Greek-Inspired Chopped Salad

One of my favorite salads is this delicious Greek-inspired chopped salad, chock full of herbs, nutritious chickpeas, juicy tomatoes, briny olives and creamy Feta. On hot Summer days, I seem to be constantly craving cold fresh fruit and refreshing salads, like this one. It doesn’t take long to pull together, and can be a great foundation for a meal salad with the addition of a protein like chicken breast or steak. This is also a great way to sneak in extra vitamins if you’re pregnant, like I am. I have been struggling with the veggie intake for a couple of months, and this was a great way to force myself to eat something good.

First, gather all of your ingredients. I got mine mostly organic from Whole Foods. You can use any variety of the ingredients. To save time, purchase pitted olives so you don’t have to manually cut the pits out of each one. That was such a hassle for me. Any cucumber will work as well, but the English cucumbers tend to have less water content and the skins are prettier, if that matters to you.

There are no exact measurements here, which is the best thing about salads. There is no way to mess this up. Just add what you want until it looks right to you.

Here are the Ingredients

Cherry tomatoes

Feta Cheese

Olives – Green or Kalamata (or both)

Cucumber

Dill

Mint

Flat Leaf Parsley

Romaine Lettuce

Chickpeas

Red Onion

Garlic

Lemon

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Greek dressing (optional)

Chicken Breast (optional)

I sliced the cherry tomatoes in half, and set them aside in a bowl to marinate with one clove of garlic chopped, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. I cut the cucumber and added that to the bowl of tomatoes. Stir that around and let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Roughly chop the herbs dice the red onion. Chop the lettuce into ribbons. Drain the chickpeas and the olives.

Assemble the Salad

Start with the lettuce in a large bowl. Then add the red onion, chickpeas and olives. Add the tomato and cucumber mixture and toss with additional lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Finally, top with the herbs and a generous helping of Feta cheese.

You can eat it “as-is” or you can use your favorite Greek salad dressing to finish it off, and it’s done. 

Plated: The Greek-Inspired Chopped Salad

There you have it! This Greek-inspired chopped salad is something easy and simple to throw together for a nutritious meal. Every bite is full of flavor, just how a salad should be. It was so good, my husband wanted bowls of this to snack on.

Greek-Inspired Chopped Salad

One of my favorite salads is this delicious Greek-inspired chopped salad, chock full of herbs, nutritious chickpeas, juicy tomatoes, briny olives and creamy Feta.

• 1 Pint Cherry Tomatoes
• 1 Cup Feta Cheese
• 1/2 Cup Pitted Olives (Green or Kalamata)
• 1 1/2 Cup English Cucumber (Chopped)
• 1 Bunch Dill Leaves (Roughly Chopped)
• 1 Bunch Flat Leaf Parsley (Roughly Chopped)
• 2 Tbsp Mint Leaves (Chiffonade)
• 3 Hearts Romaine Lettuce (Chopped)
• 1 Can Chickpeas (Drained)
• 1/2 Red Onion (Diced)
• 1 Clove Garlic (Finely Chopped)
• 1 Lemon (Juiced)
• Olive Oil (Extra Virgin)
• Salt
• Black Pepper
• Greek Dressing (Optional)
• Cooked Chicken Breast (Optional)

1. Wash and dry all of the produce. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.

2. Marinate the tomatoes. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and finely chop the garlic, transfer both to a small mixing bowl. Add a generous tablespoon of olive oil, the juice of half the lemon, salt and pepper. Mix and set aside to marinate for about 10 minutes.

3. Cut the cucumber into half moons. Add to the marinating tomatoes and stir. Let sit.

4. Chop the herbs. Fort the parsley and dill, separate the leaves from the stems and roughly chop the leaves. For the mint, remove the leaves from the stems. Roll up the leaves and chop into fine ribbons.

5. Drain the olives and chop into 1/4 inch pieces. Chop the lettuce into bite size pieces. Dice the red onion.

6. Assemble the salad. Transfer the chopped lettuce into a large mixing bowl. Add in red onions, the chopped olives and the chickpeas. Transfer the tomato and cucumber mixture to the salad. Add in all of the chopped herbs. Add the juice of the rest of the lemon, a generous drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Top with Feta cheese and toss.

7. Optional. Top salad with sliced, cooked chicken breast and Greek salad dressing.

One of my favorite salads is this delicious Greek-inspired chopped salad, chock full of herbs, nutritious chickpeas, juicy tomatoes, briny olives and creamy Feta. On hot Summer days, I seem to be constantly craving cold fresh fruit and refreshing salads, like this one. It doesn’t take long to pull together, and can be a great foundation for a meal salad with the addition of a protein like chicken breast or steak.

Keep an eye out for more summer salad recipes!