My Favorite Greek Salad with Homemade Whole Wheat Pita.
I’m totally cheating.
Like super cheating. I’m only telling you about FIVE ingredients today – five ingredients in my favorite salad. A salad that can be lettuceless too, which is even better.
At least, five star ingredients. Buying it?
Boom. One two three four five.
Okay, maybe a few extra ingredients. There is a dressing. My crazy favorite salad dressing, slightly adapted from one in my cookbook and while it pairs fantastically with this greek salad, it works on all salads. All salads! Make a big batch and keep it in your fridge.
And then, pita. Whole wheat pita to be exact. We will chat about it soon. In just a few scrolls.
Just a few scrolls? Oh 2015. Get with it. I desperately need to, considering the song that has been playing in my head over and over is “pretty fly for a white guy.” What.
This dressing is my dream. I usually go for a simple olive oil and vinegar on my salad with lots of salt and pepper. If I have time, some sort of homemade vinaigrette. So this is me having time, and it’s awesome because you can make it ahead of time. It has extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar, but it also has honey, lemon juice, crushed garlic, dried oregano and dried dill weed. The oregano and the dill MAKE this. It sounds easy and it is. And these flavors mesh and create wonders.
I swear. I swear on my teddy bear.
Once I whip up the dressing, I pour it over my oh-so important five ingredients.
Tomatoes.
Cucumbers!
Kalamata olives!!
Thinly sliced shallots.
A leeeettle bit of feta.
And it goes like this. Marinate it. Marinate it for 30 minutes. Marinate it for eight hours. The longer, the better. But obviously not like, weeks long, since it’s veg and stuff.
This is why I do what I do:
Tomatoes? Go for the rich little cherry or grape ones. Halve or quarter them. Cucumbers? Buy a big seedless one, peel it even if you don’t mind the peel. Cut it into cubes. Toss in your olives. My most important rule? The SHALLOTS. I prefer thinly sliced shallots over traditional red onion in slices or chunks. Shallots are slightly sweeter and don’t accost your tastebuds in the same way. The flavor is somewhat milder and since the onion portion will be raw, I say shallots win.
And the biggest player… the cheese. No kidding. I like to take half of the feta that I’m planning on using for the salad when serving and crumble it in. Let it marinate. Have you ever had marinated feta? Tastes like unicorn tears.
When you want to eat your salad, go for it in it’s pure marinated form or toss it with some butter lettuce. If you really want to get freaky, add in a few marinated artichoke hearts. The beauty of this is that you can use the ingredients that YOU like. For instance, I tend to go a bit lighter on the cucumber because Eddie isn’t a fan. I go heavier on the olives because I could survive on tart and briney things for the rest of my life.
I go doubly heavy on the feta, because…
CHEESE.
If you let your salad marinate, you should definitely try making your own pita in the downtime.
GUYS.
Why haven’t I been making my own pita forever? I’m annoyed. I’m annoyed that I haven’t and that I’ve wasted good money that could be spent on shoes on grocery store bagged pita instead. 2015 is all about life lessons.
I made a whole wheat version based on this recipe from the kitchn and OH MY GOSH was it ever soft and fluffy. In addition to this salad I would like to suggest 13 pounds of hummus for pita dipping purposes.
These are easy. Yes, you make a yeasted dough. My go-to doughs are almost always foolproof as long as I use lukewarm water and honey, and add the salt with the flour. TRY IT! Once this rises, you cut it into equal pieces (again, do your thang. do you want mini pitas? a pita the size of your face?) and roll it out until it’s super duper thin. Like REALLY thin. Throw it on a hot cast iron skillet for three-ish minutes, flipping once, and you’re done. You have pita in your kitchen!
It’s fabulous for soaking up the extra dressing. Trust me.
It’s fabulous for sandwiches and peanut butter and bananas and even a bacon horseradish dip in your mom’s fridge. It’s all that and a bag of chips. Except it’s pita. You can do it!
Let’s salad up this Monday.
My Favorite Greek Salad with Homemade Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Ingredients
dressing
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 2 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed
- 1/2 teaspoon dill weed
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salad
- 2 shallots, thinly sliced
- 2 cups grape tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup pitted kalamata olives, some sliced if desired
- 8 ounces feta
whole wheat pita
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 package, 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for your workspace/kneading
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- canola oil for brushing
Instructions
dressing
- In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, honey, garlic, dill, oregano, salt and pepper. Continue to whisk while streaming in the olive oil. This dressing stays great in the fridge in a sealed container for a week or so, so feel free to make a double batch if desired!
salad
- In a large bowl, combine the shallots, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives and half of the feta. Pour the dressing over top and let the mixture marinate anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight. It’s SO delicious the longer it sits!
