Panera Greek Salad (Panera Bread Copycat)

This Panera Greek Salad is an easy to make, homemade version of Panera Bread’s delicious Greek Chicken Salad. Topped with Panera’s Greek Dressing, this is a salad recipe you’ll want to make again and again.

This Greek Salad works well as both a light lunch, or as a starter salad for a main course. For some other light and healthy salads, try this Kale Crunch Salad or this Blueberry Goat Cheese Salad.

If you’re looking for more salads with chicken, try this Sweetgreen Harvest Bowl Copycat recipe.

Jump to:

• Recipe Highlights
• Ingredients & Substitutions
• Step By Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• 📖 Recipe

Recipe Highlights

• Panera Bread Copycat — If you have ever had Panera Bread’s Greek Chicken Salad and are wanting to make a homemade version yourself, this is the recipe for you. Topped with a Copycat Panera Bread Greek Salad Dressing, this is a close copycat recipe that you can make every day.
• Healthy & Filling — With the added grilled chicken, this Greek salad is a filling salad recipe that is packed with protein. It works as a side dish, but also as a healthy lunch recipe that will keep you full all afternoon.
• Easy To Meal Prep — This is a simple recipe that can easily be meal-prepped for the week ahead.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Grilled Chicken: I prefer to make chicken in a cast iron pan for this salad recipe. However, any type of cooked chicken breast seasoned with oregano, thyme and/or rosemary would work. You can also buy pre-seasoned chicken breast strips to save time.
• Romaine Lettuce: Romaine lettuce gives this salad its crispiness. You can use Iceberg lettuce as a substitute.
• Cherry Tomatoes: Use fresh cherry or grape tomatoes.
• Feta: Greek salad has to have lots of feta! You can use whatever type of feta you like.
• Cucumbers: Panera bread uses thin slices of cucumbers in their Greek salad. You can dice the cucumber if you prefer smaller pieces.
• Red Onion: Thinly sliced red onion complements all the other flavors well. You can use white onion as a substitute, but you may want to use a bit less onion since it can have a stronger flavor.
• Kalamata Olives: Kalamata olives are essential in a Greek salad. Pit and slice the olives before adding them to your salad. If you don’t have Kalamata olives, you can use black olives as a substitute.
• Pepperoncini Peppers: Panera bread uses a few pepperoncini peppers in their Greek salad for a bit of spice. If you don’t want the added spiciness, you can skip this ingredient.
• Olive Oil:  Use a high quality extra virgin olive oil. You can use another type of oil as a substitute, such as sunflower oil, avocado oil or vegetable oil.
• Apple Cider Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar is one of the main ingredients in this dressing. Use a high quality apple cider vinegar for the best flavor. If you don’t like apple cider vinegar, you can use white wine vinegar as a substitute.
• Garlic: You’ll need a clove of freshly minced garlic. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you can use ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder.
• Lemon Juice: Use freshly squeezed lemon juice for the best taste. However, if needed, you can use a high quality bottled lemon juice.
• Dried Herbs: For this dressing, you will need a few types of dried herbs including tarragon, oregano, parsley, rosemary and thyme. If you are missing one, that is ok, you can replace it with more oregano or parsley.
• Salt & Pepper: A dash of salt and pepper bring out all the other flavors in the dressing.

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1: Add the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, tarragon, oregano, parsley, rosemary and thyme to a mason jar. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds until the dressing is well emulsified.

Step 2: Add the grilled chicken, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, feta, red onion, kalamata olives and pepperoncini peppers to a large salad bowl. Pour the Greek salad dressing on top. Toss the salad to combine before eating.

Expert Tips

• Shake the dressing well. This Greek salad dressing separates more easily than other vinaigrettes. Make sure to shake the dressing extra vigorously and pour it as soon as you have stopped shaking it.
• Use salad tupperware to meal prep. The best way to meal prep this salad recipe is by used salad meal prep containers that let you store your ingredients & dressing separately until you are ready to eat it. This makes sure everything stays as fresh as possible.
• Add in some extras. If you are looking for some optional salad add-ins, try croutons, fresh parmesan or these seasoned bread crumbs.
• Make it creamy. If you want a creamier type of salad or are preparing this salad for kids who don’t like tangy Greek salad dressing, it also works really well with Caesar dressing.

Recipe FAQs

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📖 Recipe