Mediterranean Chicken Rice Bowl
I’ve been eyeing rice bowl recipes I’ve seen around the internet lately. There are beautiful Southwestern ones and Asian ones that have particularly caught my eye lately. Today, however, I made some rice bowls using Mediterranean flavors. I marinated a couple of chicken breasts in lemon zest/juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley for an hour then seared it on the stovetop then baked it in the oven. I made some delicious Garlic Rice and a caramelized onion, spinach, and tomato sauté then placed them all in the bowl. I topped the rice bowl with some toasted pine nuts, feta cheese, and fresh parsley. It was healthy, flavorful, filling, and delicious! I am really disappointed there are no leftovers! I look forward to making more rice bowls in the future – this one included!
How to Make a Mediterranean Chicken Rice Bowl
Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, fresh thyme, oregano, and basil together in a large zip lock bag. Add the chicken breasts then seal and refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 20 minutes prior to baking.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat an OVEN PROOF pan over medium-high heat that has been coating with cooking spray. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Add the chicken breasts to the HOT pan and cook until brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the chicken over and place it into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes then pour the remaining marinade into the pan. Place the pan back into the oven and continue baking for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
While the chicken is baking. Prepare the garlic rice – click here for the recipe.
While the chicken and rice are cooking, caramelize the diced onion. Heat a sauté pan over medium-low heat with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Side Note: If the pan and onion get dry add a bit more olive oil or water and toss to coat evenly. Continue cooking until caramelized.
Once the onion is caramelized, add the grape tomatoes and cook until just about to burst, about 5 minutes. Add the baby spinach then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
Place a big scoop of rice in a bowl. Add some sliced chicken along with some spinach and tomato sauté. Top with some toasted pine nuts, feta cheese, and fresh parsley. Serve with additional lemon wedges if needed. Enjoy.
Ingredients
- Lemon Herb Chicken:
- Zest and juice from 1 large lemon 2 tbsp juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 tsp fresh parsley
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried basil
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts fat removed
- Garlic Rice:
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup uncooked jasmine rice
- 2 cups chicken broth
- Sea salt and white pepper to taste
- Caramelized Onion Tomato, and Spinach Sauté:
- 2 tsp olive oil
- ½ sweet yellow onion diced
- Handful of grape tomatoes
- 2 cups baby spinach
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
- Other Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 2 tbsp feta cheese
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- Lemon wedges if desired
Instructions
- Combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, fresh thyme, oregano, and basil together in a large zip lock bag. Add the chicken breasts then seal and refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the refrigerator 20 minutes prior to baking.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat an OVEN PROOF pan over medium-high heat that has been coating with cooking spray. Season both sides of the chicken breasts with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Add the chicken breasts to the HOT pan and cook until brown, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the chicken over and place it into the oven. Bake for 20 minutes then pour the remaining marinade into the pan. Place back into the oven and continue baking for 5 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove from the oven and let the chicken rest for 5 minutes before slicing thinly.
- While the chicken is baking. Prepare the garlic rice - click the link up above for the recipe directions.
- While the chicken and rice are cooking, caramelize the diced onion. Heat a sauté pan over medium-low heat with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes. Side Note: If the pan and onion get dry add a bit more olive oil or water and toss to coat evenly.
- Continue cooking until caramelized. Once the onion is caramelized, add the grape tomatoes and cook until just about to burst, about 5 minutes. Add the baby spinach then season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
- Place a big scoop of rice in a bowl. Add some sliced chicken along with some spinach and tomato sauté. Top with some toasted pine nuts, feta cheese, and fresh parsley. Serve with additional lemon wedges if needed. Enjoy.
It’s lunch time over here and this makes me even hungrier!
Wow…this looks amazing! I know what I’m cooking for dinner tonight! I will keep my fingers crossed that you will create more bowls- the Southwest and Asian sound delicious, too!
This does, indeed, look awesome, Pam! I’m a fan of garlic and herbs so this is really appealing to me! Love the vegetable combo, but I think I’d like purple onions caramelized even more! Yum! You might make a blogging series out of your rice bowl interest! This is a great start!
This sounds like something my family would love!
What temperature should the oven be set at?
Kat –
Thanks for letting me know it was missing. I have corrected the recipe. The oven temperature is 375 degrees.
Pam
Dear Pam, This is a perfect meal. The chicken marinade sounds wonderful; along with the rice. Perfection. Blessings, Catherine
I love this because it looks super healthy, but also really satisfying. Would make my work days happier if I had this for lunch!
This sounds delicious!
I buy rice bowls, but duh I never thought to make my own. Sometimes I amaze myself. This is a wonderful impetus to DO it.
Some of my favorite ingredients are in your recipe. Looks quite delicious.
I’ve definitely been in a Mediterranean mood lately, and this rice bowl sounds like a great mix of flavors!
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/dining/grain-bowls-how-to-make-your-own.html
Pam, you and the New Yoek Times were on the same brain wave today.
What an easy, delicious and healthy recipe. Great idea for a work day lunch. I love making different rice bowls for lunch because it’s so easy to take a quick bite here and there between work.
My neighbors do their fajita rice bowls about once a week but I like the Mediterranean spin that yours has, I’ll get him to try this out.
Dining in for rice bowl is one of my favorite thing, but I never take the risk of doing it on my own since I am not good in cooking. But thanks anyway, maybe I can do it with this steps that you give. You really amazed me in posting recipes like this, the story behind every recipes that you gave are all inspiring. By the way, i’d like commend you for the idea of putting dried oregano to your recipes, since this is one of the healthiest medicinal herbs that is used in cooking. Health benefits such as treatment of respiratory tract disorders, gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, menstrual cramps, and urinary tract disorders are some of the benefits that one can get. You deserved a double thumbs up!
I made this dish tonight and it was DELICIOUS! I added sea salt to the chicken to cut the tartness of the lemon juice and used brown jasmine rice. I would make this dish on the regular.
This was fantastic! (And I confess I am making it again tonight because we are a bit obsessed… ) I tweaked the recipe to add shallots to the chicken marinade (since I was out of garlic) and I chopped up the chicken into bite-size pieces prior to putting it into the plastic bag. Then, once it had soaked for a few hours, I sauteed the chicken instead of baking it – removing some of the liquid initially so it would brown then adding it back in along with the spinach. The garlic rice was the best rice we have ever had…addictive…the only changes I made was to rinse the rice prior and sautee it in the butter and oil to bring out some of the nutty flavor prior to boiling with the chicken broth.
Many thanks!
Elizabeth,
Thanks for letting me know–I’m so glad you like the recipe. Your changes sound excellent.
-Pam
This recipe is very inspiring! I make a lot of rice and curries but my family will love the rice bowl concept.
All your ingredients sound aromatic and a great blend of flavor. Can’t wait to try this week!