- You can east the salad like this (which I do often) or toss it with some butter lettuce or romaine for a bulkier “real” salad. When you’re serving the marinated salad, top with the remaining feta. Another option you can throw in is marinated artichoke hearts.
whole wheat pita
- Combine the water, yeast and honey in a bowl, stirring once to mix. Let it sit until foamy, about 10 minutes, then stir in the flour and salt. Stir until the dough comes together then use your hands to further bring it together – if it is super sticky, add a bit more flour (I usually add extra all-purpose when needed). Place the dough on a floured surface and knead it with your hands for above 5 minutes. I have kneaded it for a shorter amount of time and it’s been fine. Rub oil along the inside of a bowl and place the dough inside, then cover it and set it in a warm place so it can rise. Let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Place the dough back on the floured surface and knead a few times. If it’s still sticky, add a few sprinkles of flour with your hands and knead until it’s silky smooth. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece out as thinly as you can – we are talking super THIN.
- Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Brush with a bit of canola (or another higher heat) oil. Place the thin dough round on the skillet and cook for 30 seconds, just until it starts to bubble. Flip it over and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, it should get puffy and have a few golden spots. Flip over and cook for another minute. Set aside and repeat.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to follow @howsweeteats on instagram and tag #howsweeteats. You can also post a photo of your recipe to our facebook page.
I appreciate you so much!
This is totally a salad that deserves a face dive.
117 Comments on “My Favorite Greek Salad with Homemade Whole Wheat Pita.”
I am TOTALLY buying the 5 ingredients that you’re selling because Greek Salad is my FAVORITE kind of salad! The crispy veggies, the FETA CHEESE…and the homemade pita?! WHAT THE WHAT. I’ve never made pita before, but this I NEED TO TRY. Pinned!
I’d be impressed with just the salad, but the pita too?!? SO SOFT AND FLUFFY!
Tooooooootally making this this week. Can’t wait to try the homemade pita!
Wow now all I want is greek salad. Love the use of shallots here. What a good idea to get that bite from onion but less overpowering than traditional red onion. The dressing sounds fabulous!!
did you use a whole wheat bread flour, whole wheat pastry flour? looks yummy like everything you make!
regular 100% whole wheat – not bread or pastry! it worked great – i think pastry would probably be too soft and light?
Thank you mentioning that this salad taste better AFTER Siting. The onions ( esp red onions are so sweet from the acid in the dress which is perfect for salty feta and olives. The juiciness of the cumcber and toms are just bursting with juice and add their own flavour to the dressing. OH your bread looks mouthwatering Jessica!
Ha! Unicorn tears! I love it :) This salad looks yummy!
OMGosh girl this looks amazing! Totally making this for lunch tomorrow. Do you think I could make it the night before – would the marinade not go over? Lemme know x
definitely! i’ve kept it in the dressing (no lettuce) for up to 3 days in the fridge and still ate it!
You’re winning monday with this salad … I also can’t get enough olives and feta right now … YUUUM!
Lettuce-less salads are my favorite kind of salads! I’m super excited to try to make my own pita now! I don’t know why I haven’t tried that before!
I still need to make homemade pita… I really don’t know why it’s taken me so long. I’ve just never been wowed by what’s at the store. That with the salad is the perfect summer lunch. Oh, and a glass (ok bottle) of wine.
you do, you do!
I’m off salads these days but this one makes me wanna rethink that.
Begging forgiveness in advance for this: I’m Greeking out! :) This salad looks incredible, but my challenge will be to not totally fill up on the pita first.
HA!!! i forgive you.
Unicorn tears!?! I love you!!! Have a safe drive home!!
That salad and pita look delicious, but it’s the dressing that I’m totally swooning over! Giving that a try this week for sure!
Unicorn tears?! Haha. I’m totally making this salad for lunch today. Bonus points because these five ingredients are always on hand. Can’t wait to eat up!
