I guess we’ve hit that time of the year where just I want to eat cold salads every day (Hi, summer!). So I decided to take one of my favorite pasta salads, Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad, and transform it into a full meal. I added a few other vegetables and used half of the dressing to marinate a couple juicy chicken thighs. And ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! So much of a winner that I ate this Greek Chicken Pasta Salad for breakfast this morning. ;) #noregrets
Greek Chicken Pasta Salad Portion Sizes
This Greek Chicken Pasta Salad comes together quickly and easily and makes about four large meal-sized portions, or about six smaller side dish portions. It’s also a great candidate for potlucks, and would be super easy to double, or even triple if needed.
Can I Use Chicken Breast Instead of Thighs?
Yes, just make sure you pound your chicken breast to an even thickness, about 3/4-inch thick before marinating. Making sure the chicken is thin and even will help it cook quickly without drying it out. You can also filet your chicken breast into two thinner pieces, or use chicken tenders.
Make it Vegetarian
Want to make it vegetarian? No problem. Just skip the chicken and you can probably halve the dressing/marinade (or just make the full batch if you really like a lot of dressing on your salads). The medley of vegetables are plenty to keep this salad filling and interesting on its own! And if you want a little more protein in there, chickpeas would do very well with these flavors!
Greek Chicken Pasta Salad
Servings 4 to 6Ingredients
MARINADE/DRESSING
- 1 lemon ($0.59)
- 1/4 cup olive oil ($0.64)
- 3 cloves garlic, divided ($0.24)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano ($0.07)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
SALAD
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken thighs ($2.10)
- 8 oz. pasta (any shape) ($0.50)
- 1 bell pepper (any color) ($1.50)
- 4 oz. grape tomatoes* ($1.00)
- 1/2 cucumber (1.5 cups diced) ($1.00)
- 1/4 bunch parsley ($0.20)
- 2 oz. feta ($1.12)
Instructions
- Use a zester, microplane, or small-holed cheese grater to remove the zest from the lemon. Set the zest aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a separate bowl. You’ll need at least 1/4 cup juice.
- Prepare the dressing and marinade by mincing two of the three cloves of garlic and combining them with 1/4 cup lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt, some freshly cracked pepper, and a pinch of the lemon zest. Whisk these ingredients until well combined.
- Place the chicken thighs in a small zip lock bag and add half of the dressing, saving the rest to add to the salad later. Mince one more clove of garlic and add it to the bag with the chicken and marinade. Squeeze the air out and massage the bag to make sure the thighs are well coated in the marinade. Refrigerate the thighs for at least 30 minutes.
- While the chicken is marinating, cook the pasta according to the package directions, drain in a colander, and let cool.
- Heat a skillet over a medium flame. Once hot, add the marinated chicken thighs and cook on each side until they are well browned and cooked through (about 5 minutes each side). There should be enough oil in the marinade to keep the meat from sticking. Remove the cooked chicken from the skillet and let it rest for about five minutes. Once slightly cooled, chop the chicken into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
- While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Dice the cucumber and bell pepper. Slice the tomatoes in half (or dice if using Roma or regular tomatoes). Pull the parsley leaves from the stems and give them a rough chop.
- Finally, build the salad. Add the cooked and cooled pasta to a large bowl. Top the pasta with the cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, parsley, and chopped chicken. Crumble the feta over top and add a pinch or two of the lemon zest. Pour the remaining dressing over the salad and toss to coat. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Video
Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Greek Chicken Pasta Salad – Step by Step Photos
Start by removing the zest from one lemon. The zest is the magic part of the lemon. It provides an incredibly lemony flavor without making things too sour. So, for this recipe we use both the juice and the zest for an extra lemony kick. Use a zester, microplane, or small-holed cheese grater to scrape the thin layer of yellow zest from the peel. Set the zest aside. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into a separate bowl. You’ll need at least 1/4 cup of juice.
Now prepare the mixture that will be used as both the dressing and the marinade. Mince two cloves of garlic and combine them in a bowl with 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, some freshly cracked pepper, and a pinch of that lemon zest. Whisk with a fork until well combined.
Add two boneless, skinless chicken thighs to a zip lock bag and add half of that dressing, plus one more clove of minced garlic (you really want the chicken to be garlicky!). Squeeze out all the air, give the bag a quick massage to distribute the marinade, then refrigerate the chicken for at least 30 minutes.
