Quick Meal Idea: Salad-Stuffed Pita Pockets

You might not know it yet, but this is about to be your new favorite way to eat salad. In fact, you might want to buy an extra bag of greens next time you're out because you're going to be craving this at odd hours. It's such a simple idea, and there are two tricks to making it extra special!

First, lightly toast your pita so it's a little crunchy and still warm when you bite into it. Even better, make your own pita and eat it fresh out of the oven.

Second - and this is very important! - stuff that pita within an inch of its life. Every nook and cranny. It may not look it in the picture above, but those two pita pockets are holding about half a bag of greens between them. It's as much salad as we would normally serve 2 or 3 people! Taking a bite, you get chewy bread and then a perfect proportion of flavorful crunchy greens. A few leaves just doesn't cut it!

We'd also recommend keeping the salad fairly simple. Our favorite is just a mix of greens tossed very lightly with balsamic vinaigrette, a few thin shavings of parmesan, some dried cranberries, and a handful of almonds. If you want it a little heartier, add a slice of deli meat. Just remember that the fresh crunchy greens are the real show-stopper here.

This makes a great light meal to eat when you're running out the door. You don't have to mess with plastic containers on your lap or forks in your backpack - just stuff and go. If you're packing a lunch, we'd recommend packing everything separately and then stuffing the pitas at the last minute. Otherwise the greens wilt and the bread gets soggy.

We have to give props to Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, Minnesota for this idea. They bake flat rounds of their incredible pizza dough in a wood-fired oven and then stuff the puffy flatbread with various salads. The first time we had it, we couldn't believe how simple and tasty it really was! And of course we couldn't wait to get home and try making it ourselves.

It's seriously good. Give it a try!

(Image: Emma Christensen for the Kitchn)

Comments (15)

I'm SO going to try this- it sounds like an awesome way to get multiple servings of veggies in (without trying too hard!) Great suggestion!

Our family always has a shared salad plate at dinner, comprising simply of chopped cucumber, tomatoes, onions and lettuce. There is always some left over and I recently took to toasting a pitta and stuffing it with all this salad, seasoned only with salt and pepper, sometimes adding a little cheese. It's the perfect tv snack, and healthy to boot.

Oh yes, and with this bad boy it's definitely recommended to stuff the pitta to it's maximum potential.

Sounds delicious. Great way to use up the pitas I recently made!

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This was my mom's go-to meal for us growing up--Greek salad in pita. Some of us were veggie and some weren't, so, she'd often grill chicken or make kofte on the side for the meat eaters to stuff in with their salad. Yum!

Believe it or not, when I was a kid, this was actually on the menu at Burger King. THAT'S Right! BURGER KING!!!! It was a tossed salad in a pita....and it was one of my dad's favorites.

My husband makes a variation of this fairly often. The ingredients always vary but the one staple is lots of greens: musclun, arugula, romaine, or bibb lettuce. It's a great lunch and/or light dinner.

I make this all the time! My favorite version is with some hummus in there too. Sometimes if we don't have pita, I use tortillas. Doesn't matter as long as you have the hot/cold thing going on.

Yum! Seconding the addition of hummus.

Mmm--add in very thin slices Granny Smith apples, and either cheddar or feta.

I eat this daily using the mixed greens with herbs from Trader Joes, sliced beets and Fage yogurt, dressed with balsamic vinegar and a splash of Olive oil.

do you cook the beets, raebagel?

Oh, yes! Burger King's Salad-In-A-Pita! I was a total devotee back in the 80's. Yum! Miss it, I do....

I'm sure this is tasty, but I don't understand how it can be considered a full meal. With so little protein, I'd be useless all afternoon and I can't possibly be alone in that.

I'm a Twin Cities resident and Punch's salads served pucinella are absolutely one of my favorite things to eat. I feel a little silly never having considered making them at home now that I've read this, thanks for the easy tip!

Little containers go m.i.a. around my house pretty quickly, but if I have the break-room salt on hand to add to the greens when it's actually time to *eat* the salad, I can pare down. When taking a pita salad to work I just take a single one for all the innards.

I put in the greens and other veg, oil, vinegar and whatever else I'm using in my dressing (spices, herbs, onion, garlic, etc.) Obviously, if you add ingredients like cheese or mustard to your dressing this won't work as well, as they contain salt, but otherwise when you get to it it's still fresh and crisp :)