YUM. I make a salad dressing similar to that and put it on ALL the things. I actually make it with fresh oregano, really finely minced, and it gives it such a fresh Mediterranean flavor. I also add just a tiny bit of very thinly sliced pepperoncini for kick. It’s heavenly drizzled over vegetable antipasti or anything at all. (I think I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen.)
omg, pepperoncini. yes. doing that next!
Omg, looks so yummy! Gotta try making my own pita ❤
munchies&musings
Marinated feta? That sounds amazingly delicious! How did I not think of it before?(!!)
The Offspring. YES. 2015 can suck it if The Offspring is no longer an appreciated band. 2015 can also suck it if this salad doesn’t make any headlines, because 5 ingredients? Whole wheat pita? I am all over this!
Okay.. This is definitely what I need right now! Yum!
Feta and kalamata olives. Enough said. That’s my favorite Mediterranean combo. Throw in some artichoke hearts and I’ll be smiling all day. I made Mediterranean shrimp pita tacos recently. Wish I knew about this homemade pita bread. Pinned for next time.
those tacos?! holy cow. want.
I had no idea it was so easy to make your own pita! I can’t wait to try it! I love how it’s whole wheat too. Will definitely be making this :)
This is what I want for lunch right NOW…….too bad I’m going to need to grocery shop first. :( Beautiful pita bread. Going to print out the recipe right now so I don’t forget to make this!
How fresh and delicious! I’m super impressed you make your own pita!
I’m loving the simplicity of this awesome salad right now! Also, totally love the pitas with it!
I could LITERALLY survive off of olive and briny things as well. This looks amazing. And you’re an overachiever with making your own pita! Wow.
That looks incredibly tasty, and oh so healthy! I have been learning to make healthier meals so this one is going on my list!
I love Greek salad…definitely want to try your dressing. I think the dressing is key in these salads…and pita? I just started making my own a couple of years ago…ridiculously easy…who’d have thought? But there’s nothing like homemade, warm freshly made pita ready and waiting to sop up all that briny goodness!
Your recipes derail my dinner plans and squash whatever it was I intending to eat in my fridge allllll the time :-) Greek salad marinating in the fridge as we speak! this Greek salad > leftovers
Wow great recipe i will be trying it tomorrow.
This is my kind of salad!
I’ve never made my own pita either – always seemed too hard! Not so much apparently, can’t wait to give this a go!
Sometimes, simple is the best. I love all of these ingredients. Homemade pita!? Count me in. This is a total win. :)
Beautiful photo with those salad ingredients lined up. So colourful! The pia bread looks yummy.
it looks absolutely deliciouuus and fresh!! yumm
https://aspoonfulofnature.wordpress.com/
Oh my gosh…Greek salad is my absolute favorite! YUM!
Jessica this reminds me of a Spring Fattoush Salad I made in a cooking class recently – so delicious. It’s my new favorite thing for sure. The feta makes it! And of course like you any time a recipe calls for cheese I double what is listed. Also that pita, I just want to rest my head on it and take a nap. :) Thanks for the recipe!
This is the salad that dreams are made of! Except olives. Sorry can’t do em. BUT everything else. Right down to that nom nom nom pita!
OMG yessss! Plus I need the pita bread!!!
I am going to try to make that pita bread, it looks so fluffy and fresh, Love it!
This looks AMAZING. Only you could make a salad sound crazy delicious.
I always love your recipes.
Pita bread is baked in a large oven in this part of the world and it gets suuuuper thin. I found the skillet way much easier though when a hot oven isn’t a feasible option.
You never fail to disappoint with your amazing recipes! Since I’ve seen this recipe, I can’t get this salad out of my head!
DEFINITELY now making my own pita. I can just tell by the pics that it turns out sooo much better than grocery store kinds :)
Welp, you’ve totally sold me on this salad… and I’m generally skeptical of olives. But holy cow, does this look amazing! And the marinated feta with all the other ingredients… I have no doubt it does actually taste like unicorn tears. SO good. And I know what I’m picking up at the grocery soon!
WOW to the ZER >> making ASAP. Homemade pita is happening. Marinated feta is happening. It’s going to be a greek salad par-tay up in here!
I just want to say thank you for sharing this post, because it’s really amazing!
And I already can’t wait for the new one!
Diana Cloudlet
http://www.dianacloudlet.com/
This looks amazing, thanks for posting!
xo, Liz
http://lipstickandconfetti.com
Ok , you made that look way too easy. Looks great, must try it.