Grilled Greek Chicken Grain Bowl Recipe

Jun 27, 2023

Can we all agree that grain bowls are the best way to eat a meal? Gone are the days of eating chicken and rice on a plate — now, you can eat them in a bowl and combine them with an assortment of veggies and a dressing. Unlike a typical salad, a grain bowl features a carb like rice or quinoa and builds around it, usually forgoing leafy greens. If this sounds like your kind of meal, read on.

This Greek chicken grain bowl recipe developed with Michelle McGlinn draws inspiration from Greek cuisine in the form of herby oregano, salty olives, and plenty of garlic. Instead of a typical dressing, the grain bowl is completed with a quick and lemony Greek yogurt dill sauce, perfect for dipping the smoky grilled chicken into. You can take your pick of grain – we like farro, wheat berry, and couscous — and mix it up with pine nuts and feta cheese.

This bowl has a little bit of everything, making it the best healthy meal to prepare any day of the week.

The easiest cut of chicken to work with here is chicken breast, but if you have thighs or wings on hand, feel free to use them instead. For the marinade, you'll need garlic, lemon, olive oil, thyme, oregano, parsley, honey, salt, and pepper. You'll reuse the garlic, lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper for other parts of the bowl, so make sure you have plenty on hand.

You can choose any grain you like here. Rice or quinoa work great, but for something a little more rustic, try farro, pearl couscous, or wheat berries, which are also packed with nutritional benefits. For the rest of the bowl, you'll need Greek yogurt, fresh dill, chickpeas, pine nuts, olives, cucumber, tomato, and feta. These ingredients are all fairly flexible, too — you can use cherry tomatoes instead of cocktail, Persian cucumbers instead of English, or black olives instead of Kalamata. And if pine nuts aren't in the plan? Swap for almonds or just omit them entirely.

Whisk the marinade ingredients together in a bowl until you have a smooth dressing. Using your hands, coat the chicken well, then return the chicken to the bowl to rest for 30 minutes or so. If making ahead, transfer the chicken and any remaining marinade to a sealable bag and store in the refrigerator for up to 8 hours.

Heat the grill to 350 F, and once hot, add the chicken directly from the marinade onto the grill. Cook over direct heat, turning halfway through, until chicken is cooked through and has deep char marks on either side. If you're not sure, pull out your meat thermometer and check for a temperature of 165 F; with chicken, it's better to be safe than sorry. As long as the grill is fired up, feel free to throw veggies over the flames for a few minutes as well. You can start with the tomatoes, but eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, and even onion would also be great additions to this grain bowl.

If you're short on time and don't mind the extra dishes, you can throw all the yogurt sauce ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped and smooth — that way, you don't have to chop any dill or mince any garlic. Don't blend the ingredients fully, though: You'll end up with a thin (but still delicious) green dressing, instead. If you're comfortable enough with a knife, the sauce takes less than 5 minutes to throw together with just a bowl and a spatula. Mix it together and adjust to taste. If it's bland, add salt. If it's too creamy, add garlic. Too garlicky? Try some more lemon and yogurt.

If you want to serve these family-style, prep the grains, veggies, olives, nuts, cheese, and beans in separate bowls, then serve on a long table with a platter of grilled chicken and a big bowl of yogurt sauce. Pro tip? Have a squeeze bottle of olive oil and some extra dill and lemon on the side.

If you plan to serve these for meal prep or just want to assemble the bowls before serving, we recommend stirring the grain, pine nuts, beans, and olives together first and dividing the mixture between bowls. With the base assembled, add a piece of chicken, sliced, to each serving, then pile on the halved tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta. Give each serving a generous dollop of yogurt, then drizzle with olive oil to serve. They can be stored as assembled bowls and reheated as-is, making these a great healthy option for easy prepared lunches.