Chopped Greek Quinoa Salad with Pita Chip Croutons

This Chopped Greek Quinoa Salad with Pita Chip Croutons is filled with lots of crunchy veggies, chickpeas, quinoa, handfuls of fresh herbs, feta, and crushed pita chips to top it all off! It’s dressed with a super simple red wine vinegar and lemon vinaigrette. It’s the perfect texture-filled salad to add to your lunch rotation!

Greek salads have always been a favorite of mine, and I always seem to go to them when nothing else sounds good. I think it’s a combination of all of the textures, the tanginess from the vinegary dressing, and the herbs that I can never get enough of! And in an effort to add an extra layer of crunch to this salad, I came up with my new favorite thing! Pita chip croutons! Or in other words – crushed up pita chips tossed into the salad. YES PLEASE.

If you know me well, you know that chips are my vice. If there’s any kind of chip around – salt and vinegar kettle chips (forever and always my #1), tortilla chips, pita chips, or anything salty, really, watch out. They’ll be gone in absolutely no time if I’m in the room.

So I thought, how can I take probably my favorite type of meal ever (a huge salad), and add my favorite snack to it?! And here we are. They add the perfect crunch and salty bite to this salad!

This is kind of my version of fattoush or panzanella! If you’ve never had fattoush, it’s a Lebanese salad that’s filled with crisped pita, chopped veggies, sumac, and a tangy dressing. My favorite version ever is at this tiny little restaurant in Michigan, but I have yet to re-create it at home. Adding it to my list!

Also, if you’ve never had panzanella, it’s pretty much the same idea, but with bread. Toasted bread cubes in salad! So incredible. And I have an amazing version coming in my cookbook this summer! Stay tuned for more details on that.

In addition to the crushed pita chips, we have a whole bunch of different textures and flavors in this salad.

For the base, I used green leaf lettuce (you could sub romaine, red leaf lettuce, butter lettuce, or whatever mild greens you like!), and then I added quinoa, chickpeas, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, feta, and a ton of fresh herbs.

They other key to this salad is the fresh herbs – I love to use handfuls of flat leaf parsley, fresh mint, and fresh oregano. Definitely don’t be shy with the herbs here – they really make the salad shine!

And I almost forgot – I finish the salad off with the zest of half of a lemon and then toss it all together. It adds such a beautiful brightness!

This is also a salad you could meal prep. Instead of tossing everything together, you can have your veggies all chopped and stored in containers, have your lettuce cleaned and chopped, pita chips crushed, herbs washed, dressing made, and then just assemble when you’re ready!

And if you like tangy, vinegary dressings, you might want to double this one. It’s so bright and fresh, and pairs really well with just about any salad!

And stay tuned for more fun salads – I have a bunch coming to the blog very soon! One of my goals this year is to share more of the types of meals I eat in real life – mostly plant based, whole food, seasonal type of stuff!

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This Chopped Greek Quinoa Salad with Pita Chip Croutons

This Chopped Greek Quinoa Salad with Pita Chip Croutons is filled with lots of crunchy veggies, chickpeas, quinoa, handfuls of fresh herbs, feta, and crushed pita chips to top it all off! It's dressed with a super simple red wine vinegar and lemon vinaigrette. It's the perfect texture-filled salad to add to your lunch routine!

Course Healthy, Lunch, Main, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Gluten Free, Greek, Vegetarian

Keyword chopped greek salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Servings 4

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the salad

• 1 head green leaf lettuce, chopped*
• 2 cups cooked quinoa*
• 1 (15.5 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 1/2 cups diced seedless cucumber
• 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1 (heaping) cup crushed pita chips
• salt and pepper
• zest of half a lemon

For the vinaigrette

• juice of 1 large lemon
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Salad

1. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, quinoa, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, parsley, mint, oregano, and feta. Toss to combine. Add the pita chips and toss again. Add desired amount of dressing and toss. Finish with a few pinches of salt and pepper, and the lemon zest. Toss one more time to combine. Serve!

Vinaigrette

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, oregano, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired. If you want a more "emulsified" dressing, you can make this in the blender or food processor as well. Will keep in the fridge for up to one week! 

Recipe Notes

*You can sub romaine, butter lettuce, red leaf lettuce, or whatever your favorite tender green is!
*2/3 cup of dry quinoa yields about 2 cups of cooked quinoa!