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The Whole Smiths

The Whole Smiths

Whole Eating + Happy Living

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Recipes
    • Cooking Method
      • 5 Ingredients or Less
      • 30 Minutes or Less
      • Easy-to-Make
      • Instant Pot
      • Make Ahead, Keep on Hand
      • One Dish, Pan, Pot or Sheet Pan
      • Weekend Living
    • Dietary Guidelines
      • Dairy-Free
      • Gluten-Free
      • Grain-Free
      • Paleo
      • Vegan
      • Vegetarian
      • Whole30
    • Meal Type
      • Breakfast + Brunch
      • Dinner
      • Lunch
      • Soups, Stews, + Chilis Too
      • Vegetables, Sides + Salads
      • Smoothies + Beverages
      • Dessert
      • Snacks + Appetizers
  • COOKBOOKS
    • Good Food Cookbook
    • Real Food Every Day
  • Podcast
  • About
    • Meet Michelle
    • Food Philosophy
    • Michelle This Month
  • Resources
    • Discounts
    • Shop
    • Cooking Staples
    • Better Beauty
  • Contact
    • Work with Me
    • Contact

Whole30 Mediterranean Chopped Salad

Who doesn’t love a good chopped salad? Particularly in the throws of summer. My only problem with chopped salads is the lettuce. Actually, my problem with all salads is the lettuce. Who needs that? Let’s be honest, it’s just filler. No one orders a salad for the lettuce. It’s for all of the other goodies, right?

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

For the record, I’m totally fine with spinach salads because spinach isn’t lettuce.

When I decided to make this recipe I decided to cut out the lettuce and stick with what we’re all really here for, the good stuff.

I also decided to make this salad Whole30 compliant. Not only am I starting a round of Whole30 August 1st, but the official Whole30 is coming up in September and I wanted to make sure I have lots of new recipes to share with you.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

Let’s chat about Whole30 for a bit shall we? This is my 4th (I think?) round and after a few months of remodeling and working on my secret project (I’ll share it with you soon, I promise!) I’m wanting a reset and a chance to get my eating back on point. The truth of the matter is, I probably don’t need the entire 30 days at this point in my eating/food life but I like having a chance to do the full program again. Each time I learn something new, come up with new recipe ideas and hacks and I’m happy to pass that along to you guys.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

Post multiple Whole30’s I feel like I’m at a point in my food freedom where I can’t un-learn what I know about nutrition and my relationship with food. I also know that I really do love eating clean, minimally processed foods that make me feel good. I know what I feel like when I eat a bunch of junk and I know that most of the time, not always, I’ll choose foods that make me feel good.

I know eating this way has finally stuck after years of going at it. It doesn’t mean that I’ll never have some fro-yo or dive into a bag of Doritos, it just means those kinds of things are the exception and not the regular. It’s something everyone can achieve once they make the decision to not give up on themselves.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

The key is that you have to decide to not look at indulging in “bad” food as a failure, because that’s going to train your brain to think this isn’t something you can do, something you are failing at. And who wants to continuously feel like a failure? Not me. You have to commit that no matter what, you’re going to keep going. Commit to making better decisions, different decisions. Eventually, those decisions will start to stick more and more and it gets easier. A Whole30 does’t magically fix everything. It’s the beginning of a journey and you’ll learn a lot along the way.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

But don’t forget, it’s a beginning. You aren’t necessary going to come out of it with picture perfect eating habits for the rest of your life. You need to abandon that thought because that’s what will set you up for failure when you have a giant slice of pizza. What you will gain is knowledge about food and yourself  that you can’t unlearn. It will be up to you what you do with that knowledge moving forward.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

Hopefully it sheds a little realism and light onto this all for you? In short, you’ve got this if you want it.

All right, back to this anti-lettuce chopped salad. It’s so fresh, clean and perfect for summer lunches. You can even sub in rotisseries chicken to make it even easier. I obsessed with olives so I doubled what you see in that recipe as an FYI. You either think that’s gross because you hate olives and you’re figuring what you can add instead (artichokes hearts) or you’re loving that because you’re an olive-chile yourself.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

I feel like I should write more about this killer recipe for you buuuut the truth of the matter is that I’ve been at my computer since 11am (It’s 6:35 now) and I’m kind over it. So hopefully this killer recipe is delicious enough that you’ll forgive me?

Enjoy!

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.
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5 from 2 votes

Whole30 Mediterranean Chopped Salad

An easy-to-make Mediterranean Chopped Salad from the Whole Smiths. So delicious and great to make ahead! Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten-free.
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time25 mins
Course: Lunch, Salad, Side
Cuisine: Gluten-Free, Paleo, Whole30
Servings: 4
Author: the Whole Smiths

Ingredients

For the dressing:

  • 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 lemon juiced
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

For the salad:

  • 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 sprig of thyme
  • 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons ghee or butter
  • 1 large tomato cut into large chunks (heirloom or Campari)
  • 1 medium cucumber sliced lengthwise, seeds scraped out and chopped
  • 1 bell pepper chopped
  • 1/4 red onion chopped (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 cup kalamata olives halved
  • 2 tablespoons chopped dill

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, add all of the dressing ingredients together and whisk together well. Set aside.
  • Sprinkle the salt and pepper over both sides of the chicken breasts.
  • Heat a medium sized frying pan over medium heat and add the 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the ghee or butter to the pan.
  • Once the oil is hot, place the chicken and thyme into the oil and cook on each side 5 to 6 minutes until the chicken has an internal temperature of 165*.
  • When the chicken is cooked through, set aside to cool.
  • Once cooled, chop the chicken into bite-sized cubes.
  • Add the tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, olives, dill and chicken to a large bowl and combine.
  • Pour the dressing into the bowl and toss to coat.
  • Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 3 to 4 days.
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Note: I only work with companies and products that I feel passionately about and that align with the Whole Smiths’ views and that this post contains sponsored content. While I am compensated for the work I do, my opinions and bad jokes are always 100% my own.

you might also like

  • Summer Steak Salad
  • Easy Paleo Meatloaf
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    Paleo BLT Coleslaw ( Whole30, Low Carb)
  • crab salad with roasted avocados
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Recipe Rating




Comments

  1. Ellie says

    July 25, 2017 at 2:51 am

    Looks amazing!!! 🙂

    PS: “throes” of summer, not “throws”

    Reply
  2. Debbie says

    July 28, 2017 at 4:31 pm

    I’m going to do my very first Whole30 in September. This looks so good and a must-make recipe for then! I love your site!

    Reply
  3. Isadora says

    December 30, 2017 at 3:30 pm

    This has become a go to recipe for me. I love how simple and tasty it is!!

    Reply
  4. Alyssa says

    April 10, 2018 at 1:08 am

    So good! The dressing is fantastic! I added parsley and some chopped compliant artichoke hearts. Beautiful and delicious, thank you!

    Reply

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Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet, I’m Michelle and welcome to the Whole Smiths. These days I’m a mother to two smiley girls, a happy wife to one fantastic dude and we live in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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