This Chicken Quinoa Mediterranean Bowl has so many of my favorite things: creamy hummus, delicious grilled chicken, feta cheese, and a homemade tzatziki sauce; it tastes almost identical to my favorite Panera mediterranean bowl. It comes together quick and it’s SO filling thanks to protein + fiber! One of my favorite easy lunch recipes to meal prep!
I have been on a buddha bowl kick lately, especially with my meal prep lunches.
Bowls – like this tasty Burger Bowl or this Chipotle Bowl – are the perfect meal when you don’t feel like cooking or following an exact recipe. They are easy and customizable, and, with just a little meal prep, you can assemble them easily at the beginning of the week or on demand if you work from home.
I decided to add one bowl recipe to the blog each month in 2023, and first up is this Chicken Quinoa Mediterranean Bowl! This recipe first appeared on the blog as a salad, but it’s new and improved and back as a bowl! And it reminds me so much of my favorite grain bowl from Panera.
Love Panera? Try my Copy Cat Panera Green Goddess Salad!
Why I love this bowl recipe
- It’s basically a copycat recipe for Panera’s Chicken Mediterranean Grain Bowl, but cheaper and no door dash delivery charge. Also, I serve it with quinoa instead of brown rice for extra protein power.
- It’s customizable and easy to swap your favorite ingredients or use what you have on hand.
- Total sauce goals – not only does it have a delicious homemade tzatziki dressing, it also has creamy hummus. Gimme all the sauce.
- It’s super filling and high protein – a total of 58 grams of protein per serving!
If you love Mediterranean flavors, you must also try these Easy Falafel Bites, and this delicious Gluten Free Orzo Salad.
Ingredients
This bowl is full of fresh ingredients and Mediterranean flavor. You will need:
For the Chicken
- boneless skinless chicken breast or tenderloins – to save time, you can use a store bought rotisserie chicken or use leftover chicken from my Air Fryer Whole Chicken, or Air Fryer Chicken Thighs.
- for juicy chicken, I do a quick marinade with little olive oil, lemon, dill, and some salt and pepper.
For the Bowl
- cooked quinoa – it’s so easy to prep quinoa in the instant pot. I do this often on meal prep days and will also freeze extra quinoa for later!
- baby spinach, romaine, salad greens – I like to chop my greens so this feels more like a bowl than a salad. Short on time? Grab pre-washed bagged salad!
- cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes – if you don’t like tomatoes, you can sub red bell peppers or roasted red peppers.
- cucumber – diced up small. I use english cucumbers but whatever you gave on hand will work.
- diced red onion – picked red onion would also be delicious.
- feta cheese – my favorite cheese.
- kalamata olives – not everyone loves olives, but I cannot get enough. A great way to get in those healthy fats.
- fresh mint and or fresh parsley – optional garnish, but I love the surprise fresh flavor of the mint in this bowl and reminds me of my fave – falafel!
- Hummus – you can use a homemade hummus or your favorite store bought hummus. I generally use an original flavored hummus, but again, use what you love!
For the homemade Tzatziki sauce
- low fat Greek yogurt
- fresh cucumber
- garlic
- lemon zest and fresh lemon juice
- fresh dill – fresh is key! It makes this dressing so delish.
- salt and black pepper
Instructions
Step one: if you haven’t done so already, prep quinoa – rinse, then place one cup of quinoa and one cup of water in the instant pot. Cook for one minute on high pressure. Manual release for 10 minutes after cook time, release the rest of the pressure and fluff with a fork.
Step two: prep Chicken – season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper, then rub with2 tsp olive oil, juice from ½ lemon. Sprinkle of dill. Marinate in the refrigerator for ten minutes if you have it, otherwise grill, air fry, or bake chicken until cooked through – an instant read meat thermometer. Let chicken rest, the sliced into bite sized pieces.
Step three: prep dressing – in food processor or blender, pulse all ingredients for the salad dressing. You could also mix by hand for a thicker consistency. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Step four: prep veggies – chop salad, dice cucumber, and slice grape tomatoes in half.
Step five: assemble bowls
Substitution Ideas
Make it vegetarian: sub chick peas (aka garbanzo beans) in this yummy bowl or make my Falafel bites!
Make it pescatarian: sub salmon, tuna, or shrimp
Make it dairy free: sub a tahini based dressing and dairy free cheese for the Tzatziki and feta (Violife feta is YUM!) or sub pine nuts
Use a variety of colorful veggies: add roasted red peppers, banana peppers, radishes, leftover cucumber salad, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash, artichoke hearts and whatever other veggies you love or you have on hand to use. This Roasted Red Pepper Hummus would also be a delicious addition.
