Mediterranean Chicken & Rice Bowls (SUPER Easy!)

This Mediterranean Rice Bowl recipe is my favorite nutritious and delicious dinner or meal prep! Made with white rice, marinated Greek chicken, chickpeas, fresh veggies, hummus, tzatziki, and feta cheese … these hearty and healthy bowls are incredibly easy to make. Super simple and customizable, with not much active cooking required, this recipe is full of different textures and flavors that everyone will love!

This post is sponsored by Success Rice but all thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Wellness by Kay possible!

Why You’ll Love This Mediterranean Rice Bowl

• Hearty & Healthy: This recipe has everything you need for a satisfying, well-balanced meal – carbohydrates, protein, fats, and micronutrients! It is filling and satiating, while still feeling light and fresh due to the crunchy, colorful veggies. Now that is a win-win in my book!
• Customizable: I seriously do not know if a more customizable recipe exists! This dish is all about the assembly – you simply throw all the parts together to create a delicious meal. The grain, the protein, the veggies, the dips & spreads, etc. You can customize each aspect to your liking!
• Perfect Meal Prep: I’ve created this recipe with meal prep in mind! All you have to do is prepare the elements and then assemble your meals as you go. It’s like having a full blown Cava restaurant in your fridge.

Now for my favorite question to ask …

What really sets this recipe apart?

The answer is simple. This recipe is SO easy and SO quick to make! So much so that it almost doesn’t even need to be called a recipe.

I think a lot of times nowadays we think that to be healthy we can’t use any shortcuts in the kitchen. We have to prepare whole grains from scratch and make all dressings, marinades, and spreads ourselves. This is just not the case! There is no problem with making your life easier – sometimes you just need shortcuts in order to get dinner on the table.

These Mediterranean Chicken & Rice Bowls are the perfect example of this. They use:

• Store bought Greek dressing for the chicken marinade
• Success Boil-in-Bag White Rice
• Pre-made hummus and tzatziki

This keeps both the ingredient list and the effort required low! But I promise you the bowls still deliver on the flavor. They’re my favorite nutritious and delicious meal to prepare when I’m in a pinch.

Mediterranean Rice Bowl Ingredients & Substitutions

This Mediterranean Rice Bowl recipe is full of fresh ingredients – as lots of Mediterranean dishes are! I’m talking lean protein rich chicken breasts, garbanzo beans, salty feta cheese, juicy tomatoes, crisp cucumber, and more.

• Chicken: The main source of protein in this recipe is chicken. I opt for boneless, skinless breasts!
• White Rice: White rice provides a hearty base to these bowl meals. I love to use Success Boil-in-Bag White Rice for ease of preparation and rice that comes out perfectly fluffy each and every time.
• Fresh Veggies: Greek chicken bowls are full of fresh vegetables! I like to use cucumber, tomato, and red onion. They add great taste, texture, and nutrition.
• Garbanzo Beans: Garbanzo beans or chickpeas, whatever you prefer to call them, are a staple in Mediterranean food. The little beans are super tasty, but also highly nutritious. They’re packed with vitamins, minerals, and fiber. A good source of plant based protein too.
• Dips: The stars of this Mediterranean bowl recipe, in my humble opinion, are the hummus and tzatziki. They are SO delicious here – I literally have to stop myself from adding the whole container. I tend to go with store-bought hummus and tzatziki, since we are going for ease with this recipe, but homemade is always a better option. I recommend trying my Cucumber Dill Tzatziki!
• Feta: The cherry on top of this rice bowl is salty, crumbled feta cheese. It adds the perfect flavor in each and every bite. I’ve included a measurement in the recipe below, but let’s be honest … just dump it all on! YUM.

Equipment Needed

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• Cutting Board & Chef Knife
• Measuring Cups
• Optional: Air Fryer –  Instant Slim 6Qt Air Fryer Oven

How To Make Marinated Greek Chicken

The chicken in these Mediterranean bowls might just be my favorite part about the entire dish. It is full of so much flavor and is incredibly easy to make!

