Greek Zoodle Salad with Oregano Marinated Grilled Chicken

Greek Zoodle Salad with Oregano Marinated Grilled Chicken

This has to be one of the healthiest and tastiest dinner recipes that I have ever posted. Brenda and I bought a spiralizer last year and have made a bunch of different things with it, like this Pad Thai Zoodle recipe. I have to say, I think this Greek Zoodle Salad has to be our favorite (for now) of all the zoodle dishes that we prepare. The marinade for the chicken doubles as the dressing for the salad and ties everything together very nicely. Definitly give this a try and please leave a comment to let me know what you think.  I promise I will get some pictures of this to add to the recipe soon.

Ingredients:

For the marinade / dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoons red wine or balsalmic vinegar
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of your chef's knife
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1-2 tsp sugar or honey (optional) to taste (or no calorie sweetener like a splenda packet)

For the salad:

• 2 bonless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 zucchini
• Baby spinach (optional)
• 1/4 English cucumber, diced
• 10 pitted kalamata olives, halved, or more to taste
• 10 cherry tomatoes, or more to taste
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1/2 head of brocholi cut into spears (or frozen brocholi spears)
• 1/2 cup fresh asparagus cut into bite sized pieces (optional)
• 1 ear of corn on the cob or frozen corn
• 2 ounces crumbled feta cheese
• Roasted red pepper (optional)

Instructions:

• Marinate the chicken:  whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic oregano, salt, pepper and honey or sugar in a mixing bowl mix together. Reserve 3/4 of the mixture for dressing. Add the chicken breasts to the remaining mixture, turning to coat both sides. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. We tend to add the marinade to the chicken breasts in a zip top bag and seal it tight to marinade.
• Place the tomatoes, red onion, brocholi, asparagus and corn on a cookie sheet or grill pan and roast in the oven at 425 or on the grill until just softened and slightly charred. Cut the kernals from the cob after roasting if using corn on the cob.  Allow roasted vegies to cool, or add them to the salad hot if you like.
• Optional: Pound the chicken breast out to make it slightly thinner and more tender. No need to pound it super thin. This can also be done before marinading.
• Grill the chicken, basting with the narinade throughout the grilling process about 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until cooked through.
• While the chicken and vegies are roasting cut zucchini into noodle-shaped strands using a spiralizing tool.
• Assemble the salad:  place "zoodles" in a large bowl, add spinach if desired and top with cucumber, roasted tomatoes, red onion, brocholi, asparagus, corn, olives, feta cheese and roasted red pepper. Toss the salad before serving and top with sliced grilled chicken and the reserved dressing.
• Enjoy!

This should be enough to server 4 people. Brenda and I usually cut this in half and still have leftovers to enjoy the next day for a snack or lunch.