Greek Salad

I am happy to have partnered with Sabra Hummus to bring you this delicious Greek Salad with lemon garlic chicken, marinated olive salad, quick pickled red onions, crumbled feta cheese, garlic stuffed kalamata olives, tiny grape tomatoes, stuffed grape leaves, Greek salad dressing, pita chips as croutons, and a hearty dollop of hummus.

This salad will fill you up with sunshiny goodness without making you feel like a slug. The post includes instructions on how to pack these salads up to four days ahead of time for work-week and school lunches.

We have once again come to the time of year when I want all of the fresh vegetables and light things. I know, I know. Eat seasonal, eat local. But dangit, this gal needs a big, honking salad when I am living in what amounts to a giant snow globe.

I love a variety of big green salads (my mom’s signature phrase) topped with all sorts of goodies as evidenced by my Pizza Salad, Tex-Mex Cobb Salad, Melting Sweet Potato Salad, Cheeseburger Salad, Spicy Southwestern Chicken Salad, Bresaola Parmesan Salad, and all of the other salads on my salad recipes page, but when the temperature is steadily below freezing and the snow is blowing, I really want a good Greek Salad.

I have a thing for Greek inspired recipes, as you can see with my Greek Pasta Salad, Greek Salad Gyro Plate, Big Batch Greek Garlic Lemon Chicken, Lightened Up Greek Style Stuffed Peppers, Slow-Cooker Garlicky Lamb and Greek Tacos, and Greek Salad Dressing Recipe. Maybe it’s because the lemon, garlic, and herb combination that runs through so much Greek cuisine tastes like sunshine.

Who knows? All I know is when the weather is c-c-cold and so am I, I want a taste of Greece to warm me up without making me feel like a slug.

Greek Salad Recipe

There are about a million and a half ways to make a Greek Salad recipe, but the starting place has to be the greens. For our Greek Salad, I prefer a good crispy Romaine, but you can substitute baby spinach or arugula, or combine all three for an excellent bed to your salad.

I am not a fan of iceberg lettuce for a Greek salad, personally, but if you like iceberg, go for it. I won’t judge.

The Greek salad ingredients really shine when we start talking about toppings, though. I like to throw all sorts of goodies on mine, and the recipe reflects that, but you can pare back or sub in things you love better.

Our Greek salad recipe tops the greens with lemon garlic chicken, marinated olive salad, quick pickled red onions, crumbled feta cheese, garlic stuffed kalamata olives, tiny grape tomatoes, stuffed grape leaves, Greek salad dressing, pita chips as croutons, and a hearty dollop of Sabra’s Greek Inspired Hummus.

The Greek Inspired Hummus is such a great addition to the salad, adding a hearty dose of traditional Greek flavours and a little extra smoothness of flavour. If you can find it, be sure to add it in! Bonus: you’ll have the rest of the hummus for sunshine-bringing snacks later.

How to pack a salad for lunch

This may sound a little funny, but there is an art to packing a salad, whether it be Greek or any other salad. You don’t want to open your lunch bag and find that you’ve got soggy, wilted greens swimming in separated dressing. That’s just sad.

You can pack a salad for lunch one of two ways. Either of them will yield a delicious, fresh lunch experience.

1. This is my favourite method. In a quart jar or container, layer your wet vegetables or juicy ingredients, firm vegetables (like cherry tomatoes and bell peppers), any cubed cheese or meat, then top with your greens. Pop a lid in place and pack your dressing and any croutons separately. When it’s time to serve, turn the contents out onto a plate or bowl, shake your dressing, and drizzle before serving. Voila!
2. This other method will do the job, too, but seems like more work to me. Pack your greens and other firm, not-juicy vegetables together, put your proteins, any “juicy” or wet ingredients, and dressing each in their own containers. When it’s time to eat, top your greens with all of the proteins, other vegetables or croutons, shake your dressing well, and drizzle it over your salad.

The beauty of packing a salad for lunch is that you can make up a couple of days worth of salads ahead of time. I think they taste best when eaten within 4 days of being made.

Having your lunches made for four days ahead of time takes the guesswork out of eating when you’re hungry. It gives you something nutritious and delicious that keeps you from going all crazy on a bag of Doritos and a Snickers bar and then suffering heartburn and regret.

Make your Greek Salad more easily with these tools:

1. excellent chef’s knife
2. cutting board
3. serving platter
4. mason jar (for mixing your salad dressing)

If Main Dish Salads are your thing, we also have Bo Luc Lac (Vietnamese Shaking Beef Salad), Cheeseburger Salad, Greek Salad Plate {restaurant DIY}, Pizza Salad, Tex-Mex Cobb Salad, Spicy Southwestern Chicken Salad + Meal Prep, and Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad.

Greek Salad

To serve the Greek salad family style, follow these instructions. Scroll down for the full, printable recipe.

Scatter the torn lettuce over a serving platter.

Starting at one end of the platter, arrange the stuffed grape leaves, cherry or grape tomatoes, stuffed olives, pickled onions, sliced chicken, and marinated olive salad in rows. Add the pita chips to one side.

Just before serving, shake or whisk your dressing to recombine it, then drizzle over the salad. Toss to combine, then divide between serving plates. Dollop hummus in the center of each serving.