I may be late to the game on this one, but marinating chicken in a store bought dressing is a total game changer. It is incredibly affordable, easy, and versatile! There are endless flavors you could create – I mean have you seen how extensive the salad dressing aisles in grocery stores are these days?

Anyway! The process of cooking up this life changing chicken is very simple. It requires 3 steps:

Choose your flavor / dressing:

Since these are Mediterranean inspired bowls I recommend using a Greek dressing. But you could choose any flavor you’d like!

If you tend to stay away from pre-made store bought dressings because of the unnecessary additives and ingredients that they are full of, I totally understand you! But do not worry, there are so many better-for-you versions available these days. I specifically love the brand Primal Kitchen.

However, if you really do not want to use a dressing, check out my Greek Chicken Marinade. It actually is quite easy as well and full of delicious ingredients – lemon juice, fresh herbs, fresh garlic, and more.

Marinate:

The longer the better! 60 minutes will get the job done if that is all the time you have, but marinating overnight will create the best flavor.

Place the chicken breasts in a bowl or container and pour the greek dressing over top. Thoroughly coat both sides of the chicken breasts. Cover and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook it.

Cook:

My personal favorite way to cook chicken these days is in the air fryer. It is quick and easy and the chicken comes out so good! It’s perfectly juicy in the middle and crispy, golden brown on the outside

• Air Fry: Place the marinated chicken breasts in a lined air fryer basket. Air fry at 400 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken, flipping halfway through. I tend to do closer to 15 minutes or a little extra to get a nice color. 
• Bake: Place the marinated chicken breasts on a parchment paper or aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

If you also love air frying, check out more of my favorite recipes using the trendy appliance. Like my Air Fryer Frozen French Fries, Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls, or Air Fryer Soft Boiled Eggs.

How To Assemble Mediterranean Bowls

Besides cooking the chicken, most of the preparation for these healthy bowls is just in assembling them. You pretty much throw all the ingredients together and voila! Your greek chicken rice bowl is ready to go.

You do also have to cook the rice, but that is a breeze with Success Boil-in-Bag White Rice! With no measuring and no mess you’ll have the perfect, fluffy rice in just 10 minutes. It is seriously the best!

Plus Success Rice has other quick and easy whole grain options too for all your cooking needs. They’re great in countless recipes – like my Jennifer Aniston Quinoa Salad and Mexican Inspired Beef & Brown Rice Skillet.

To assemble the rice bowls, you’ll simply divide the ingredients into four servings.

Start with a base of cooked white rice. Next add the chicken, chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion. Lastly add the hummus, tzatziki, and feta cheese. You can also add an extra drizzle of Greek dressing if you would like.

Check out my Optional Variations and Dietary Adaptations section below to see how you can customize these Mediterranean bowls to your liking.

Optional Variations & Dietary Adaptations

This healthy lunch or easy dinner recipe is perfect in my eyes! It’s nutritious, full of delicious Mediterranean flavors, and easy to make. What’s not to love!?!

However, as with all of my recipes – there is always room for changes so that it can be perfect for you. Here are some of my ideas for adaptation and variations to meet your personal preferences or needs:

• Different Grain: Not a fan of white rice? No problem! These grain bowls can be made with any grain of your choice. Try brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, or couscous.
• No Grain: If you live a grain free lifestyle you can still enjoy these bowls. Perhaps switch out the rice with roasted sweet potatoes! Or if you just prefer low carb, swap in some shredded lettuce or mixed greens.
• Different Meat: I happen to love some good old chicken breasts, but I can understand why people don’t! The lean, white meat is not always the most impressive. Swap in some chicken thighs if you prefer the darker, juicier meat! Or ditch the chicken entirely and try ground beef, shrimp, or salmon. You can seriously choose any protein your heart desires. My Greek Chicken Meatballs would be a great option too!
• Vegetarian: A great thing about this rice bowl recipe is that it is incredibly easy to make vegetarian. Simply add more of the chickpeas or a meat alternative, like tofu.
• Toppings: Now for the fun part! Perhaps the most customizable aspect of these meal prep rice bowls is that you can add any toppings you would like. I kept things simple, but there are so many additional elements you could try.
  • Kalamata olives
  • Artichokes
  • Red pepper
  • Roasted vegetables
  • Avocado
  • Nuts – almonds, pistachios, walnuts
  • Roasted chickpeas
  • Herbs – fresh parsley, oregano, basil pesto
  • Harissa
  • Tomato salad, cucumber salad
  • Falafel
  • Tahini sauce

