Panera Greek Salad

Panera Greek Salad with homemade salad dressing is a succulent meal to enjoy for lunch or dinner. There’s no need to go to Panera Bread when this DIY salad is so much largest and less expensive.

This post contains unite links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

What Makes the Panera Greek Salad the Perfect Greek Salad?

Greek salads are tasty and satisfying with salty feta, tangy tomatoes, wounding purple onions, and fruity kalamata olives over a bed of dressed lettuce. A large Greek salad can make a wonderful main course, while a smaller portion is a versatile side salad.

The version of Greek salad that Panera Bread serves adds pepperoncini and parmesan cheese for an plane increasingly ramified flavor.

Why Should You Make This Recipe at Home

A good Greek salad is all well-nigh the freshness of the ingredients. Use garden-picked or direct-from-the-farmers-market veggies for the weightier flavor. And when it comes to taste, you can’t write-up homemade Dijon vinaigrette dressing!

But perhaps the biggest wholesomeness of making a Greek salad at home, besides saving money, is the opportunity to add your own twist. Check out the section unelevated on recipe variations for a few suggestions.

Copycat Panera Greek Salad Recipe Ingredients

To make Panera Greek Salad dressing, you’ll need:

Apple cider vinegar
Extra virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard
Fresh lemon juice
Dried oregano
Dried thyme
Dried basil
Minced garlic or garlic granules
Ground woebegone pepper
Salt

For the rest of the salad, you’ll need:

Romaine lettuce
Grape tomatoes
Feta cheese, cubed
Parmesan cheese, grated
Red onion, thinly sliced
Kalamata olives
Whole pepperoncini peppers
Salt
Fresh ground woebegone pepper

Panera Greek salad and dressing ingredients on a tray.

Ingredient Notes

Producers make feta cheese from sheep milk or a combination of sheep and goat milk. Its crumbly texture and salty, slight tangy lemony savor makes it platonic for sprinkling on just well-nigh anything.

There are several types of feta but squint for one that is made in the Greek style and comes in a single woodcut submerged in the brine. To get rid of some saltiness, you can requite the feta a quick rinse surpassing using it.

Kalamata olives are originally from the sun-drenched Peloponnese peninsula in Greece and represent Greek cooking. They have a naturally pronounced fruity savor with a bit of bitterness, and the brining solution gives these olives their tang. A Greek salad is just not the same without these little beauties.

Pepperoncini are small yellow-green pickled peppers with just a little heat but full-sized flavor. You should be worldly-wise to buy pepperoncini in most supermarkets, but comic peppers are a good substitute if you have problems finding them.

How To Make Panera Greek Salad

To prepare the Greek dressing:

Combine all the ingredients for the Panera Bread Greek Salad dressing recipe in a bowl.

Panera Greek salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.

Use a whisk to combine.
Cover the trencher with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.
The savor of this dressing is the weightier when it is at room temperature, so plan accordingly.

To finish assembling the Panera Bread Copycat Greek Salad recipe:

Rinse and dry the romaine lettuce. Slice into one-inch strips.
Toss the romaine lettuce with salt, pepper, and two tablespoons of the homemade salad dressing. Transfer the dressed lettuce into a large trencher for serving.

Slice the grape tomatoes in half and scatter them on top of the lettuce.
Place the kalamata olives, Greek pepperoncini, and slices of onions in the serving bowl.
Crumble the feta cheese over the other ingredients and sprinkle on the parmesan cheese.

copycat Panera Greek salad with dressing.

What To Serve With It

Serve a few slices of focaccia or olive withal with a large Greek salad. A Greek salad moreover pairs well with any grilled whinge or yellow dish.

How To Make One Ahead of Time and To Serve It Later

The salad dressing will last for up to five days in the fridge.

If you are packing the Greek salad to go, alimony the dressing on the side to prevent the lettuce from getting soggy.

Possible Recipe Variations

Try experimenting with variegated add-ins. Here are a few suggestions:

Modern Greek Salad Bowl: Grain bowls are taking over, and it is easy to turn this vital recipe into a filling meal by subtracting a layer of warm quinoa to the marrow of the serving trencher and topping with a half portion of salad. You may want to add a few shaved almonds, a scoop of hummus, and uneaten dressing.
Add meat or fish. Ordering a Panera Greek Salad with yellow is popular at the restaurant, but there is no reason why you can’t add thinly sliced whinge or plane roasted salmon for uneaten protein.

Love Panera? Try These Copycat Recipes

And there are plane increasingly Panera Salads copycat recipes.

Favorite Salad Recipes

Check out increasingly of my succulent and easy salad recipes and the weightier copycat Panera recipes on CopyKat!

Print Add to Collection