Greek Cabbage Salad with Grilled Chicken {Lahanosalata}
This Greek Cabbage Salad features shredded cabbage massaged with fresh lemon, vinegar & salt, and leafy greens seasoned with EVOO, fresh herbs, Greek seasoning, and red pepper. You can serve it as a simple side dish or top it with grilled chicken for a high-protein, low-carb meal.
Greek cabbage salad, also known as Lahanosalata (λάχανο σαλάτα), is a mashup of two of my all-time favorites: Greek food and vinegar-based coleslaw. While there are many versions of traditional Greek cabbage salads, they are all quick, easy to make, and downright delicious.
That said, this recipe is my take on classic Greek salad, very similar to one served at one of my favorite local Greek restaurants. It consists of finely shredded cabbage and arugula seasoned with fresh citrus, white wine vinegar, olive oil, fresh dill, Greek seasoning, and red pepper flakes.
It’s great to serve this as a side of coleslaw during grilling season, but I really love making it for meal prep topped with juicy olives and tender sliced chicken. What’s not to love about a low-carb Mediterranean cabbage salad packed with healthy fats, fiber, protein, and flavor?!
Why you’ll love this recipe
- 15-minute healthy meal prep. With grilled chicken, this salad is an excellent high protein-low carb meal to prep for weekday lunches and dinners.
- Doubles as a no-mayo coleslaw. It’s the perfect side with grilled meats, seafood, burgers, and more at potlucks, picnics, and barbecues.
- Easy to customize. This salad is customizable from the bottom to the top. Read on for how you can make this Greek coleslaw your own.
- Perfect for various special diets. The listed ingredients are inherently gluten-free, dairy-free, paleo, Whole30, and keto-friendly. Leave off the chicken, and this is the BEST vegan coleslaw!
Ingredients you’ll need
- Cabbage – Lahanosalata is usually made with green or white cabbage, but if you want to add a pop of color, adding red or purple cabbage to the mix is never a bad idea. Side note: if you love purple cabbage, check out my purple coleslaw recipe while you’re here.
- Lemon juice – Freshly squeezed, please! It helps soften the cabbage while brightening up the flavor.
- White wine vinegar – This also helps tenderize the cabbage and adds flavor. If you don’t have white wine vinegar, red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, or apple cider vinegar will also work.
- Coarse salt – Like kosher or sea salt also acts as a tenderizing and flavoring agent.
- Arugula – You won’t find arugula in most Greek cabbage salads, but I love the delicate-peppery dimension that it brings. Baby spinach, baby kale leaves, and radicchio would also be great.
- Extra virgin olive oil – This is used to dress the arugula. For the best flavor, use a good quality EVOO here.
- Fresh dill weed – This adds a pop of fresh, pleasantly grassy, and citrus-like flavor. Feel free to add other fresh herbs like parsley, mint, chives, or Greek oregano.
- Greek seasoning – If you can find Cavender’s all-purpose Greek seasoning, you won’t be disappointed. Or if you don’t have Greek seasoning, Italian seasoning isn’t exactly the same, but it’s close enough that it won’t derail the flavor profile of your salad.
- Red pepper flakes – AKA Bukovo in Greece adds warm, spicy notes.
- Kalamata olives – This is Greek coleslaw, after all, and is there anything more Greek than kalamata olives?
- Grilled chicken – This recipe makes four meal-sized salads, so I usually grill four 4-ounce chicken breasts for meal prep. You could also enjoy this salad as a healthy meal topped with proteins like grilled salmon, Greek meatballs, or yogurt-marinated chicken skewers.
How to make Greek cabbage salad
Step 1: Massage the cabbage. First, add finely shredded cabbage, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt to a large bowl. Then, use your hands to massage the cabbage until it softens and reduces in size by about half.
Step 2: Season the arugula. In a separate bowl, gently toss the arugula with olive oil, fresh dill, Greek seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Step 3: Combine the cabbage and arugula. Add the seasoned arugula to the bowl of cabbage, and stir well.
Step 4: Plate with toppings and serve. Divide the mixture evenly between 4 salad bowls (or meal prep containers). Top with olives and sliced grilled chicken, serve sliced pita and hummus on the side, and enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- You can use a bag of angel hair coleslaw, but shredding the cabbage by hand is pretty simple and does taste better when fresh. First, with the core facing down, use a sharp knife to slice the cabbage into quarters, then cut out the core from each. Next, slice the quarters into thin strips, or use a food processor or mandoline slicer for finer shreds. I love my mandoline for slicing cabbage into very fine strips.
- For a great-tasting Greek coleslaw salad, take your time massaging the lemon juice, vinegar, and salt into the cabbage. Otherwise, the cabbage will be tasteless and harder to digest.
- If making this for a gathering, it’s okay to serve immediately, but if you want to get a head start, you can make it a few hours before and keep it covered in the fridge until you’re ready.
Variations
If you want to bulk this up a bit, the following ingredients are used in other Greek cabbage salad recipes:
- Greek Peperoncini
- Crumbled Feta
- Red Onion
- Minced Garlic
- Green or Red Bell Pepper
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes
- Shredded Carrots
- Roasted Walnuts
- Raisins
- Honey or Maple Syrup (for added sweetness)
Storing
Store leftover cabbage salad in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. I wouldn’t recommend freezing it.
FAQs
Vinegar-based coleslaws like Greek cabbage salad are okay at room temperature for about 2 hours before risking harmful bacteria growth. If it sits out longer than 2 hours, it’s best to toss it.
I recommend making a big batch of this salad to use as a topping for burgers, sandwiches, wraps, and grain bowls. It’s also convenient to have on hand throughout the week to serve as a side with just about any main course. It goes great with these Mediterranean-inspired recipes:
Air Fryer Kofte
Mediterranean Steak Quesadilla
Mediterranean Chicken Quinoa Salad
Mediterranean Halibut
Mediterranean Burgers
Mediterranean Steaks
Greek Chicken Stew
More Greek side dish recipes
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Greek Cabbage Salad with Grilled Chicken {Lahanosalata}
Ingredients
- 5 cups cabbage finely shredded
- 2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp coarse salt
- 1 tbsp fresh dill weed chopped
- 5 oz arugula
- 1 tsp Greek seasoning I use Cavender's all-purpose Greek seasoning
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives pitted
- 16 oz grilled chicken breasts *I use four 4 oz breasts from our weekly protein batch meal prep
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine finely chopped cabbage, lemon juice, vinegar and salt.
- Massage cabbage until reduced by about half the size.
- In a separate bowl, combine arugula, fresh dill, olive oil, Greek seasoing, and crushed pepper flakes.
- Combine cabbage and arugula mixture and stir to mix.
- Ladle into 4 bowls and top with olives and sliced chicken breasts.
- Serve with pita slices and hummus
Notes
- You can use a bag of angel hair coleslaw, but shredding the cabbage by hand is pretty simple and does taste better when fresh. First, with the core facing down, use a sharp knife to slice the cabbage into quarters, then cut out the core from each. Next, slice the quarters into thin strips, or use a food processor or mandoline slicer for finer shreds. I love my mandoline for slicing cabbage into very fine strips.
- For a great-tasting Greek coleslaw salad, take your time massaging the lemon juice, vinegar, and salt into the cabbage. Otherwise, the cabbage will be tasteless and harder to digest.
- If making this for a gathering, it’s okay to serve immediately, but if you want to get a head start, you can make it a few hours before and keep it covered in the fridge until you’re ready.
Nutrition
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