EASY GREEK SALAD RECIPE | plus meal prep ideas & tips!

Are you guys ready for one of the best healthy salad recipes? And side note, one of my personal favorites, it's Greek salad. And with only six ingredients plus one super flavorful dressing, it's really hard to beat this classic salad. There's just something so wonderful about the simplicity of it. I'll give you a few tips in the video for making and meal prepping the best Greek salad and I'll show you how to turn this salad that's often an appetizer or a side salad into a heartier full meal. So let's dive right in. As I mentioned, there's just a handful of ingredients needed for a classic Greek salad, also known as choriotiki. And the first one is cucumber. I'm using an English cucumber rather than a field cucumber as I'm leaving the skin on. And an English cucumber has a naturally thinner skin. These are the cucumbers that you'll often find wrapped in plastic at the market. And that's because their thinner skin is more fragile. Now, I realized about halfway through slicing that it would have been far easier and more logical to slice the cucumber lengthwise first, then slice across. But I decided to slice across first, which means that I'll then just stack a bunch of slices on top of each other and cut them into quarters. But either way works. Once you've got the cucumber sliced up, add it to a large mixing bowl. And since I've been getting lots of questions on the little food scraper that I use to scoop veggies into my bowl, I've now linked it in the description box below. It is super cheap and very handy. Next up is one bell pepper. And while you could really use any color, I'm opting for green today. Just slice the top and bottom off the bell pepper and remove the seeds. Slice the bell pepper into strips and then across for a fairly chunky dice. Unlike other recipes where I'll dice veggies fairly small, this Greek salad is best when everything is pretty chunky. Not only does it give it more of a rustic farm-to-table vibe, but it's also easier to eat with your fork. Don't forget to slice up the edible parts around the stem on the top and bottom because we don't want any food waste. And then add the bell pepper to your mixing bowl. Next up is one pint of grape tomatoes and just slice those in half. If you've got juicy and fresh tomatoes from your garden, feel free to swap those in as well and slice them into large chunks. The key takeaway with a Greek salad is just that everything is as fresh as it can be so that the handful of simple flavors really shines. So once your tomatoes are sliced up, add them to the bowl with the other ingredients. In terms of the onion for this salad, I've seen shallots, white onion, and red onion used, but red onion is definitely more authentic. You'll need half of a medium red onion and once it's sliced in half and the skin is removed, I like to cut it into thin wedges sliced top to bottom through the root end. I think this gives a prettier presentation to the final salad rather than slicing it across as I normally would when I want thin slices of an onion or before I'm about to dice it. But again, either way works, so you do you. And before adding the onion to the bowl, I'll just gently break apart the red onion pieces. Of course, you can't make a Greek salad recipe without olives, so that's next on our list. You'll need half a cup of pitted Kalamata olives and I like to slice them in half, though I know from Greek friends that it's also common to keep the olives whole and that aligns with a common theme throughout this salad that big, chunky pieces are best. My Greek downshifters watching this video in Greece will have to chime in on the comments below about whether they slice their olives or keep them whole and whether they use Kalamata olives or green olives. And last but certainly not least is the feta cheese. Make sure you buy a high-quality Greek feta cheese that's cut into blocks. Don't use pre-crumbled feta for this salad if you can help it. I know it's easy, but I don't really think the flavor compares, which is probably due to the anti-caking additives added to those tubs of crumbled cheese. Plus, when you've got a large block of feta, about four ounces or so, you can either slice it into cubes or crumble it yourself into large chunks. And now for the dressing. The reality is that authentic Greek salads are often just drizzled with high-quality olive oil and red wine vinegar. It's simple and easy, but I'm making my homemade Greek salad dressing that's more of a vinaigrette and similar to what you'd find in bottles at the supermarket. To make that, add a third cup red wine vinegar to a bowl along with a juice of one lemon, one teaspoon of Dijon mustard, two minced garlic cloves, half a teaspoon of dried oregano, a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt, and a quarter teaspoon of black pepper. Then while you're whisking that together, you can drizzle in half a cup of olive oil until it's emulsified. Now, fun fact, Greek salads are often not mixed before serving. A single serving is just a plate with a pile of veggies, a chunk of feta cheese on top, and a sprinkle of dried oregano. But as this is a family-sized and meal-prep-ready version of Greek salad, I'm gonna go ahead and lightly stir it up with a drizzle of the dressing. If I'm serving it up for family or a dinner party, I'll transfer it to a prettier bowl and then leave the remaining dressing on the side in case some folks would like to add more. And the beauty of this salad is that because there's no leafy greens or anything that will wilt, it's the perfect salad to meal-prep because it's durable. This simple mix of ingredients makes it the perfect appetizer salad or light lunch. But for those who crave something a bit heartier with more protein, there's two ways you can enhance this salad that's not so traditional or authentic, but still very tasty. And the first is by adding chicken. If you've made my herb-baked chicken breast recipe from my website or my very first meal-prep video that now has over 16 million views, this recipe will look familiar. And it's the baked chicken breast that I personally make most often. Just drizzle the chicken with a little bit of olive oil and rub it in on both sides, then sprinkle a bunch of herbs. I honestly never measure the herbs and just sprinkle a combo of basil, thyme, and oregano, along with salt and pepper. You could also add garlic powder if you'd like. Once the herbs are rubbed into both sides, just bake the chicken at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken. Then remove it from the oven, let it rest for a few minutes, and slice it up into strips or chunks. You can always keep the chicken in a separate storage container in the fridge. And for those who want to add it to their salad, they can add a portion of the Greek salad into a bowl and then top it with a portion of the chicken. Then for more healthy fats to fill you up, you can add about a quarter of an avocado and dice that up. This is honestly one of my favorite summertime lunches or dinners that fills me up without weighing me down, and it just exudes freshness even when it's meal prepped. Now, if you're a vegetarian, there's a really easy option for you in adding protein, and that's by adding canned beans. I love adding either garbanzo beans or white beans, and both of these are loaded with about seven grams of protein per half cup. So choose whichever beans are your favorite, then make sure you drain and rinse them well to remove that slimy, starchy residue from being in the can. Of course, you can use soaked and cooked beans as well, though canned is always quick and easy. Similar to the diced chicken, you can store the beans in a separate container in the fridge for the week. And again, whoever wants beans added to their Greek salad can add them to an individual portion. I'm also adding avocado to this version to plump it up, but also just because I'm an avocado lover and feel like it's always a welcome addition. No matter how you serve this Greek salad, either as a traditional Greek salad or a modified version with extra protein, it is delicious and a recipe you should definitely have on repeat during summer. If you enjoyed today's video, please do hit that like button as it helps to support my channel. Share this recipe with your family and friends for a little healthy inspiration, and I will see you again in the next video.