While the chicken is marinating, cook 8oz. of pasta (any shape) according to the package directions. Drain the pasta in a colander, and let it cool.
Heat a skillet over a medium flame and once hot, add the marinated chicken thighs. There should be enough oil on them from the marinade to keep them from sticking. Cook the thighs on each side until well browned and cooked through (about five minutes each side). Seriously, this chicken was SO GOOD that I’m probably going to feature it as its own recipe soon. I wanted to eat it by itself.
Remove the chicken from the skillet and let it rest for a few minutes, then chop it into smaller, bite-sized pieces.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rest of the vegetables. Dice 1/2 cucumber (1.5 cups diced), dice the bell pepper, slice the tomatoes in half (or dice if using Roma or regular tomatoes), and give the parsley a rough chop.
Finally, it’s time to put everything together! Place the cooked, drained, and cooled pasta in a large bowl (it’s under there, I swear). Top the pasta with the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, parsley, and chopped chicken. Finally, crumble 2oz. feta over everything and add one last pinch of lemon zest.
Pour the remaining dressing over the salad…
And toss until everything is coated in dressing. Done!
I miiiiiight have to make this Greek Chicken Pasta Salad again immediately after this batch is gone. Yeah, definitely.
This salad is soooooooooo good! I’m addicted to it! <3
This salad was so easy to make and absolutely delicious. I’ll be adding this into rotation throughout the summer. Thank you for sharing.
Why 3 stars then?!?
🤷🏼♀️
Made it for dinner tonight and my wife loves it, thanks. I added honey to the marinate for a Little sweet to taste.
This was tasty! However, I plan to add black olives next time since I think it really could have used the extra salt. I added a bit too much dressing which resulted in an overly sour salad, but I think olives would have balanced everything out.
Question for Beth: What kind of veggie could I substitute for tomatoes?
I don’t think you’d necessarily have to replace it with anything, but you could always add a second bell pepper of another color, artichoke hearts, or maybe even some chopped zucchini.
Completely revamped the whole thing (kept it rather warm + added olives and made own sauce) but still amazing
DELICIOUS! Zingy, refreshing, full of flavor and light. I made it tonight and it was such a hit! This is the lemony chicken salad I’ve always been waiting for….<3
OMG!!!! I just made this recipe last night and BOY OH’ BOY!… It was the BOMB!!!! the only change I made was that I added green pepper and black olives… nom nom! I brought some to work today and it didn’t even make it to lunch… I busted my container open around 10:00 a.m. and began grubbing…LOL!!! Can’t wait to go home to my leftovers!
I made this recipe a few weeks ago and it was a HIT with my family! So in celebration of my husband for Father’s Day, I made another batch and doubled it! My husband is so excited about this meal and leftover. I honestly at one point addicted to Panera Bread Greek with Chicken until I discovered this recipe! This is so filling and the flavor is awesome!
We love this Salad. I use chicken breasts and they are so full of flavor, I often make them on their own with rice or steamed vegetables on the side. Definitely make extra dressing to keep on hand since the salad can get a bit dry the next day. Thank you, Beth. We’ve had a taste of summer all winter long!
This salad is soooooooooo good! I’m addicted to it! <3
I can’t even find the right words to describe how amazing this was. Maybe the best thing I have eaten all year. Best part, work evenings, get home late, hate cooking long on work nights. This I can make in the morning and just ready and waiting work nights…This will be a weekly addition.
This has turned into a huge favorite in our household! Even minus the garlic and tomatoes (allergies), it is so flavorful and tasty, and nice to look at, too! Even in Japan, it is easy to find almost every ingredient (except the feta, but we stock up on that anyway when it goes on sale), which is an even bigger bonus. I think we’ve made this at least five times since you first posted the recipe and I don’t see that ending until we are out of summer vegetable season. Thank you so much!
This salad was so easy to make and absolutely delicious. I’ll be adding this into rotation throughout the summer. Thank you for sharing.
This was so good! and surprisingly filling as well. I did halve the recipe to make 2 portions and added a bit more feta because it’s not as expensive in the UK (£1.20 for 200g)
This was phenomenal! I’m usually not a big fan of summer pasta salads, but this is the long lost perfect recipe I’ve been searching for:) Thanks for changing my perspective on summer salads! :)