. Combine all of the tzatziki ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5. Toss salad ingredients together and divide between four bowls/plates.
   
6. Heat the grill to a medium-high heat. Make sure to rub olive oil on your grill so the chicken won’t stick.
7. Remove the chicken from the marinade and put it on the grill. Grill for about 7-9 minutes per side depending on the size of your chicken breasts. Chicken should have an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). Refer to the cooking guidelines here for guidance.
8. Remove chicken from the grill and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes.
9. Cube or slice the chicken and add to salad. Drizzle with the reserved dressing and if you like tzatziki.
10. Add salt & pepper to taste.
11. Serve with pita bread, flatbread or even naan is a great addition!

Notes

Our salad did not have green bell peppers or red onions but we've included them as options as we know a lot of people like them in Greek salads.

We also put Romaine lettuce as optional. This salad is tasty with or without lettuce so it's up to you. I like it with just the cucumbers and tomatoes with the chicken but many like it with lettuce.

To save time you can buy tzatziki sauce but it is very easy to make.

Make sure to check out Chicken.ca cooking times so you don't overcook or undercook your chicken. We will refer to this handy link a lot.

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  Olive oil
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  BBQ Tongs

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

5

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 751Total Fat: 49gSaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 35gCholesterol: 112mgSodium: 2079mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 8gSugar: 21gProtein: 45g

We can't guarantee 100% accuracy of the nutritional information. It is an estimate.

So what do you think? It may look like a lot of ingredients for this Greek chicken salad but it’s really not. You all know how easy it is to chop vegetables for a salad and those items make up a large part of the ingredients. You can also skip making your own tzatziki if you don’t have time or the inclination.

Can you freeze the marinated chicken?

Heck yes, you can and it’s a great way to meal prep too. Marinate the chicken and you can freeze it uncooked or cook it up and freeze it so it’s ready to go to add to any salads, with rice, pasta etc.. You can’t go wrong either way!

Optional Salad Ingredients

You may have noticed that our salad did not have green bell peppers or red onions but we’ve included them as options as we know a lot of people like them in Greek salads. Hubby loves them both but I’m not a fan so I skipped it, chef’s choice. We also put Romaine lettuce as optional. This salad is tasty with or without lettuce so it’s up to you. I like it with just the cucumbers and tomatoes with the chicken but many like it with lettuce.

Pita bread, flatbread or Naan?

To save time you can buy tzatziki sauce but it is very easy to make. You don’t have to add it to the top of the salad but we loved it that way. You can save it for dipping your pita bread in it. As mentioned too you can have pita bread, flatbread or even naan is great to have with the tzatziki. In fact in our photos here it’s naan not pita bread as we love naan. Naan has a fluffier more bread-like texture making it a hit in our house all the time. I just added it to the grill for about a minute after the chicken was done and it was good to go! So yummy. 

We have more fabulous recipes from appetizers to desserts and everything in between so make sure to check out our recipes section for all these goodies like the following:

1. Lime Honey Sriracha Chicken Kebabs
2. No-Churn Papaya Mango Ice Cream
3. Chicken And Grilled Peach Salad With Honey Mustard Dressing
4. Homemade Cream Cheese Cinnamon Roll Recipe
5. How To Make Lemon Chicken In The Instant Pot
6. M&M Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe
7. Mini No Bake Lemon Cheesecake Recipe

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