In this video, learn how to make Chef John's Chopped Greek Chicken Sandwich, and discover the secrets behind crafting this Mediterranean-inspired delight. From marinating juicy chicken to assembling a harmonious blend of Greek flavors, Chef John's expert guidance will transform your sandwich skills. Whether you're a food enthusiast or a home cook looking for inspiration, this recipe is sure to satisfy!
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00:00 Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Chopped Greek Chicken Sandwich.
00:09 That's right, I got this idea from my friend Mykonos, who works in the office.
00:13 And he couldn't decide between a chicken sandwich and a Greek salad, so he came up with this.
00:19 And it really is amazing.
00:21 And to get started, what we'll do is take a sandwich roll, and we'll slice it open and
00:25 pull out a little bit of the inside, just to make more room for our filling.
00:30 And two big tips here.
00:32 When you cut in, only go like three quarters of the way.
00:35 And that is so our roll stays together, which is kind of a key for a chopped sandwich.
00:39 Plus a roll with pointy ends always stays together better than a roll with square ends.
00:44 So if you have an option, something shaped like this would be ideal.
00:49 And then once our roll's prepped, we can start on the filling, which is going to begin with
00:52 some rotisserie chicken, or some leftover roast chicken from another meal.
00:57 Or of course you could make some Greek chicken from scratch, and then use the leftovers for
01:01 this.
01:02 And if you're lucky, and I am, the store in town that sells the best rotisserie chicken
01:06 will offer both a plain version, and then a garlic, herb, and lemon one, which is what
01:11 I got for this.
01:12 And that'll give us a little bit of a head start with the flavor profile.
01:16 But the point is, we're going to need some cooked chicken.
01:18 And what we'll do is pull off the amount we think we need for one sandwich, and then we
01:22 will top that with our other ingredients.
01:24 Which for me is going to be your classic array of things that would go in a Greek salad.
01:29 And I'm going to start by thinly slicing some green pepper, and just some bell peppers fine.
01:34 But I had this beautiful Anaheim chili, so I decided to use that.
01:38 And yes, we'll definitely want to remove the seeds, but you would have done that anyway.
01:42 Just like I didn't have to tell you not to leave the bones in the chicken.
01:45 But anyway, we'll slice off as much as we want in one sandwich, and then do the exact
01:49 same thing with some tomatoes.
01:52 And if it's the middle of summer, use an actual nice vine-ripened tomato.
01:56 Otherwise these little grape tomatoes are fairly sweet, and make a nice choice.
02:00 And then I definitely think we should include some cucumber.
02:03 Not just for that juicy crunch, but also to add a little bit of bitterness, which along
02:08 with the bittersweetness from the peppers, is going to help elevate all the other flavors
02:11 in this.
02:13 And then after the cucumber, we will have some pitted olives.
02:17 And yes, I did buy a nice jar of actual Greek olives, which included Kalamata, and a couple
02:22 other ones I can't pronounce.
02:25 But really, anything's going to work, and you should probably check the back of your
02:28 fridge before you buy something.
02:30 I mean, you are after all the Michael Scott of using what you got.
02:33 And by the way, is anyone else shocked by how many olive choices there are at this store?
02:38 I mean, it seems a little bit suspicious.
02:40 Anyway, if you have a theory, let me know.
02:44 And then what we'll do is finish up with a few slices of red onion, which like everything
02:47 else, we will pile semi-neatly on top.
02:51 Okay by pre-slicing things, and arranging them like this, when we move on to the chopping
02:56 step, everything is going to go a lot better.
02:59 But before we do that, let's go ahead and season this up with some salt, along with
03:03 a nice pinch of freshly ground black pepper, a few optional, but also mandatory, shakes
03:09 of cayenne, and then a very generous pinch of dried Greek oregano, also known as dried
03:15 oregano.
03:16 And sure, if you want, you can use the fresh, but I think the dried's better here.
03:20 It makes this taste more Greek chicken-ish.
03:23 And that's it.
03:24 At this point, we can take a cleaver, or our biggest, most impressive knife, and we'll
03:27 start giving this the old choppa choppa.
03:31 And we will keep chopping until it's as chopped as we want it, which for me is going to be
03:35 fairly small.
03:36 But of course, you're the one that has to eat this, so if you want yours chunkier, don't
03:40 cut it so much.
03:42 And I should mention, this is just the first of three chops.