Expert Tips

Marinate the chicken for as long as possible! I recommend marinating the chicken breasts for at least 1 hour, but overnight if possible. It will really elevate the flavor! Starting the marinating the morning of is great too. Just pop the chicken in an airtight container or Ziploc bag with the Greek dressing and place in the fridge until it is time to cook. So simple!

Air fry the chicken! If you want juicy chicken in the quickest time, the air fryer is the way to go. Check out my other air fryer recipes too if you’re looking for more ways to use the appliance.

Try a homemade hummus or tzatziki to elevate this dish! One of the things that I love about this recipe is that it is SO easy. I have employed lots of shortcuts to make my life and yours as easy as possible – like Success Boil-in-Bag White Rice, dressing for a marinade, and store bought dips and spreads. BUT that doesn’t mean you can’t fancify things if you’d like!

Red onion trick! I often find that raw red onion can have too strong of a flavor that ruins a dish for me. So to remove that sharp bite and create a more enjoyable taste, I always soak my raw red onion in warm water for a few minutes. This does the trick every time for diced or sliced onion!

CUSTOMIZE!! My number one tip for preparing these Mediterranean chicken and rice bowls is to customize, customize, customize. That’s the beauty of it – you can add or takeaway anything you like or dislike! I have included many ideas above for how you can make this recipe your own.

How To Meal Prep Rice Bowls

These rice bowls are essentially made for meal prep! They work wonderfully as a sort of build-your-own style family dinner as well, but they really are perfect to prepare in advance and have healthy meals ready to go throughout the week.

You will have four servings of a nutritious lunch or dinner made in just about 30 minutes. Plus the time it takes to marinate the chicken! But I just suggest you start that the night before or the morning of.

First, to meal prep these bowls you will need to accomplish 3 things – cook the chicken, cook the rice, and prepare the remaining ingredients. This means chop the fresh veggies and drain and rinse the chickpeas.

Next, you have two options for storage.

Store Separately

You can prepare all the ingredients, store them separately, and then assemble the bowls as you go. This is my preferred method! This way I can adjust as needed. For example, if I’m extra hungry one night I’ll add extra hummus or chicken to my serving. I also think the ingredients stay the freshest like this.

You will store the cooked chicken in one container, the rice in another, and then the remaining prepared ingredients in the last one – chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion. I just mix them all together like a Greek salad of sort! Then as you make your meals you can add the store bought items – hummus, tzatziki, and feta cheese.

Assemble Bowls

The other option is to assemble the bowls right away. This is a great method if you know that you will be bringing all of the servings with you to work for lunch!

You’ll need to grab 4 airtight containers. There are lots of great options out there designed just for meal prep! Like these ones. Then simply divide the prepared ingredients (cooked rice, cooked chicken, fresh veggies, cheese, dips / spreads) among all of the four containers.

Storing Suggestions

If you are not meal prepping these bowls like detailed above, but still have leftovers simply add to an airtight container and place in the refrigerator. They will keep best for about 3-5 days!

Mediterranean Rice Bowl FAQs

Related Recipes

More Meal Prep Recipes

• Mexican Beef & Rice Skillet
• Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats
• Crockpot Salsa Chicken
• Teriyaki Shrimp Stir Fry
• Big Mac Cheeseburger Casserole
• Pan Seared Chicken Thighs
• Tuna Salad Lettuce Wraps

Connect With Me!

If you make this Mediterranean inspired recipe or any of my other recipes, I would absolutely love to know! Tag me @wellnessbykay on Instagram so I can see and share your recreations.

Love this recipe? Leave a comment and a rating! I love to see and it helps me continue to develop delicious recipes for this blog.

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