Mediterranean Salad with Grilled Chicken

This Mediterranean salad is a perfect blend of greens, juicy tomatoes, feta, pistachios and grilled chicken tossed in lemon tahini dressing.

This Mediterranean salad is so dreamy and delicious, perfect in it’s simplicity. The crunch of the pistachios, saltiness of the feta and plump perfect tomatoes paired with the lemon forward, herby chicken makes each bite so full of flavor!

Salads can be boring but this one isn’t at all. It is my new favorite salad to make and everyone that tries it absolutely loves it and asks for the recipe. Knowing it is full of heart healthy, mediterranean ingredients makes it even better!

Why make this Mediterranean salad recipe

Why make this recipe when there are thousands of other options out there? Well, I’ll give you of the highlights:

• Flavor – its truly a divine combo!
• Satisfying
• High protein
• Low carb
• Perfect for meal prep for quick weekday lunches or dinners
• Simple ingredients
• Easy to make
• Versatile cooking methods for the chicken
• Can be tweaked to fit most diets

The mediterranean chicken is so flavorful and the rest of the ingredients keep the recipe strategically high protein and low carb without sacrificing any flavor. This recipe brings together my mediterranean chicken recipe and tahini lemon dressing to make a whole meal out of it.

The recipe is full of delicious real food ingredients. Those pistachios and feta aren’t just there for flavor! While I don’t follow a Keto diet myself, I know that many of you do. Eating healthy fats like this in a meal keeps hunger at bay.

In addition to that, the recipe makes quite a few portions and can be used to meal prep for quick weekday lunches. I never regret planning ahead!

Ingredients

Don’t let the ingredient list for this mediterranean salad intimidate you! It looks long but several of the ingredients are used twice (like lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper being in the marinade and dressing) so you only truly need to handle each of those ingredients once if you prepare the marinade and dressing at the same time.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• boneless skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)
• zest from a lemon
• fresh squeezed lemon juice – DO NOT use bottled lemon juice for this recipe!
• olive oil
• plain yogurt – low fat is fine but don’t use non-fat here
• minced garlic – pre-minced jarred garlic is fine here
• salt
• black pepper
• dried basil
• dried oregano
• tahini
• minced shallot
• dijon mustard
• honey or agave syrup
• roasted, salted, shelled pistachios – we buy giant bags of pistachios at Costco
• feta crumbled
• baby arugula or your favorite salad greens
• cherry tomatoes

How to make mediterranean salad

This recipe has three separate parts: the chicken, the dressing, and the salad. Although it looks complicated at first, it really isn’t hard to pull this one off. And with instructions for cooking the chicken multiple different ways, you can choose whatever you’re most comfortable with.

1. For the marinade, mix all ingredients together and then let the chicken sit. For breasts, marinade for 4 hours ideally and if you cut the breasts into smaller chunks, marinade for 30 – 60 minutes.
   
2. While the chicken is marinading, mix the dressing by shaking all of those ingredients together in a mason jar.
   
3. Toss all salad ingredients into a bowl and set them aside. Heat that grill up (or oven or pan) and get ready to cook the chicken! Instructions for cooking several different ways are included in the recipe card.
4. Once chicken is cooked toss it, the dressing and salad together and serve right away.

Add-ins and substitutions

While the recipe is excellent as written, we all know that substitutions are sometimes needed do to diet constraints, preference or just not having an ingredient. This list is by no means inclusive but here are some substations you can feel safe to do:

• Don’t have tahini? Make this version of lemon salad dressing instead.
• To make it Keto, just leave out the honey.
• To make it Whole 30 or paleo, leave out the honey, yogurt, and feta.
• Pistachios can be substituted for other nuts if needed (pine nuts work great, best if the nuts are toasted).
• Arugula can be subbed for your favorite salad greens mix
• You can replace the shallot with red onion or 1/2 tsp. onion powder and the garlic with 1/4 tsp. garlic powder (won’t be quite as fresh, but still good)
• Possible add ins: cucumbers, avocado, red pepper, kalamata olives, finely diced red onion, cooked quinoa or whatever else sounds good to you!

Meal prep tips and Freezing

If you like to plan ahead when it comes to food, this Mediterranean salad will be one to bookmark. This salad is pretty much the perfect meal planning recipe to keep you on track for eating healthy.

Since it makes enough for 6-8 people, I usually just halve the salad and save the chicken separately. I use it to top salads or rice bowls for the next few days lunches. To make this easy as can be:

• Cube or slice the chicken (if you didn’t already) before putting in the fridge so that it’s ready to go.
• You can add the crushed pistachios to the salad greens but will want to store the feta, tomatoes, chicken and dressing separately or it will get soggy. The ingredients will keep for about 2 days separated like this and even a day or two longer if you leave the cherry tomatoes whole and don’t slice them.
• If the dressing gets solid or separates in the fridge, just let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes and then shake before using (you can run the jar under hot water too to speed this up).
• To freeze the chicken, place it in a sealed container or bag, with a little bit of room at the top to allow for expansion. Place upright in the freezer and use within 3 months. To use, defrost in the refrigerator overnight or in a bowl of cool water for about an hour.

Other Mediterranean recipes

If you’re looking for other mediterranean recipes, here are some great options:

• This chickpea salad is tossed with fresh herbs, tomatoes, and cucumber and it all comes together so well! Plus, it keeps well in the fridge for lunches the next day.
• Get the most out of your tahini jar with this easy hummus recipe that uses canned beans for a quick and easy healthy bean dip.
• This Greek pasta salad is so great for get togethers! It can be prepped ahead of time, travels well and is always a crowd pleaser.
• Or, for a change of pace, check out this quinoa Greek salad recipe.
• What’s better than a Caprese salad with fresh summer tomatoes? An avocado Caprese!