These greek chicken orzo bowls are filled with orzo pasta, seasoned chicken breast, english cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, homemade tzatziki and feta cheese. A healthy but easy to make dinner the whole family will enjoy. The perfect summer evening dinner.
This recipe was first published on 07/05/2021.
This is exactly the type of summer dinner I love to serve my family. There's more to this dinner than a salad but it's lighter than a saucy pasta dish. It's a nice middle of the road meal that will fill you up but won't leave you feeling overfed or heavy.
Making homemade tzatziki really does make a difference. If you don't have time for that then store bought is also fine to use, but if you can spare 5 minutes you'll never look back. I like to kick my bowl up a notch and drizzle on some sriracha for added heat.
Ingredients
Please refer to the recipe card near the bottom of the page for the full list of ingredients, amounts and the instructions.
- chicken breast - chicken thighs could also work well
- cherry tomatoes
- english cucumber - english cucumbers have less seeds in them, but if you cant find an english cucumber you can use a regular cucumber
- uncooked orzo pasta
- onion
- feta cheese
- olive oil
- juice of a lemon
- oregano
- marjoram
- greek seasoning - found in the spice aisle
- dried basil
- garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- greek yogurt - the 6 ounces size
- minced fresh garlic
- dried dill
How To Make Greek Chicken Orzo Bowls
There is no need to marinate the chicken for any length of time. Get it coated in the instructed ingredients and while you prepare the tzatziki, that's all the time it need. When you go to cook the chicken you'll want to make sure your pan is hot enough to sear the edges.
Since the chicken is getting filleted (so that it cooks faster) your pan will be stuffed full of chicken. This can be a problem because the chicken will let out moisture and that creates a difficult environment for getting a nice color on the chicken.
To avoid this, you'll need start with a higher heat. That way when the chicken hits the pan (you'll hear a loud sizzle) it won't have time to release the water from it.
Somewhere in that time the chicken is cooking make the orzo and cut up all of the vegetables.
When it comes time to eat, put everything in a bowl and serve it. You can use one big bowl or individual bowls.
More Recipes
- Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus
- Chicken Pitas With Tzatziki
- Greek Chicken Bowls with Brown Rice
- One Pot Greek Chicken and Rice
- Italian Chopped Salad with Roasted Chickpeas
Greek Chicken Orzo Bowls
These greek chicken orzo bowls are filled with orzo pasta, seasoned chicken breast, english cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, homemade tzatziki and feta cheese. A healthy but easy to make dinner the whole family will enjoy. The perfect summer evening dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast
- 1 container cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¾ English cucumber, sliced and quartered
- 8 ounces dry orzo
- ¼ c onion, sliced or diced
- ¼ c feta cheese
chicken marinade
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp marjoram
- ½ tsp Greek seasoning
- ¼ tsp dried basil
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- ⅛ tsp pepper
tzatziki
- 6 ounces greek yogurt
- ¼ English cucumber, grated water squeezed
- ½ lemon juiced
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ¼ tsp dried dill
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Start by filleting the chicken breasts. Lay each chicken breast flat on a cutting board, use your knife in a sawing motion to cut through the chicken so you are left with two chicken cutlets.
- Place the chicken into a ziplock bag or dish and add the chicken marinade ingredients; 1 tbsp olive oil, juice of half a lemon, 1 tsp oregano, ½ tsp marjoram, ½ tsp greek seasoning, ¼ tsp dried basil, ¼ tsp garlic powder and ⅛ tsp pepper. Mix everything together.
- To make the tzatziki stir together the greek yogurt with the grated English cucumber (only ¼ of the cucumber), lemon juice, salt, pepper, minced garlic, dried dill and olive oil. Place in the fridge until the dinner is ready to serve.
- Boil the orzo pasta per package instruction, or until the texture is to your preference. Orzo can become a bit sticky once you drain the water and it sits, so you may need to rinse it if this happens.
- Heat a sauté pan over medium/high heat. Once the pan is hot, drizzle some olive oil in the pan and lay the chicken down. Flip once the first side is golden then reduce the heat to medium. Continue cooking until the chicken is no longer pink in the center. Remove the chicken from the sauté pan, wait 10 minutes then cut into pieces.
- Chop up the cucumber, tomatoes and onion.
- To serve, add the orzo in the bottom of a bowl, top with the chicken, cucumbers, tomatoes and onion. Dollop on some tzatziki and sprinkle on feta cheese. Optionally serve with lemon wedges.
Notes
Sriracha is a great addition to this meal, squeeze a little overtop for some added heat.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 353Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 71mgSodium: 268mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 33g
This information comes from online calculators. Although moderncrumb.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Hayley
A very light and refreshing dish! I cut up the chicken before cooking it and tossed it back in the marinade for a sec before popping it in the pan. Also, not a huge fan of raw onion so I diced red onion and tossed it in with the chicken, absolutely delicious. I’m an absolute sucker for feta!
Tara Moore
Thanks so much Hayley!
Rion
I made this tonight after an indulgent week of eating and it was refreshing, delicious, and exactly what I needed and hoped it would be! My family and I loved it, thank you!