Chicken Greek Salad

A traditional Greek salad, with chicken added, it's familiar and new at the same time. The time saver for an at-home meal? Rotisserie chicken!
Chicken Greek Salad, another Quick Supper ♥ KitchenParade.com. Low Carb. High Protein. Weight Watchers Friendly.

"Drive By" not "Drive Through"

Summer nights create a thousand ready reasons to skip supper at home in the kitchen. Little League and bike rides that run long. An after-work happy hour on a breezy patio. Lawn mowing. A family outing to the zoo. Day games. An oh-so-pretty-nobody-wants-to-leave afternoon at the pool.

An obvious answer to the 'What’s for supper?' question is drive-through food on the way home. Instead, think about drive-by food on the way home.

Drive by the grocery, grab a rotisserie chicken (a busy parent’s miracle food if there ever is one) and a few vegetables. Get home. Kick off the shoes. Assemble the salad. Plate. Somebody pour the milk, please! Pray. Eat. Enjoy.

Don't Forget the Hummus!

Hummus is the chickpea paste served with pita rounds in Greek restaurants. Grocery stores carry prepared versions but hummus is quick ‘n’ easy to make at home.

Honestly, today (during a recipe update) it feels funny to be explaining what hummus is. But back in 2007, when this column was first published, hummus wasn't as well known! How things do change!


Simple Hummus ♥ KitchenParade.com, a quick and simple basic starter recipe.

My recipe for Simple Hummus is a great starter recipe for homemade hummus, just the basics, nothing fancy, still 100x better than anything you can buy.

Since 2007, I've really honed my ideas about hummus. I'll even encourage you to cook your own chickpeas! I use a technique that works especially well for hummus and over time have settled on three favorite recipes for hummus.

Did you know? The word "hummus" actually means "chickpeas". So if you call something "chickpea hummus" it's like a stutter, as if you are saying "steak steak" or "butter butter" or "cabbage cabbage".

What that word dancing illuminates is that while traditional hummus is indeed made with hummus, there are other options. How about:

So many ways to make hummus!

RESOURCE My collection of Chickpea Recipes & Garbanzo Bean Recipes ♥ Alphabet of Vegetables at A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables.



QUICK SUPPER: CHICKEN GREEK SALAD

Just assemble and serve –
another good reason to eat at home!
Hands-on time: 25 minutes
Time to table: 25 minutes
Serves 4
    DRESSING
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • Zest from 1 lemon (see ALANNA’s TIPS)
  • Juice of 2 lemons (about 3 tablespoons)
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled between fingertips (see TIPS)
  • Salt & pepper to taste
    SALAD
  • 3 cups rotisserie chicken, skin removed, in bite-size pieces (or leftover grilled chicken)
  • 1 English cucumber, diced
  • 1 large tomato, diced
  • 20 kalamata olives, halved or quartered
  • 1/2 medium red onion, diced fine
  • Other veggies, optional
    TO SERVE
  • Romaine lettuce for 4, torn
  • Baby spinach for 4
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

DRESSING Whisk dressing ingredients in large bowl.

SALAD Stir in chicken, cucumber, tomato, olives and red onion and combine well, right in the dressing bowl.

TO SERVE Arrange lettuce and spinach on four plates. Top with the chicken mixture, then sprinkle with feta cheese. Serve with torn pita bread and hummus – and enjoy, at home!

MORE SERVING IDEAS Usually, I make this salad all in one big jumble but for a group, I've also made a "Greek Salad Bar" with individual bowls of each of the ingredients, letting people build their own salad plates. For picture purposes and for a person or two, a "composed salad" does the trick. All work!

ALANNA's TIPS Lime substitutes beautifully for lemon in the dressing. Why crumble dried herbs? You’ll know if you smell your fingertips: even gentle crushing releases the oils, intensifying flavor just a tidge. With olives, it's easy for the calories to really add up. That's why I like to cut each olive into halves or quarters, that way there are "more bites" of the salty goodness, creating the illusion that there are 2x or 4x more! Everyone famished tonight? Bulk up with extra cucumber and tomato; add sweet pepper, fennel, zucchini, even whole or roasted chickpeas (if you’re not making hummus) and pepperoncini.
NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Serving: 276 Calories; 11g Tot Fat; 4g Sat Fat; 10g Carb; 3g Fiber; 344mg Sodium; 88mg Cholesterol; 5g Sugars; 32g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 6 & PointsPlus 7 & SmartPoints 7 & Freestyle 4



SIMPLE HUMMUS

A basic starter recipe
Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes

In a food processor (or with a potato masher), purée a can of drained garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas), 2 cloves of garlic, 1/3 cup of tahini (a sesame seed paste or in a pinch, use peanut butter), the juice of a lemon or two, some fresh parsley. Add olive oil a few drops at a time until a spreadable consistency is reached. Makes 1-3/4 cups.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Tablespoon/Quarter Cup: 33/133 Calories; 2/8g Tot Fat; 0/1g Sat Fat; 3/12g Carb; 1/3g Fiber; 52/209mg Sodium; 0mg Cholesterol; 0g Sugars; 1/4g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 1/3 & PointsPlus 1/3 & SmartPoints 1/4 & Freestyle 1/3

More Greek-Style Recipes

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

Greek Feta Chicken with Curried Rice Greek Pasta Salad Greek Chicken Dagwood Sandwiches
~ more Greek recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

~ Greek Greens (Flash Cook to Eat Later) ~
~ Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ~
~ Creamy Feta Mousse with Greek Salads ~
~ Greek Lentil Soup ~
Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten)
from A Veggie Venture, my food blog about vegetables

More Salad Suppers

(hover with a mouse for a description; otherwise click a photo to view the recipe)

BLT Pasta Salad Asian Chicken Salad Shrimp Salad Recipes
~ more cold supper recipes ~

Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015 (repub) & 2019

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Anonymous7/10/2007

    It does sound very good. I hadn't thought of combining chicken with Greek salad ingredients befoer! Good idea, but you will have to allow me to put less olive and more Feta cheese. (When I started categorizing my salad recipes by ingredient, I had a huge list of salads with Feta cheese!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7/10/2007

    I haven´t thought of combining Greek Salad with chicken either. Never got a "horiatiki salata" in Greece mixed with chicken. However, I don´t think Greek people have anything against chicken.

    The quick and easy Bulgarian variant,(Shopska salata/shopska salat), goes well with chicken too.

    Less ingredients: Only diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and chopped onions. On top: A thick layer of grated Bulgarian brined cheese (similar to feta cheese; may be used as a substitute). Salt, pepper, vinegar and vegetable oil (sunseed oil) are provided separately.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7/10/2007

    I like this Alanna - drive-by food :) nice meaty yet light salad.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kalyn ~ Of course!

    Karin ~ I wasn't supposing there was anything particularly 'authentic' about this salad (the goal, after all, was a quick supper) but am glad to hear that Greek cuisine doesn't forgo chicken! And the Bulgarian version sounds great!!

    Cynthia ~ Yes, drive-by food! It's my mission, to help make it easier for people to eat their own food at home. Simple is fine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7/10/2007

    Oh man, I live on hummus. It's such good stuff!

    If you ever get the chance to buy lemongrass, do so. Not only does it taste amazing, but the aroma of it sauteing with the onions, garlic, and ginger was unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna