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….
Looks excellent! I am pinning to save for later!
looks absolutely delicious!!
So delicious and easy! Didn’t have chicken so just used the veggies and turned out amazing! Thanks so much. And I used you tzatziki sauce on it as we’ll bc I am pretty much obsessed with your tzatziki sauce after trying so many diff versions so many diff times! Thanks again!
Delicious, however I stumbled across a few problem. My chicken came out dry and overcooked, and it was a little too liquidy for me. Next time I made this, I roasted the vegetables first, just in a little olive oil, salt and pepper for 30 mins, stirring once. After that, I added the chicken and lemon-garlic mix, and roasted for another 20-30 mins. Also, I drained off all the liquid left over, mixed it with some melted butter and poured it over bread and roasted them for some super tasty croutons!
This recipe was seriously delicious! However, my casserole dish was broken completely in half. We were able to salvage most of it, and luckily it was a clean break so we weren’t eating glass shards. I’m guessing this was a fluke, and an just glad we were able to make it work.
Love this recipe. I also love this section, nothing like eating like royalty without having to spend like royalty.
this will be my breakfast this week!
Made this tonight. I accidentally bough blue cheese (eep!) but it still ended up being very tasty. Can’t wait to have it for lunch this week.
This was so simple to make and filling (though I only got 6 servings cause I was a little heavy handed…). I will definitely make again, but may pump up the lemon and garlic since the flavors fell a little flat.
This looks really good. I think I will add some kalamata olives, and chick peas. No eggplant (not a fan)
When I got home from work my husband had this finishing up for us. It smelled delicious. It was pretty tasty. Any ideas for a good substitute for the eggplant? I don’t hate them, but I’m not the biggest fan either. One of those things I try to convince myself I like, but never really do. Would just plain zucchini cook well in this?
Yes, I think zucchini would be the best choice. :)
We made this last night. It was pretty good and easy to make. We used flat bread/wraps instead of pita bread.
Hi Beth – Just wanted to post that I made this last night for dinner to use up some veggies that I had in the fridge. I made it with your homemade pita to save a few dollars and try the pita making as an experiment. The pitas actually worked too and it was cool to see them pop up in the oven! Both were sensational! I made everything in advance, so in the evening, I mixed the marinade with the veggies/chicken and threw it in the oven. Even my husband loved it and requested it to be in our rotation. He’s excited to take it to work today. Thank you! Thank you!
A great dinner ~ and I envision this in an omelet tomorrow morning . . . :)
That is the best idea ever.
I’m a little confused…is the chicken sauteed before hand? Or does it go in the oven raw?
It goes in the oven raw. The whole thing bakes for at least 45 minutes and the pieces are sliced thin, so it cooks quickly. :)
Thanks!