Greek Chicken Salad
Greek Chicken Salad is a refreshing cold chicken salad packed with delicious Greek flavors. More specifically, it’s a chicken salad with feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, bell peppers, Greek yogurt, and many more goodies! Perfect on sandwiches, salads, or as a side for your next picnic and barbecue.
GREEK CHICKEN SALAD
Summers can be hot and miserable if you’re spending a lot of time outdoors. (Or, if you live in Florida, which feels to be so much closer to the sun than the rest of the country.) And yet, spending time outside is what we dream of all winter long. The picnics, trips to the beach, parks, boats, and of course, barbecue parties.
All those outdoor activities call for refreshing food and as much time away from the oven as possible. Cold salads, sandwiches, and desserts is what summer is all about. Taking 20 minutes to boil the chicken is all I can handle during these hot months.
That’s why this chicken salad is so perfect…it’s cold and full of flavor. I love my Greek Chicken salad and any dished that feature Greek cuisine inspired ingredients. What I did for this chicken salad is packed it with all those delicious Green salad ingredients like Feta cheese, olives, herbs, bell peppers, banana peppers, and of course, yogurt.
HOW TO MAKE IT
This chicken salad is as easy as any other one. Start by cooking chicken breasts in salted boiling water and cool it to room temperature.
While chicken is cooking and cooling, dice all vegetables and herbs and place them in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together yogurt, balsamic vinegar, and sugar.
Dice chicken when it’s cool enough and add it to the vegetables. Mix in yogurt mixture and feta cheese and make sure that the salad is salted enough.
Cover air-tight and place into the refrigerator to cool for at least 2 hours.
CAN I MAKE IT AHEAD OF TIME?
Yes, absolutely! It’s actually preferred to make chicken salads ahead of time because ingredients are warm and it should be served cold. You can make it as little as 2 hours ahead of time or as much as a day before.
I wouldn’t recommend making it longer than 1 day ahead because it had fresh juicy vegetables like tomatoes and bell peppers. These vegetables will start giving out juices into the salad.
Storing:
Make sure to store any leftovers in the refrigerator and in an air-tight food storage container. When stored properly, this chicken salad will be good for 2-3 days. Just make sure to mix it again before serving.
SOME MORE SUMMER RECIPES
If you made any of my recipes and shared them on Instagram, make sure to tag me @willcookforsmiles and #willcookforsmiles so I can see all the things you tried!
Connect with Will Cook For Smiles!
Be sure to click below and follow me on my social media, so you never miss a recipe.
Don’t forget to sign up for email, so you won’t miss any new recipes.
Greek Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 3 chicken breasts cooked
- 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped red and/or green bell peppers
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup sliced black olives
- 1/3 cup banana peppers
- 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1 tbsp minced fresh dill weed
- salt to taste
- fresh cracked peppercorns to taste
Dressing:
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
Instructions
- I like to add salt, pepper, bay leaf, and some coriander to the cooking water but that is optional. These herbs and spices give chicken more flavor.
- Bring water to a boil and add chicken breasts. Lower the heat to medium and cook until chicken is fully cooked. Take chicken out of the hot water and let it cool on the cutting board until cool enough to handle.
- While chicken is cooking and cooking, dice all the vegetables and herbs.
- Dice cooked chicken, add it to the large mixing bowl and add the chopped veggies and feta cheese. Add salt and cracked peppercorns to the taste and mix well.
- In a small bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, Balsamic vinegar, and sugar.
- Mix the Greek yogurt mixture into the chicken and veggies. Make sure it's all combined.
- Refrigerate in an air-tight container for at least 2 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on July 23, 2013. Updated June, 2020.
Categories:
30 Minute Meals, Appetizers, BBQ, Chicken, Gluten Free, Lunch, Mediterranean, Salad, Side Dishes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Lyuba, this looks so good! I wouldn’t have thought of using Greek Yogurt in a chicken salad, yum! Thank you for linking up to Inspire Me Wednesday; featuring you in this week’s issue.
I love any food flavored greek – so I had to come over from the frugal girls and take a peek! This looks so yummy!
Would love for you to come over and link up to Super Sunday at Who Needs a Cape! It’s live right now 😉 http://whoneedsacape.com/2013/08/super-sunday-link-party-9/
Thank you so much, Heather!
I love Greek ingredients, and this looks super yummy!
Thank you, Jeni!
This pretty much looks amazing! This would be delicious stuffed into soft pitas! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing at Marvelous Mondays this week.
It really would, Carrie! Thank you!
I looooooooooooooooooooooove feta!!!! This looks great! Visiting from Melt In Your Mouth Monday.
Thank you, Stacy!
What a pretty salad…love the colors, and the ingredients sound delicious together. I need to give this a try. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you, Gail! I hope you do 🙂
What a fun salad! I love all of the different flavors…good choice 🙂
Thank you, Lisa
So sorry you’re not feeling well, Lyuba…I do hope you’re better soon! :0) All of these salads look just lucious! Thank you for sharing!
Almost 🙂
Thank you, Marysue!
I can so relate to how you were feeling – hope you’re all better.
Love the recipe, can’t wait to make it!
Thank you, Caroline!
sounds like a nice healthy salad!
Thank you, Dina!
Hope your feeling better. That colorful chicken salad sure looks tasty!
Thank you! Getting there
Yummy in my tummy! I love anything Greek!
Thank you, Debra, I do too 🙂