Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ♥

Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ♥ AVeggieVenture.com. Great crunch and color. Kid Friendly! Weight Watchers Friendly!
What a simple chopped salad, just cucumber, rainbow-colored bell peppers, carrot and celery tossed with a creamy feta Greek dressing and for extra crunch, toasted pita chips.

Fresh Vegetables, Fast & Casual. Not Just Easy, Summer Easy. Kid Friendly. Budget Friendly. Weeknight Easy, Weekend Special. Great for Meal Prep. Low Carb. Low Fat. Weight Watchers Friendly.


Kids & Grown-Ups Can Agree

My friend Ann put out a stunning array of food for our book club last month. But it was the salad — oh, the colorful salad! — that caught my attention first. "My kids devour this salad," the mother of two preteen boys said. Really? A salad with so many vegetables and kids gobble it down?

Turns out, the trick is the Toasted Pita Chips. Now I may be a grown-up but here, I'm with the kids. The pita chips really do add something special: without them, this salad would be just some chopped vegetables tossed in Greek salad dressing, good but not stand-out special. If you like Panzanella, the Italian bread salad, you'll love this one too.

BOOK CLUBS & READING GROUPS Speaking of book clubs, have you seen my reading group's book list? We've been reading together since 1994!

About This Recipe

This is a chopped salad, that is, a pile of chopped vegetables, held together with Greek salad dressing, tossed with a few crisp pita chips. The dressing and chips can be made from scratch, or for extra convenience, purchased at the grocery store.
The distinctive ingredients are all the veggies in combination, the the Greek dressing and most especially, the pita chips.
Ingredient List = pita chips (from scratch, you'll need 2 large pitas for toasting in the oven) + carrots + celery + 2 bell peppers + green onion + cucumber + Greek dressing (from scratch, you'll need garlic + sugar + salt + pepper + red wine vinegar + olive oil + mustard + feta + dried oregano)
The salad flies together in a flash, allow about 20 minutes, including the pitas. Allow an extra 10 minutes to make the Greek dressing from scratch.
The salad is a rainbow of vegetable colors! and vegetable crunch! with just the right amount of extra snap from the pita chips.
The recipe yields about 8 cups but is super-easy to scale up or down according to your needs.

For Best Results

For my weekly column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I interviewed chefs and translated their restaurant recipes for home kitchens. The most illuminating question? "How can a home cook ensure the same results?" So now I ask that question of myself, too, for my own recipes. Have another question? Ask away, I'll do my best to answer!


Don't skip the pita chips! They really make a difference!


Switch out the veggies?! Yes, of course. The recipe is written for vegetables that are super-easy to keep on hand and may already be in your fridge. But other vegetables may be added or substituted, of course. Just aim for color and crunch and freshness.


Dig in with gusto! That's Kalí óreksi! in Greek!


Grabbed by "Greek"

True Fact: I once fell in love with a Greek god on a Greek isle. But I don't think that's why recipes with the word "Greek" catch my attention. I've learned that those recipes usually include lots of fresh vegetables plus the wonderful sour of fresh feta. If "Greece" calls your name too, you'll love the recipes I've claimed as my own over the years.

Chicken Greek Salad with Simple Hummus
Greek Feta Chicken
Greek Chicken Dagwood Sandwiches
Tourlou Tourlou (Greek Baked Vegetables)
Greek Baked Beans (Gigantes Plaki)
Greek Pasta Salad
Greek Greens (Flash Cook to Eat Later)
Greek Rice Salad with Artichokes & Feta
Creamy Feta Mousse with Greek Salads
Spiral Zucchini Noodle “Zoodle” Greek Salad
Greek Lentil Soup
Greek Spinach-Asparagus-Potato Gratin (Spinaki me Sparaggia Orgraten)

COMPLIMENTS!
"MMMMM ... a lovely and tasty supper salad! Yummmmm ..." ~ Sophie

BOOKMARK! PIN! SHARE!
How do you save and share favorite recipes? recipes that fit your personal cooking style? a particular recipe your mom or daughter or best friend would just love? If this recipe hits the mark, go ahead, save and share! I'd be honored ...

Greek Bread Salad with Toasted Pita Chips ♥ AVeggieVenture.com. Great crunch and color. Kid Friendly! Weight Watchers Friendly!


Summer Easy, a special collection of Less Cookin' and More Livin' recipes especially for summer ♥ KitchenParade.com all summer long.
This recipe is so quick and easy that I'm adding it to a growing collection of easy summer recipes published all summer long ever since 2009 at Kitchen Parade, my food column. With a free Kitchen Parade e-mail subscription, you'll never miss a one!





GREEK BREAD SALAD with TOASTED PITA CHIPS

Hands-on time: 20 minutes
Time to table: 20 minutes
Makes 8 cups (easily halved)

TOASTED PITA CHIPS
2 large pitas

SALAD
2 carrots, peeled and chopped small
4 ribs celery, trimmed and chopped small
1 red pepper, cored and chopped small
1 orange or yellow pepper, cored and chopped small
3 green onions, white and green parts both, chopped
1/2 an English cucumber, chopped small
Homemade Greek Salad Dressing or commercial Greek salad dressing

TOASTED PITA CHIPS Set the oven to 350F/180C. Cut the pitas into squares, separating the two sides. Drop onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes until crisp, tossing after 10 minutes and every 5 minutes until done. Can be made in advance, they stay crisp!

SALAD Chop and combine the vegetables in a large bowl. Can be done in advance.

TO SERVE Just before serving, toss with Greek salad dressing. Stir in the Toasted Pita Chips and serve.

ALANNA's TIP & KITCHEN NOTES
STORE-BOUGHT DRESSING For convenience, Ann uses a commercial salad dressing. If I were doing this, I'd thin it a bit with a little milk so it wouldn't be so thick and gloppy and would go further.
STORE-BOUGHT PITA CHIPS? Sure! That makes this an extra-easy salad.
FLAT BREAD? The first time I made this salad, I toasted some flat bread that was on hand. NOT as good! (Didn't I say the pita chips are special?) Now that I know how good the pita chips taste, next time I'll bake extra to keep on hand for adding to other salads, just a few at a time.
CELERY IS IMPORTANT The proportion of celery in this salad seems important to the overall crunch of this salad. When I once used just two ribs of celery, it wasn't enough.

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Still Hungry?


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carrots celery bell peppers cucumbers feta

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~ Babe's Naked Fruit & Veggie Salad ~
~ more chopped salad recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture

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from Kitchen Parade, my food column



Looking for healthy new ways to cook vegetables? A Veggie Venture is home to hundreds of super-organized quick, easy and healthful vegetable recipes and the famous Asparagus-to-Zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables. Join "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg to explore the exciting world of common and not-so-common vegetables where recipes range from seasonal to staples, savory to sweet, salads to sides, soups to supper, simple to special.

© Copyright Kitchen Parade
2010, 2021 (repub) & 2023

Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. The salad looks delicious and I do love the Italian Bread salad, too--so will give this a try--can't wait to get your Greek Dressing. On book list--WOW! Have you all read any Louise Erdrich. She is a favorite of mine.

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  2. Thank you for posting this delicious recipe, along with the nutritional info! that's really helpful.

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  3. yeah, Dinner for tonight is planned :)

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  4. I love panzanella, so I'm sure I'd love this salad with pitas. Sounds perfect for summer or anytime to me, Alanna!

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe, whether a current recipe or a long-ago favorite. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. ~ Alanna