Grilled Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad with a dressing that doubles as a marinade!
This Grilled Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad recipe is as close to perfect as you can get! Full of Mediterranean flavours: olives, tomatoes, cucumber, avocados, and chicken for a complete meal in a salad bowl!
Chicken Salad Recipe
With all of the salads I post on here, I thought some might be getting sick of these meal in salads recipes. BUT. It turns out, you guys are wanting MORE of these GIANT salads. Wracking my brains for another awesome recipe, what’s better than a fresh, mediterranean salad with so much flavour, you won’t be able to put your forks down? Yes, I sound like an infomercial. No, I don’t care.
Salad dressing
As usual, I always try to create salad recipes that you only need ONE dressing / marinade. A salad that uses one thing for two uses. This comes from years of making salads that require completely different marinades for chicken or the meat of choice, then drowning it in a completely different tasting dressing, only confusing my brain and taste buds even more. Why do that when you can create one delicious marinade and use it as a dressing? That kinds makes more sense.
Optional additions
You can ALSO top it with some crumbled feta or goats cheese, which I didn’t have at the time, BUT it’s included in the recipe as an option for you to enjoy!
More Salad Recipes!
Pesto Grilled Chicken Avocado Salad
Honey Mustard Chicken, Avocado + Bacon Salad
Greek Lemon Garlic Chicken Salad
WATCH US MAKE IT RIGHT HERE!
Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Marinade/Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- juice of 1 lemon (1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice)
- 2 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons garlic , minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- cracked pepper , to taste
- 1 pound (500 g) skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets (or chicken breasts)
Salad:
- 4 cups Romaine (or Cos) lettuce leaves, washed and dried
- 1 large cucumber diced
- 2 Roma tomatoes diced
- 1 red onion sliced
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or black olives), sliced (optional)
- Lemon wedges to serve
Instructions
- Whisk together all of the marinade/dressing ingredients in a large jug. Pour out half of the marinade into a large, shallow dish. Refrigerate the remaining marinade to use as the dressing later.
- Add the chicken to the marinade in the bowl; marinade chicken for 15-30 minutes (or up to two hours in the refrigerator if time allows). While waiting for the chicken, prepare all of the salad ingredients and mix in a large salad bowl.
- Once chicken is ready, heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a grill pan or a grill plate over medium-high heat. Grill chicken on both sides until browned and completely cooked through.
- Allow chicken to rest for 5 minutes; slice and arrange over salad. Drizzle salad with the remaining UNTOUCHED dressing. Serve with lemon wedges.
Vic Sain says
Hey Karina!
That’s drooling definitely gonna try this! Thanks for sharing.
Brittany S says
The chicken is marinating as we speak! I’m also doing the salad portion of the recipe, but I prefer a bit thicker of a dressing so I added about a tbsp+1/2 of mayo, a 1/2 tsp of honey and 1 egg yolk. A small taste test yielded great results and I’m excited since I don’t normally nail dressings… I too made double the recipe for the marinade to give a bigger amount for the dressing in the end! Super excited to eat dinner tonight!
December says
This is such a delicious and tasty salad! Tastes just like Greek chicken salad from the Coney Island restaurant but even better! Making the salad ahead of time is very helpful.
Laura says
This is so refreshing! My husband loved it and he’s hard to please with a salad as the entree. Perfect blend of flavors. My only addition would be feta. Thank you!
EJ says
Can you let this marinate overnight?
Karina says
Absolutely
Pamela says
I absolutely loved this salad and chicken! Definitely going to add it to my summer dinner rotation. Dressing/marinade is delish! The best part is it’s so easy.
Amanda says
Any recommendations on how to bake the chicken? We got rained out
Maria Cristina says
Excelente!!! Thank you, thank you for sharing, my whole family loved it!
By the way pretty name, like my sister ☺
Karina says
Glad to hear it! Thank you!
Jeanine says
Excellent salad! Loved the chicken marinade!!
Lauren says
Absolutely delicious!! Added this to our weekly meal rotation we love it so much! We’re dressing hogs so I always double the dressing/marinade and put the extra in a container to keep throughout the next few days.