Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Tzatziki Salad Dressing
I’ve been craving all the salads lately so I knew I needed to switch it up and make this Mediterranean Salad with Tzatziki salad dressing. If you love all the Mediterranean flavors as much as I do, you’ll love this one!
The homemade tzatziki salad dressing is the perfect choice for this chopped salad. It’s great to use in so many different recipes and as a dressing/sauce for Mediterranean-style salads. Like my Southwestern kale salad and harvest cobb salad, this salad is a great option for lunches during the week and can easily be prepped ahead of time.
What you need for Mediterranean Salad with chicken:
- Lettuce: Use romaine or green leaf lettuce.
- Vegetables: Red onion, banana peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and dill.
- Feta cheese: While feta is traditional on greek and Mediterranean-style salads, you could also try ricotta, blue cheese, or mizithra.
- Chicken Tenders: Use any type of chicken tenders for this recipe: grilled or fried, frozen, or homemade. Air fryer chicken tenders are amazing in this recipe!
- Adobo Seasoning: This seasoning is popular in Latin American and Caribbean cuisines and makes this Mediterranean salad really pop with flavor!
- Pita bread: Add sliced or diced pita bread to this salad. If you like a little extra crunch, try pita chips instead!
What you need for homemade Tzatziki dressing:
- Greek yogurt: Use plain greek yogurt. I used Fage 0%.
- Avocado oil mayo: You could use regular mayo, but the flavor in the avocado oil goes better with this salad. It’s also full of heart-healthy fats from the avocado!
- Extra virgin olive oil: Use EVVO for this dressing as the flavor is stronger than light olive oil.
- Dill: While the recipe calls for fresh dill, you could substitute dried if you need to- one teaspoon of dried dill for every one tablespoon of fresh dill.
- Cucumber
- Lemon
- Garlic
How to make the Mediterranean Chopped Salad:
- Start by chopping all ingredients that you need for the salad: lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onion. Set aside.
- Dice the chicken tenders into one inch cubes. Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add chicken and adobo seasoning. Sauté chicken until completely cooked through.
- Prepare salad by adding lettuce to a large bowl. Then add the toppings! Tomatoes, cucumber, banana peppers, red onion, chicken and pita. Top with red pepper flakes, fresh dill and homemade tzatziki salad dressing.
How to make Tzatziki salad dressing
Prepare homemade tzatziki sauce by combining the greek yogurt, avocado oil mayo, olive oil, dill, cucumber, minced garlic clove, and sea salt/pepper in a small dish. Whisk well so everything is combined.
What I used to make this recipe:
Meal Prep and Storage Tips
This salad and dressing can both easily be prepped at the beginning of the week for a quick and easy lunch or dinner.
To meal prep the salad: Wash and dice the lettuce and vegetables. Make sure your vegetables and lettuce are fresh and as dry as possible. You may want to keep the tomato separate so that the juices don’t make the rest of the salad soggy. Prepare the chicken and store it separately from the vegetables in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Store the prepared salad in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 2-4 days.
To meal prep the tzatziki salad dressing: Make the dressing and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. It’s a good idea to make extra of this dip and it’s also amazing for dipping fresh veggies in and slathering on pita bread for a snack!
If you like this recipe, you may also enjoy these on One Balanced Life:
- Shrimp Cobb Salad
- Copycat Sweetgreen Chicken & Brussels Salad
- Kale Brussels Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Tzatziki Salad Dressing
Healthy, delicious salad!
Ingredients
- 2 cups green leaf or romaine lettuce
- 1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/4 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/4 cup banana peppers
- 1/4 cup chopped red onion
- 1-2 tbsp feta cheese
- 1lb chicken tenders (cut into nuggets)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp adobo seasoning
- For the tzatziki:
- 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1 tbsp avocado oil mayo
- 2 tbsp fresh dill
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup chopped cucumber
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- optional: pita bread
Instructions
Chop up chicken tenders into chicken nuggets. In pan, add olive oil to heat up.
Add chicken nuggets with adobo seasoning. Cook until completely cooked through. Set aside.
Make homemade tzatziki by combining all ingredients into large bowl to mix: Greek yogurt, mayo, lemon, cucumber, dill, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, garlic powder.
Prepare salad by chopping up all ingredients: tomatoes, cucumber and red onion.
Add on top of greens! Start with lettuce, add tomatoes, cucumber, banana peppers, red onion, cooked chicken. Add tzatziki on top with fresh dill and red pepper flakes, feta cheese.
Made this salad and it was absolutely delicious! It was an added bonus that it was easy to make. Will be making it again.
So happy to hear that, Abby!