Healthy Greek Chicken Salad

December 3, 2021 By Steph 33 Comments

This easy to prepare healthy Greek Chicken Salad is delicious and packed with protein and vegetables, for the easiest meal prep ever. Flavored with delicious spices reminiscent of Mediterranean cuisine, this chicken salad can be made in under thirty minutes, but tastes like it took much longer. Fresh cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives and fresh herbs combine to form a delicious and healthy chicken salad, with flavor in each bite.

How to make chicken salad lower calorie and lower fat

It took me trial and error to figure out how to lighten up chicken salad without making it super dry and boring. Chicken salad should be moist and creamy, and usually that requires a ton of mayo! A lot of lightened-up chicken salad recipes call for yogurt in place of mayo, which I can appreciate. But mentally I couldn’t get over the fact that the salad was primarily yogurt. I just felt like I was tasting that yogurt tang. Over time I have realized that a combination of mayo and Greek yogurt provides the perfect base for chicken salad! The yogurt just kind of helps stretch the mayo, without changing the flavor whatsoever. These are the brands of yogurt and mayo I swear by:

The other elements of a good chicken salad

Ok – so we’ve got the dressing covered, now let’s talk about what else chicken salad needs:

flavor
texture

The flavor part is relatively easy: add some spices and a splash of vinegar to your dressing to give it that extra pop of flavor. Here, I use red wine vinegar, as well as lemon zest and juice for some good acidic flavor. For spices, this recipe uses oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, dill, nutmeg, and fresh herbs. The combination of these spices makes for the perfect Mediterranean spice blend for this chicken salad.

For texture, I add cherry tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives, and feta cheese. The flavor and crunch of these elements offsets the creamy texture of the rest of the chicken salad. I promise, you won’t be disappointed in the flavor profile of this dish. If you like the flavor profile of this dish, you might also enjoy these recipes: Greek Chicken and Rice Skillet Greek Protein and Grain Bowls

The ingredient round-up

Here is a summary of the ingredients you will need to make this healthy Greek chicken salad:

cooked chicken
- To make this super quick and easy, I used rotisserie chicken breast. You can’t beat the flavor and convenience here. If you use rotisserie chicken breast, this recipe is done in just minutes.
cherry tomatoes
cucumber
- The cucumber is seeded and scooped out, to prevent the chicken salad from becoming watery during the week.
red onion
mint
parsley
basil
plain non-fat Greek yogurt
- You do not taste the yogurt here; it is used to stretch the mayo for fewer calories and less fat.
light mayo
lemon
red wine vinegar
- This, along with the lemon zest and juice, provides a pop of flavor and acidity that this chicken salad needs to balance out the creamy dressing. It also highlights the brininess of the olives.
kosher salt
dried oregano
garlic powder
onion powder
paprika
dried dill
nutmeg

How to make healthy Greek chicken salad

Shred the cooked chicken (you can also chop it if you prefer). To prepare the dressing, simply combine the yogurt, mayo, spices, vinegar, and lemon zest and juice.

Next, chop and prepare the vegetables: half the cherry tomatoes, half the cucumber and scoop the insides out. The seeds and pulp of the cucumber will make the salad soggy, so you are better off using the outer parts only. Chop the remaining cucumber, the red onion and kalamata olives. Chop the herbs, and measure out the cheese. In a large mixing bowl, add the vegetables and olives to the dressing. Fold in the shredded chicken, and the cheese and herbs. Stir to combine. Serve this chicken salad on a pita or wrap, or over greens. You can also serve them with mini pita for dipping. The serving size for this chicken salad is a generous, at a heaping 1.5 cup portion. You can also divide this into six servings at a heaping cup each, instead.

How-To Video

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