Grilled Chicken Greek Salad is a filling, delicious salad loaded with tasty grilled chicken and fresh Mediterranean ingredients.  Customize this salad to suit your preferences by adjusting the add-ins.  What makes this particular Greek salad stand out is the artichoke hearts, the grilled onions, and the garbanzo beans.

Greek Salad with lots of grilled lemon chicken and all the fixins

Grilled Chicken Greek Salad is a filling, delicious salad.  In this post, you will find essentially two recipes – one with the fixin’s for this twist on a Greek salad, and one for the grilled marinated chicken.  The great thing is that you can customize this dish to suit the tastes of your family.  What makes this particular Greek salad stand out is the artichoke hearts, the grilled onions, and the garbanzo beans.

Artichoke hearts and chickpeas add interesting Mediterranean flavors

This salad recipe was inspired by a salad we had at the little pizza place in Northstar Village over spring break.  We spent a few days skiing with our friends who are great skiers.  We had a fun time – such breathtaking views!

View from the top – Northstar ski resort in Lake Tahoe

On our ski trip, I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered what I thought would be a simple Greek salad in the little pizza place in the village.  It had the ingredients you’d expect – romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, feta, and olives.  To my surprise, it also had artichoke hearts and chickpeas/garbanzo beans which added a little zest and interest to a classic Greek.

The Tahoe Greek, loaded with meat  – just what you need after a long day of skiing

When I got home I decided to make that Tahoe-inspired Greek salad and to throw in my favorite type of home-cooked chicken, grilled lemon chicken.  Grilled lemon chicken is simple to make and the family loves it.  I marinate it in lemon juice and let it sit as long as possible in the fridge along with some sliced onion.  It cooks up fast in my handy indoor grill pan.

chicken grilled in a pan along with white and red onions

If you do not have an indoor grill pan I highly recommend you pick one up.  It has been a game-changer for me.  I no longer have to wait for the weather to cooperate or wait for hubby to get home from work to light the grill.  Our grill has a broken switch so you have to stick your hand in to manually light it with a match…I’d rather not burn my face off today.  I do love my indoor grill pan!

close up of Tahoe-inspired Greek salad

Fresh ingredients –

• romaine lettuce
• cherry tomatoes
• marinated artichoke hearst
• fresh lemon
• Persian cucumbers
• red onion
• garbanzo beans
• black olives
• red peppers
• pepperocinis
• feta cheese

Choose lettuce that looks fresh and free of wilting.  Take off the outer layers if they seem soft.  I like to cut up the lettuce first, then give it a few spins in the lettuce spinner.

Fresh romaine lettuce, cleaned and trimmed

As with most salads, the chopping can take a little time.  I prefer cherry tomatoes in my salads.  I have always loved them since my dad grew them in our garden in Michigan…they are so, so sweet!  Chopping those little cherry tomatoes can be a tad tedious so grab a helper – kids love to chop.

Fixin’s – we didn’t have any pepperoncini at the time of this photo but they are great in this salad as well!

If you love Mediterranean salads, be sure to click over to my recipe for Salad Shirazi | Persian Cucumber and Tomato Salad.

Yield: 6

Grilled Chicken Greek Salad

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Grilled Chicken Greek Salad is a filling, delicious salad loaded with tasty grilled chicken and fresh Mediterranean ingredients.  Customize this salad to suit your preferences by adjusting the add-ins.  What makes this particular Greek salad stand out is the artichoke hearts, the grilled onions, and the garbanzo beans.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• Salad:
• 2 packs organic chicken tenders (about 6 breasts cut into small pieces for grilling)
• 1/4 sliced white onion
• 1/4 sliced red onion
• 2 heads organic Romaine lettuce, washed and chopped into 1/2 in strips
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes (TJ's mixed cherry tomato medley includes pear tomatoes)
• 4 Persian cucumbers
• 10 artichoke hearts
• 1/2 cup garbanzo beans/chickpeas
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup pepperoncinis
• olives, optional
• feta cheese (TJs fat-free feta)
• Dressing:
• 2 T. olive oil
• splash of red wine vinegar
• juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
• 1/4 t. salt
• 2 fresh garlic cloves, minced then crushed
• 1/4 t. oregano
• fresh ground pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Marinate the chicken in about a cup of lemon juice along with the sliced onions (for minimum of an hour and up to all day, the longer the better)
2. Grill the chicken and the onions and salt to taste
3. Peel and chop cucumbers
4. Chop tomatoes and bell peppers
5. Slice artichoke hearts into smaller pieces
6. Combine all the chopped veggies to the cleaned and trimmed lettuce
7. Add the chicken
8. Sprinkle with chickpeas
9. Add olives if desired
10. Top with feta cheese