One of my all-time favorite recipes is Oven Fajitas. It’s easy, flavorful, and healthy. So, I decided to try the same concept with different flavors. For this version, I chose Greek inspired vegetables (bell pepper, eggplant, tomato, and red onion), drenched them in a lemon-garlic marinade, then topped the whole thing with feta and fresh parsley after roasting. I added one thinly sliced chicken breast for a little belly-filling power, but this could easily be made vegetarian (add mushrooms, asparagus, or artichokes maybe?).
Although the mix needs about an hour to roast in the oven, the hands-on preparation is very quick. I’ve kept the leftover mix in the refrigerator all week and have really enjoyed eating the pitas every day for lunch. I package the filling in a separate container, heat it quickly in the microwave, and then stuff it into a pita just before eating. …and sometimes I just ate the filling with a fork, because why not? :)
I set the serving size to a half-round pita pocket. Each one of those servings came out to just $1.37, but even if I was so hungry that I ate two (which may or may not have happened…) it’s still less than $3! Win!
Oven Roasted Greek Stuffed Pitas
Oven Roasted Greek Stuffed Pitas
Servings 8 1/2 round pocket eachIngredients
- 1 medium red onion ($0.95)
- 1 small eggplant ($1.71)
- 2 Roma tomatoes ($0.55)
- 2 medium green bell peppers ($1.58)
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (about ¾ lb.)* ($1.75)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.32)
- 3 Tbsp olive oil ($0.48)
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.13)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano ($0.15)
- 1 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/8 tsp Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 4 oz. feta cheese ($1.74)
- 1/4 bunch fresh parsley ($0.19)
- 4 whole pita breads (8 half round pockets) ($1.33)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Slice the red onion and bell pepper. Cut the eggplant and tomatoes into one-inch chunks. Place the red onion, bell pepper, eggplant, and tomatoes into a large 9x13 inch casserole dish. Slice the chicken into very thin strips and then add to the casserole dish with the vegetables.
- Mince the garlic and add it to a small bowl along with the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and a generous helping of freshly cracked pepper (20-30 cranks of a pepper mill). Stir to combine then pour over the chicken and vegetables. Toss until everything is well coated in the dressing.
- Roast the chicken and vegetables in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, stirring once every 20 minutes. After roasting, top with crumbled feta and roughly chopped fresh parsley. Stuff the mixture into the pita pockets and enjoy warm.
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Notes
Nutrition
Step by Step Photos
I know, I know… there are four tomatoes in the picture. I intended to use four, but quickly realized that would be WAY too much, so I only used two. I also used one red onion, two green bell peppers, and one eggplant.
I sliced the onion and bell pepper into strips, and the tomato and eggplant into one-inch cubes. Place them all into a large 9×13 inch casserole dish. Oh yes, start preheating the oven to 400 degrees. It needs to be HOT.
Slice the chicken breast into very thin strips. Remember, the smaller the pieces, the more pieces you’ll have, and the more chicken will be in every bite (instead of one big piece every now and then). And yes, my price for chicken is extremely good. I only buy chicken breast when they’re on sale (usually for about $2/lb) and freeze it for later.
Mince the garlic and stir it together with the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt, and a bunch of freshly cracked pepper. Red wine vinegar would also be super good in this if you don’t have lemon juice.
Pour the marinade over the chicken and vegetables, then toss it all together until everything is very well coated. Transfer the whole thing into the oven and come back 20 minutes later…
Give everything a good stir after 20 minutes to redistribute the juices and help some of the moisture evaporate off, then put it back in the oven.
Give it another good stir at the 40 minute mark, then back in the oven it goes…
And then after a total of 60 minutes you’ve got some nice brown roasting action. Yummm….
Let it sit for just a minute as you roughly chop some parsley and crumble the feta cheese. Add it to the meat and vegetables and then give it quick stir.
And now it’s ready to stuff into pitas and devour!
Ohhhh yessss….
These were excellent! I used one large tomato from the garden and subbed in a medium size zucchini for the eggplant (also from the garden!). I also used rainbow bell peppers in place of green bell peppers. It was quite watery after the second set of 20 minutes so I drained about 2/3 of the mixture off before putting it back in the oven for the last 20 minutes. Great flavor and easy to reheat for a meal prep later in the week. I will definitely make these again. I am a die hard Budget Bytes fan, so thank you once again for making cooking easy and fun!
This is SO good. We actually make Beth’s naan recipe and use that instead of pita!
so good i am a picke kid but I loved it I made it for my family
Just made this for my lunches for the week, and it is soooo good! I used 1 red and 1 green bell pepper because that’s what I had on hand, and I added a medium zucchini that had been slowly wilting in my veggie drawer. Otherwise, the only other modifications was to cut the vegetables into thin slices (about the size of the chicken) and cooking it all on a sheet pan to allow it to cook a bit faster. I took another commentor’s advice and waited to add the chicken, so that it wouldn’t dry out.
It ended up so delicious, and I’m seriously looking forward to lunches for the week! (PS- my SO said they’d prefer a bit more meat in this, so if you’re cooking for someone who loves meat, I’d do two breasts, but I thought this was plenty of meat for me).