Meal Prep and Storage
To prep ahead: This salad is reason #953 to prep grilled chicken and quinoa for use throughout the week. In fact, it was born out of me doing just that. Basically this entire buddha bowl can be prepped ahead. Cook quinoa and let cool. Grill chicken. Prep dressing. Chop veggies. Everything can be stored in separate containers in the refrigerator or in meal prep containers all together. I would just keep the dressing and the hummus separate until you are ready to eat.
To store: Store this salad and it’s ingredients in airtight containers in the refrigerator until
To freeze: You can actually prep your quinoa and freeze to use in this salad whenever you have a craving! Just let the quinoa cool, then store it in a ziplock freezer bag or freezer safe container for up to three months. You can do the same for the chicken.
More delicious and healthy Mediterranean Recipes:
Easy Falafel Bites [Air Fryer | Oven]
Greek Spaghetti Squash Boats {Gluten-free}
Balsamic Chicken and Zucchini Skewers
Chicken Quinoa Mediterranean Bowl
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1 cup quinoa cooked
- 4 cups spinach, romaine, or other salad greens
- 2 cup cherry or grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 2 cup cucumber diced
- 2-4 tablespoons red onion, diced or more to taste
- 1 lb grilled chicken, cooked and sliced I seasoned mine with dried dill, lemon, salt and pepper
- 2/3 cup feta cheese
- 40 kalamata olives diced, 10 per serving
- 1/2 cup hummus
- Chopped fresh mint optional garnish
- 1 cup chickpeas (optional add-in) 1/4 cup per serving
For the dressing
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup cucumber seeded, finely grated and drained
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
- Himalyan salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- In food processor or blender, pulse ingredients for the salad dressing. You could also mix by hand for a thicker consistency.
- Assemble salads. Divide greens into 4 bowls. Add diced chicken and cooked quinoa. Add tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion. Sprinkle on feta and olives. Add two tablespoons of hummus.
- Top each bowl with 2 Tbsp dressing and enjoy!
Heather says
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I had grilled chicken and quinoa already made from food prep for the week which made it quick to put together. The sauce really pulled out the great flavors of this recipe. I thought the hummus would be too much but it also layered in another good flavor profile. I added picked red pinions I had made earlier in week too which was also good.
Nancylynn says
This is so perfect! Ahh I’m totally drooling now!
Donna says
I’m confused on container count. For 1 blue do I split the blue container with feta cheese and hummus ? Do I use a whole red of chicken if also using dressing with yogurt ?
Nancylynn says
Yes, there’s some fine print in the recipe card with the blue info – you’ll essentially use 2 Tbsp hummus and 2.5 Tbsp feta cheese to make up the 1 blue. And when you divide 1 lb chicken into 4 servings it is a little less than a red each, so the dressing makes up for the rest of the red container. I hope that makes sense!
Amy says
I wanted to try doing these in mason jars for the week. What order of ingredients do you think I should do? Do you think it would hold up?
Nancylynn says
Hi!
YES – this is a super genius idea!
I would layer in this order: dressing, olives, veggies, quinoa, chicken, cheese, greens! Let me know how it goes!!
Amy says
Thank you so much for getting back to me! I just want to say I love your recipes we have done a bunch of them and I’ve done a few of your whole week meal plans. Everything has been great and the husband and toddler love them too!
Kara C says
This looks delicious! Just a quick question–you say 10 olives per serving. So just to clarify, this means I would need 40 olives in total for the entire recipe? Thanks so much!
Nancylynn says
Exactly!
Reva says
What restaurant in Philly?!?
Nancylynn says
Actually Lafayette Hill – The Persian Grill – SO GOOD.
Julie Lease says
Hey Nancylynn! Quick question- in the pics you have red onion, but I don’t see it in the list of ingredients. How much do you add?
Nancylynn says
Ooops! I need to fix that! I just put a couple of tablespoons of diced red onion into the salad!
Meag Robbins says
My goodness all of your recipes are amazing! I can’t wait to make this one tomorrow! 🙂
Quick questions how many servings does this make?
Thanks for sharing!
Meag Robbins says
Forget it I see at the top that it makes 4 servings! An oversight on my part!
Thanks again!!!
Nancylynn says
Oh good!! And you are SO welcome! Hope you enjoy this one, too!
Stacey says
I made this for lunch and had a hard time sticking to just one serving! I loved it! Thank you for sharing! You are right, the dressing is magnificent!
Nancylynn says
Yay, Stacey!!! This made my night!!
Julie Lease says
This. Was. Delicious.
Nancylynn says
Yay! I am SO happy you liked it! It’s so many of my favorite foods all together :).
Julie Lease says
Hi Nancylynn! Is this one cup before cooking if quinoa, or one cup after? Thanks!
Nancylynn says
After! 🙂
AnnMarie says
This is my kind of salad and since I eat a lot of them, it is nice to have a new recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Nancylynn says
Oh, awesome!! I am so glad – let me know what you think!!