Panera might be known for bread but I love their salads!!!! This Copycat Panera Greek Salad (with dressing!) recipe is a classic and so delicious – their Greek dressing is also super simple to make! It’s under 300 calories and ready in 15 minutes!
I actually had a bottle of Panera’s Greek Dressing – so I did a side-by-side taste test as I was making this dressing and kept tweaking it until it was just right!!!
What is in the Panera Greek Salad?
Panera’s Greek Salad is chock full of those Mediterranean flavors like romaine lettuce, feta cheese, grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, red onion slices and a couple of big juicy Greek pepperoncini peppers. Then they top it off with the Panera Bread Greek Salad Dressing – but I made the best copycat version you’ll find!!!!
Panera Bread Copycat Greek Salad tastes so fresh – it’s like you’re overlooking the Aegean sea! Okay – that might be a stretch – but it’s yum! Here’s everything you’ll need:
Panera Greek Salad
- romaine lettuce
- red grape tomatoes – or cherry tomatoes or roma tomatoes
- feta
- red onion (well purple onions actually – right?)
- peppercinis
- kalamata olives
Panera Greek Salad Dressing Ingredients
- apple cider vinegar – if you don’t have this you could use red wine vinegar
- white vinegar
- olive oil – you could use canola oil but I much prefer olive oil
- minced garlic
- lemon juice
- crushed rosemary
- Greek seasoning – I used a Greek seasoning mix that contains lots of spices!
- If you can’t find Greek seasoning – use 1/2 teaspoon each of tarragon, oregano, parsley, thyme & black pepper
- coarse sea salt
How many calories are in Panera’s Greek Salad?
Panera’s Greek Salad has 390 calories for a whole salad. My recipe comes in at only 286 calories per salad – this recipe makes two salads!
What are the healthiest salads & sandwiches at Panera?
If we’re looking at “healthy” strictly in terms of calories – here are the lowest calorie items (as currently shown on Panera website). Keep in mind – they don’t always have their full menu online.
- Salads – the Caesar salad is 330 calories but that’s without any protein — their Asian Sesame Salad with Chicken is only 410 calories.
- Bowls – the Mediterranean Bowl is the lowest with 620 calories without chicken and 680 with!
- Soups – the Homestyle Chicken Noodle and their 10 Vegetable Soup have just 100 calories each!
- Sandwiches – the Turkey Sandwich has 510 calories, Mediterranean Veggie has 540 and the Napa Almond Chicken Salad has 550 calories (all for whole sandwich)
- Pizza – the Margherita Flatbread Pizza has 770 calories
How to make the Panera Greek Salad and Panera Greek Dressing?
- For Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients in mason jar, cover and shake
- I have a salad dressing shaker I used – the dressing lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge – it’s pretty great!
- You can use a blender if you’d like but it’s not necessary.
- For Salad: In a large bowl combine romaine lettuce– I just tear it up instead of cutting it – with your toppings!
- You’ll want lots of feta cheese, sliced up grape or cherry tomatoes, plenty of kalamata olives and then a few slices of red onion and a couple of whole pepperoncini peppers.
- Toss salad ingredients and drizzle with dressing!
Is Panera’s Greek Dressing Vegan?
Yup! This Greek Dressing copycat recipe (and the real thing) are both vegan! Just cider and white vinegars, olive oil and seasonings. There’s no dairy in the dressing at all!
Panera Bread Copycat Recipes
If you’re looking for other Panera Bread copycat recipes – I’ve got ’em! Here you go:
Copycat Panera Greek Salad & Dressing
Ingredients
Greek Salad
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 tomato diced
- 1/2 cup feta crumbled
- 1/4 red onion sliced
- 4-5 pepperocinis
- 1/3 cup kalamata olives
Greek Dressing
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1/8 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 3 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp crushed rosemary
- 2 tsp Greek seasoning
- 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
Instructions
- For Dressing: Mix together all ingredients in mason jar, cover and shake1/3 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 1/8 cup olive oil, 1 tsp minced garlic, 3 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp crushed rosemary, 2 tsp Greek seasoning, 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
- For Salad: Combine ingredients, layering as you go and top with dressing1 head romaine lettuce, 1 tomato, 1/2 cup feta, 1/4 red onion, 4-5 pepperocinis, 1/3 cup kalamata olives
Lena says
Hi! thanks for your copycat recipe. I will be trying it very soon. Although Kalamata olive might be redundant in Lebanese, I’m Greek and Kalamata denotes a certain type of olive. Often these olives are found in the Kalamata region of Greece, but not necessarily. There are actualmy dozens of varietals of olives if not hundreds.
FoodHussy says
wooohoo! i can’t wait to tell my lebanese friend this!!! hahahahaha
Alyssa says
The dressing seems like way too much vinegar? Is that on purporse?
FoodHussy says
i did a side by side taste and that’s how i got to that level – so i liked it
Eva S says
Tastes just like Panera. Great job on creating and thanks!
FoodHussy says
Yeah!!! Glad you like it!
janet says
Panera’s Green Goddess dressing actually does have dairy in it (Panera’s ingredients list shows Romano cheese and Greek yogurt), so your version is great for those who can’t have dairy. Thanks!
Amy says
Love, love this recipe and super easy to
make. My only question is, how do you store it or is this meant to be eaten right away? I stored mine in a mason jar in the fridge and it looks like the olive oil separated from the vinegar and got super thick and chunky. It would not remix no matter how much I shook the bottle. Any suggestions?
FoodHussy says
Glad you liked it!!!
If you leave the dressing out for a bit on the counter – the olive oil should loosen up. You could also put this in a blender to remix.