03:45 Okay, I like to give everything an initial chop, until it looks a little something like
03:50 this.
03:51 And then we'll stop and add some nice hearts of romaine, and we'll go ahead and give this
03:55 a second chopping, to integrate that.
03:57 Alright, I just feel like that gives us a little more control, regarding how small we
04:01 chop the romaine, since I don't want those pieces completely pulverized.
04:05 Oh, and by the way, one of the advantages of using a cleaver, which every kitchen should
04:10 have, is that it also acts like a spatula, and it makes it easier to move things around
04:15 the cutting board.
04:16 And as you'll see, comes in really handy when we stuff our roll.
04:20 But anyway, after we've chopped in a little bit of lettuce, we will stop, and we will
04:24 add our final set of ingredients, including some beautiful Greek feta cheese, which we
04:29 will crumble over, and then we'll follow that up, with what's basically going to be the
04:34 dressing.
04:35 And that's going to be nothing more than some freshly squeezed lemon juice, and for this
04:39 amount, which is one sandwich, I think half a lemon is perfect.
04:43 And then we'll finish up with a very, very generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil,
04:48 and yes, extra credit if it's Greek.
04:50 And if it's not, nobody will know.
04:52 Alright, not even Mykonos would be able to tell.
04:56 And that's it, we'll take our cleaver or knife, and give this one last brief chopping, which
05:01 really is more of a mixing, since everything is pretty much cut as small as I want it.
05:06 But we do want to make sure our cheese, lemon juice, and oil are mixed evenly in.
05:09 And by the way, for something creamier, richer, and a little more decadent, you could if you
05:14 want add some mayo, which is usually the glue that holds chopped sandwich fillings together.
05:19 But as much as I like mayo, I stuck with the more classic Greek salad approach.
05:24 And once everything's been mixed, we can use our cleaver or knife to pack our sandwich.
05:29 And I know it looks like a lot, but I pretty much got it all in.
05:33 Which is one of the main advantages of the chopped sandwich.
05:35 Okay, besides being fun to make, and even more fun to eat, the smaller you chop things,
05:41 the less room they take up, which means we can stuff more in.
05:45 Plus we've created a ton of surface area, and as I've said many times before, surface
05:50 area equals flavor.
05:52 And that's it, after stuffing that as much as humanly possible, I transfer that next
05:56 to my favorite sandwich side, which is of course potato chips.
06:00 Okay, a lot of times I just make a sandwich so I can eat chips, but anyway I grabbed a
06:05 hold and went in for the official taste.
06:08 And now my friends, if you like chicken salad sandwiches, or Greek salads, or any kind of
06:13 chopped salad, or any kind of Greek chicken anything, you are going to absolutely love
06:18 this.
06:19 Oh, and speaking of salad, I grabbed a fork here so I can pack things back in when needed.
06:26 And besides all those other advantages I already listed, it is very nice getting every single
06:30 ingredient in one bite.
06:33 So we also got that going for us, which is nice.
06:37 And while I really did love this, and I hope you make one for yourself, the method we just
06:41 shared will work no matter what meat, vegetable, or dressings you decide to use.
06:45 Okay, I was just about to start listing other things you could do this with, but I'm not
06:49 going to, because I'd pretty much just have to list everything.
06:52 Oh, and if you're making more than one or two, and you want to do this ahead, I would
06:57 do everything up to that first chopping, and then stop there, and then right before you're
07:01 ready to serve, I would add in the lettuce, and the cheese, and whatever dressing ingredients
07:06 you're going to use.
07:07 Okay, once our filling is mixed up, and by mixed up I mean chopped up, we pretty much
07:11 want to serve and eat right away.
07:13 Oh, and for my friends in Pittsburgh, if you wanted you could make some Greek style potatoes
07:18 and put those in the sandwich.
07:20 Okay, if you're not from there, people from Pittsburgh like to serve their sandwiches
07:23 with french fries on it.
07:25 I know it is weird, but they have their reasons.
07:28 But anyway, that's it!
07:30 My take on a chopped Greek chicken sandwich.
07:32 I'm going to go ahead and finish this off, and what I hope you do, is find some nice
07:36 pointy rolls, and then all or some of these ingredients, and give this amazing sandwich
07:42 a try soon!
07:44 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much
07:48 more info as usual.
07:50 And as always, enjoy!
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