Sharing a loaded mediterranean grilled chicken salad today. It’s the kind of salad that’s without a doubt a complete meal – full of grilled & fresh vegetables, hearty bulgur, spiced chickpeas, cucumbers, feta cheese, olives, and walnuts. Everything’s tossed with a vibrant chimichurri vinaigrette for a final pop of flavor. This is definitely the kind of salad you can prep one day and mix up all week long.
Come summertime, I crave big salads that have just about everything but the kitchen sink in them. Ones that are filling and substantial, but still light and refreshing. This roasted red pepper & chicken salad is one of my favorites to make over and over again, but it was time to mix things up a bit.
And when I threw together some leftover vegetables with staple ingredients I usually have on hand and tossed it all in a chimichurri-inspired vinaigrette…it was just too good not to share!
what’s in this mediterranean grilled chicken salad?
- grilled chicken & eggplant
- roasted cherry tomatoes
- fresh cucumbers
- crispy sumac-spiced chickpeas
- simply cooked bulgur
- toasted walnuts
- feta cheese
- green olives
- mixed greens
Everything gets tossed in the bright vinaigrette that’s made with essentially all the ingredients of a chimichurri – red wine vinegar, garlic, lemon, extra-virgin olive oil, and lots of parsley.
What I love about this salad is that it can be an entire meal in one. We’re covering all the bases – meat, grain, and vegetables. We’ve got a mix of grilled, roasted, and fresh ingredients. There’s lots of flavor, lots of texture, and lots of good stuff for us in here.
You can make this for a few people or what I’ve been doing is prepping a full batch of all the ingredients, storing them separately, and tossing together salads all week long!
PrintMediterranean Grilled Chicken Salad with Chimichurri Vinaigrette
a flavor and ingredient-packed mediterranean grilled chicken salad with bulgur, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, feta cheese, olives, walnuts, roasted chickpeas, and a chimichurri vinaigrette
servings: 4-6
Ingredients
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- olive oil
- kosher salt
- 1 (15 oz) can chickpeas
- 2 tsp sumac (optional)
- ½ cup bulgur
- 2 large skinless chicken breasts
- 1 eggplant, sliced ½”
- 5 oz mixed greens
- ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
- 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
- 4 oz green olives, halved
- 1 cucumber, thinly shaved
Chimichurri Vinaigrette
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 lemon, zested + juiced
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cups packed parsley leaves, finely chopped
- kosher salt
Instructions
Mediterranean Chicken Salad:
- Heat the grill over high heat and preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Combine the cherry tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and a pinch of salt in a skillet. Roast for about 25 minutes until tender and caramelized.
- Rinse, drain, and dry the chickpeas. Spread them out onto a sheet pan and toss with a generous drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and the sumac. Roast for about 20 minutes until golden and crisp.
- Meanwhile, combine the bulgur, water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pan. Cook for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and fluff the bulgur with a fork. Transfer to a plate to cool.
- Coat the chicken and eggplant generously with olive oil. Season well with salt. Grill the chicken over high heat for about 6 minutes and the eggplant for 2-3 minutes, flipping halfway through, to get nice char marks on both sides. Lower the heat to medium, cover the grill, and continue to cook until the chicken is done, about 4-6 minutes longer, and the eggplant is tender, about 3-4 minutes longer.
- Transfer the chicken and eggplant to a cutting board. Let cool slightly. Cut both into ½” chunks. Add them to a mixing bowl, along with the chickpeas, bulgur, mixed greens, walnuts, feta, olives, and cucumbers.
- Drizzle the chimichurri vinaigrette (recipe below) into the bowl. Toss the salad really well to coat all of the ingredients with the vinaigrette. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
Chimichurri Vinaigrette:
- Whisk the red wine vinegar, garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice together in a mixing bowl.
- Slowly stream in the olive oil, whisking continuously. Stir in the parsley leaves and salt to taste.
- Use immediately or store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
If you want to meal prep this salad, just make the vinaigrette and prepare all of the ingredients as instructed, but store everything separately. When you want to build a salad, combine and toss everything together as needed. If you combine the salad and then store it in the fridge for leftovers, it will become soggy.
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