This flavorful Mediterranean chicken and rice recipe makes the perfect healthy, easy weeknight dinner! Serve it with a side of hummus for extra creaminess.
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Have you ever found yourself in a recipe rut? Maybe you’re trying to eat healthy, but you’re sick of eating salads all the time and need to shake things up. We’re right there with you! Every time we try to eat healthier after falling into bad patterns, we swing too far towards “healthy” and our diets become boring and unsustainable after only a week or so. That’s why we approached things a little differently this time and cooked up a brand new healthy chicken and rice dinner: Mediterranean Chicken with Basmati Rice and Homemade Hummus.
Since Alex and I have been on a quest to eat healthier (yet again), we’ve discovered that the Mediterranean diet has a ton of health benefits. Instead of cutting calories, we’re making an effort to eat more whole grains, nutrient-rich foods, and heart-healthy fats while cutting back on processed snacks and red meat. As part of this journey, we recently had lunch at a nearby Mediterranean restaurant and discovered a delicious combination of flavors: juicy and tender marinated chicken, aromatic basmati rice, and creamy hummus. So of course we had to recreate this dish at home!
Our Mediterranean chicken and rice recipe is healthy, light, and so flavorful – it makes the perfect healthy dinner for people like us (AKA those in search of healthy recipes that aren’t salads)! Along with our cilantro-lime chicken and rice, this recipe is now in our healthy weeknight dinner rotation. The best part is, this recipe is super easy and relatively hands-off for an easy meal you can make in under an hour. Keep reading to learn how to make this tasty dish and serve it with our homemade hummus!
How To Make Mediterranean Chicken and Rice
This recipe is so simple and easy, you’ll be itching to make it any day of the week! Here’s how to make Mediterranean chicken and rice:
- Marinate the chicken. Combine chicken, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, minced garlic, Turkish oregano, ground sage, and salt in a bowl and marinate in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Optional: make the hummus. We love serving this Mediterranean chicken with our homemade hummus and pita bread on the side! Get the recipe here and prep it while the chicken is marinating, then refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Make the rice. Bring a small pot of water to a boil, then stir in basmati rice, cover, and turn heat to low. Steam for about 20 minutes or until all the water evaporates. Once the rice is cooked, fluff with a fork and mix in lemon juice, then set aside until ready to serve.
- Cook the chicken. Here’s how we like to time this: start cooking the chicken about 5 minutes into steaming the rice, so everything is ready at about the same time. Preheat a large cast iron pan (or two pans) over medium heat. Cook the chicken in batches if needed, flipping every 3 minutes or so until cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes total. The internal temperature of the chicken should be about 160 degrees F.
- Serve. Plate one or two pieces of chicken with a scoop of rice, a dollop of hummus, and a few triangles of pita bread. Serve immediately and enjoy!
What Goes With Mediterranean Chicken?
The best way to serve Mediterranean chicken is with a side of rice, hummus, and pita bread. Here’s what goes with our Mediterranean chicken:
- Basmati rice – Basmati rice is considered a whole grain rice with lots of health benefits, plus it has great flavor on its own! We like to brighten the rice up with a bit of lemon juice to complement the Mediterranean chicken marinade.
- Homemade hummus – We’ve finally perfected our own homemade hummus recipe, and it tastes so good with this chicken and rice. Scoop some onto your plate and enjoy forkfuls of chicken, rice, and hummus all in one bite for tons of flavor and creamy texture!
- Whole wheat pita bread – We like to serve a few triangles of whole wheat pita bread on the side of this dish, since you can dip it in the hummus or scoop up bites of chicken and rice with it.
These three components taste so delicious alongside this tender, juicy Mediterranean chicken. You can plate them side by side, or place the chicken and hummus on top of the rice for a quick and easy Mediterranean chicken bowl! (With pita bread on the side, of course. Because even though this is a healthy dinner, a little whole grain carbs never hurt anyone!)
Storing & Reheating Leftovers
This Mediterranean chicken and rice recipe is so good, you might not have leftovers – but in case you do, we have a few tips on how to store and reheat it:
- Store leftovers in airtight containers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- You can pack the chicken and rice away in separate containers, or if you like to meal prep for easy grab-and-go lunches, portion out single servings of rice and chicken together in microwavable containers.
- When you’re ready to eat, pop the leftover chicken and rice in the microwave for about 2 minutes – and don’t forget to top with a dollop of hummus before eating!
Scaling This Recipe
You may want to scale this recipe to make a larger batch for weekly meal prep or a family dinner. Here are a few notes to consider:
- You might not need to double the marinade ingredients if you double the amount of chicken. As long as you have enough liquid to submerge all the chicken in, you’re good! Start with a single batch of marinade no matter how much chicken you have, and increase the amount of ingredients proportionally from there as needed.
- Double the amount of rice if you’re doubling the chicken.
- One batch of our homemade hummus makes about one and a half cups, so if you’re doubling the amount of chicken you may want to 1.5x or 2x the hummus recipe. Or buy an extra large container of hummus if you’re going with store-bought.
This Mediterranean chicken and rice dish is healthy, fresh, and flavorful – the perfect answer to the age old question, what should I make for dinner tonight? Especially if you’re looking for a nutritious, protein-packed meal to kickstart your healthy eating habit! Try the recipe below and don’t forget to rate, comment, and share. We’d love to hear what you think!
Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:
- Healthy Avocado Cilantro Lime Chicken & Rice
- Carne Asada with Rice & Beans
- Grilled Lemon Pepper Chicken
- Chili Lime Chicken Burrito Bowls
Mediterranean Chicken and Rice
Equipment
Ingredients
Mediterranean Chicken
- 1½ lbs chicken tenderloins
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- ½ tsp Turkish oregano
- ¼ tsp ground sage
- ¼ tsp salt
Rice
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup dry basmati rice
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Sides
- 1 cup hummus
- 4 small pita breads whole wheat
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine chicken, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, sage, and salt. Stir to coat chicken and then marinate in the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a small saucepan, then stir in the basmati rice, cover, and lower heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes or until water has evaporated and rice is fluffy, then set aside.
- Preheat a large cast iron pan over medium heat. Cook chicken in batches, flipping every 3 minutes or so until fully cooked, about 12 minutes total.
- Transfer cooked chicken to a cutting board. Then, fluff cooked rice with a fork and stir in 1 tsp lemon juice.
- Plate chicken alongside rice, a spoonful of hummus, and pita bread and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
If you have any questions regarding the information presented in this post, please refer to our Nutrition Disclaimer here.
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