Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

Loaded with bright flavors, appealing textures, and dressed in a tangy fresh Greek dressing, this lemony loaded Greek salad with hummus is the perfect vegetarian entree salad for dinner or lunch.

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

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You know what’s weird? I’m normally not a huge Greek salad fan. I could generally take them or leave them because I’m meh about feta and kalamata olives. I know. What kind of foodie am I?

But, this restaurant nearby me has this Greek salad that’s so good. I discovered it when I was pregnant with my daughter and hated all food that wasn’t either spicy or lemony. It’s huge, satisfying, and quite possibly one of my favorite summer salads. Instead of it just being a few sad pieces of lettuce mixed with tomatoes and olives, this Greek salad had homemade hummus, pita wedges, and the usual suspects. Plus it was dressed in a delicious white wine vinaigrette.

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

Seriously swoon.

That salad inspired this loaded Lemony Greek salad. Instead of a sad, sad salad with limp lettuce and a few slices of tomatoes and cucumbers, mine is loaded with this delicious lemon pesto hummus, chickpeas, pita wedges, crumbled cheese, plus the usual cucumbers, tomatoes, and olives. Then I dress the whole thing with a red wine vinaigrette.

The result?

A gorgeous, satisfying salad that you must eat at least 10 times before the end of summer. Promise me ok?

What is a traditional Greek salad?

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

An ordinary Greek salad offers a puny selection of vegetables with some feta thrown in. Traditionally, it includes halved or quartered tomatoes, cucumber wheels or wedges, diced onions,  and sliced or whole olives. In some cases, you might find that someone added green peppers or caper berries.

Fun fact: a genuine Greek salad that you’d find while traveling to Greece does not start with lettuce.

A Greek Salad you’d find in Greece is typically made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, feta cheese, kalamata olives, oregano and olive oil. That’s it! No lettuce.

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

So what makes my Lemony Loaded Greek Salad different than other Greek salad recipes out there? For one thing, I start with the lettuce. I like a good sturdy lettuce like crunchy romaine or even butter lettuce would work well. From there, I add most of the traditional ingredients including tomatoes, cucumbers, and olives- though I went with black olives instead of kalamata olives because I prefer black olives.

But then I stray a little from tradition. Then, to add some bulk and protein to the salad I add my own Lemon Pesto Hummus. Feeling lazy? Heck, we all do, you can always add your favorite store bought hummus. Finally, I also add small wedges of pitas and a light dressing.

That’s it. You have a simple, but loaded, Greek salad that is hearty enough to eat for dinner. And it is easy enough to make after a long day at work or wrangling your kids. Or both.

Tips for making lemony loaded Greek salad

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

Made from scratch, my lemony loaded Greek salad does not take much to get ready. But if you feel a need for speed, here are some tips that make this easy recipe even easier:

• use a can of pre-sliced olives – black, kalamata, or green olives are all good choices
• use the leftovers from this recipe Lemon Pesto Hummus  or use a store bought container of hummus
• half cherry tomatoes, removing the extra slice to quarter them can save like one minute of prep time
• find pre-cut cucumbers at the salad bar at your local grocery store, you’ll certainly pay extra for them, but if you don’t like slicing cucumbers (who really likes chopping anything really?), you may be able to short cut this step

For best results for the dressing, I recommend the following:

• tempted as I am to always add garlic cloves until my Italian ancestors whisper in the wind for me to stop, it is truly best to add only one, medium sized clove. Too much more and you will over power the dressing and be able to kill vampires with your breath.
• I like to let the dressing sit for a few minutes to let the flavors come together. This doesn’t have to be long, but make the dressing first, and let it sit while you make the salad

Make this Greek salad your own! Serving Suggestions for Greek Salads

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad with Hummus

Want to change it up a bit or make it more filling? You could definitely do that.

Try adding this Garlic Herb grilled chicken to your Greek salad. Other good options if you are looking to add some meat to this vegetarian salad:

• lemon shrimp skewers
• Salmon kebabs
• Greek lamb kebobs
• Pan fried pork chops

Other things you could do:

• Add in some pan fried halloumi (I always advocate adding more cheese. ALWAYS)
• throw in some chopped red onions
• add in several varieties of olives
• keep the salad lower carb by forgoing the pita wedges
• toss in some marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms

And if you wanted, you could also serve this as an appetizer salad. It would pair awesomely with this Mediterranean shrimp pasta and this roast chicken.

Lemony Loaded Greek Salad

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• Author: Jenna
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 2-4 servings 1x

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Description

Loaded with bright flavors, appealing textures, and dressed in a tangy fresh Greek dressing, this lemony loaded Greek salad with hummus is the perfect vegetarian entree salad for dinner or lunch. 

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the salad

• 2 heads of romaine hearts, chopped
• 2 cucumbers sliced
• 4 pitas, cut into triangles
• 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 ounces of ricotta salata or feta crumbled
• 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 2.25 ounce can of sliced black olives, drained
• 1/2 cup of lemon or lemon pesto hummus
• Fresh oregano and lemon to garnish if desired

For the dressing

• 1/4 c of olive oil
• 1/8 c of red wine vinegar
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic, pressed
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 teaspoon of fresh oregano, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together and letting it sit for a few minutes for the flavors to combine.

Make the lemon pesto hummus according to instructions or use your favorite store bought hummus. Set aside.

Assemble the salad by gently tossing together the romaine, sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, olives and cheese. Top with hummus and pita wedges, garnish with lemon wedges and fresh oregano if desired. Serve with the red wine viniagrette.

• Category: salad, entree salad, appetizer
• Cuisine: Greek, American

Keywords: Greek salad, Greek salad with hummus, lemony Greek salad, loaded Greek salad