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overhead view of bowl with tzatziki chicken salad in a bowl
Olga

High Protein Tzatziki Chicken Salad (No Mayo)

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Chicken salad bound with labne, cucumber, grated garlic and lemon instead of mayo, finished with feta, parsley and dill.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Chill 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 chicken breasts rotisserie or bone-in roasted, diced
  • 1 English cucumber half shredded and squeezed dry, half peeled, chopped and drained
  • 1 cup plain labne
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 3 garlic cloves grated
  • 1/4 large red onion finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • Salt to taste
  • Ground white pepper to taste
  • 2 oz feta from a block in brine, crumbled
  • 1 tsp fresh parsley chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh dill chopped
  • Chopped Greek olives optional

Equipment

  • 1 Box grater
  • 1 Clean Kitchen Towel
  • 1 Mixing Bowl

Method
 

  1. Cook the chicken, if you're not using rotisserie. Season bone-in breasts and roast at 425 for 30 minutes. Let them cool before dicing.
  2. Prep the cucumber. Shred half and squeeze it dry in a clean towel, then pat it down. Peel the other half, chop it, and drain it too.
  3. Make the tzatziki. Stir together the labne, lemon juice, microplaned garlic and both the shredded and chopped cucumber. Season with the onion powder, salt and white pepper, and taste it now.
  4. Fold everything in. Add the diced chicken and red onion, and fold gently.
  5. Finish. Crumble the feta over the top with the parsley and dill, and fold once more.
  6. Chill an hour if you have time. The garlic and dill need a little while in the labne.

Notes

Notes

Labne over yogurt. It's already strained, so it holds as a dressing. Full fat Greek yogurt works if you strain it first. Plain unstrained yogurt goes watery.
Get the water out of both halves. Squeeze the shredded half, drain the chopped half. Cucumber is mostly water and all of it ends up in the bowl otherwise.
Use a microplane for the garlic. It disappears into the labne instead of turning up in bites the way minced garlic does.
Feta. Buy the block that sits in brine and crumble it yourself. It is creamier than pre-crumbled feta, which is drier and coated to stop it clumping.
Onion powder. Labne is thick and mutes seasoning, so the powder rounds out the flavor in a way the fresh red onion does not. Half a teaspoon per cup of labne.
Fresh dill only. Dried is not the same here.
Olives. Chopped Greek olives are a good optional addition. They bring salt and brine, so taste before adding more salt.

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