OMG yum yum yum! This recipe is an instant new favorite! I’ve been all about the skillet and one-pot meals lately because I’m super busy, so today I made this Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet, which is like a deconstructed version of my Greek Turkey Burgers. The recipe is super simple and uses small amounts of super flavor potent ingredients, like feta and Kalamata olives, to deliver a big flavor punch without driving the price way up.
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Lower Carb Options
I went a little lower on the carb to meat ratio than I usually do, which made the final cost per serving a bit higher, but that’s what fit my needs today. You can make this a super low carb meal by eliminating the rice and broth, doubling the spinach, and adding in some fresh diced tomatoes at the end (you won’t need to simmer since there’s no rice to cook, just stir and cook until heated through). A can of white beans or garbanzo beans would also be nice in there.
Keep Expensive Ingredients in Check
I love using small amounts of feta (and I’m talking small, like 1 oz.) to really punch up the flavor in recipes, but you can’t usually buy just one ounce of feta at a time. So, I buy an 8 oz. block of feta, cut it into four 2 oz. cubes, and freeze them. They thaw fairly quickly at room temperature and then I can use one or two ounces as needed. Like other cheeses, feta does get more crumbly after the freeze/thaw cycle, but I always crumble it over my dishes anyway so it’s not a problem. :)
Trouble Cooking Rice?
Just another couple of quick notes about this one skillet cooking method. You must have a quality thick bottomed pot for this to work. If it heats unevenly you may have some rice that gets scorched while other rice remains uncooked. If you often have trouble with cooking rice or these one pot methods, try cooking the rice separately in the broth, then combining it with the other ingredients in the skillet after cooking.
Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet
Servings 4 to 6 servings (7 cups total)Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.13)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced ($0.16)
- 19 oz. Ground turkey, 97% lean ($4.59)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
- 1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked ($0.66)
- 1/4 lb frozen cut leaf spinach ($0.42)
- 1/3 cup sun dried tomato halves (about 7 pcs), sliced ($1.00)
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced ($1.08)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth* ($0.21)
- handful fresh parsley ($0.25)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.75)
- 1 oz feta ($0.56)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and garlic to a large deep skillet and sauté over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the ground turkey, oregano, salt, and pepper to the skillet. Continue to sauté until the turkey is cooked through (about 5 minutes).
- While the turkey is cooking, slice the olives and sun dried tomatoes. Once the turkey is cooked through, add the rice, frozen spinach (no need to thaw first), olives, and sun dried tomatoes to the skillet.
- Add the chicken broth and stir until everything is very well combined. Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium high, and allow it to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low or medium low, and allow it to gently simmer for 15 minutes. Use the lowest level of heat that maintains a steady simmer in the skillet.
- After 15 minutes, give the skillet a brief stir, replace the lid quickly, turn off the heat, and allow it to sit for an additional 10 minutes.
- While the skillet is resting, zest half of the lemon and slice it into wedges. Roughly chop the parsley. Give the skillet a final fluff and stir, then top with lemon zest, parsley, and crumbled feta. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over top.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Greek Turkey Rice Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Begin by adding 1 Tbsp olive oil and 2 cloves of minced garlic to a large deep skillet. Sauté over medium heat for about one minute, then add 19oz. ground turkey (97% lean), 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Continue to sauté until the turkey is cooked through. I used Honeysuckle White ground turkey, which inexplicably comes in a 19oz. package.
To the cooked turkey add 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice, 1/4 lb. frozen cut leaf spinach (no need to thaw first), about 1/3 cup dried tomato halves (about 7 pieces) sliced thinly, and about 1/2 cup Kalamata olives (sliced). I use sun dried tomatoes that are *not* packed in oil. I get them in little bags in the produce department and only use a small handful at a time in recipes. The rest store easily in my pantry.
Instead of buying a whole jar of olives, which usually runs $6-$7 dollars, I just grabbed a handful from the olive bar in my grocery store. I did a price calculation to compare the price per pound for the olive bar vs. the jar olives, and they were almost the same, so I opted for the “no leftovers” choice.
Also add 1.5 cups chicken broth to the skillet, then give everything a good stir until the ingredients are evenly combined. I use Better Than Bouillon to mix up the exact amount of broth that I need for recipes and the jar of concentrate stores easily in my fridge without spoiling. Super convenient.
Place a lid on the skillet, turn the heat up to medium-high, and allow the broth to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low or medium-low (the lowest temp where it maintains a gentle simmer), and let it simmer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, give it a quick stir, replace the lid, turn off the heat, and let it sit for an additional 10 minutes. After that the rice should all be tender and the broth completely absorbed.
While the skillet is simmering, zest the lemon and then cut it into wedges. Roughly chop the parsley. Sprinkle the lemon zest, parsley, and feta over the skillet once it’s finished cooking.
Serve with the lemon wedges to squeeze over top just before eating. NOM. I could seriously eat that whole thing!
So many colors and flavors in this Greek Turkey and Rice Skillet!
Love this recipe! It’s on the usual rotation. We aren’t huge fans of sun dried tomatoes so we just double the Kalamata olives and lessen the added salt.
Really great dish! I substituted the olives for zucchini! added in green onions and for the rice I used 1/4 cup of Wild Rice, 3/4 cup long grain white.
Next time, I will use twice as much spinach and sun dried tomatoes.
Otherwise enjoying it very much!
I made this tonight…It is good! I used cauliflower rice instead of regular rice, just reduced the broth a bit and didn’t cook quite as long, but I wouldn’t even mind if it had more broth in it. Also, I didn’t have parsley but I do have 3 huge basil plants going crazy so I used fresh basil instead and it works. I will definitely make this again and maybe add some capers and artichoke hearts — as others below have suggested. Maybe a touch of pepper flakes. Yum.
Love, Love, Love! I make this about once a month! The whole family loves it and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. Sometimes I add capers and canned artichoke hearts.
Thank you!
5 🔅 for taste
5 🔅 for ease to prepare
My husband is pretty finicky and he gave this 2 👍🏼’s up
Thank you so much
Love your receipes Beth!!
My husband and I make this recipe all the time. It’s our very favorite go-to weeknight meal when we’re too tired or busy to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but still want to eat something healthy and delicious. I’ve shared this recipe with several other people, too. Thank you!
We absolutely love this recipe. It’s a yummy part of our biweekly rotation. It checks all the boxes. Thank you so much for sharing.
I never comment on recipes but I thought that I’d share that I’ve made this a billion times over the years and we call it “Favorite Dinner” in our home. Thank you for such an easy delicious meal. I sometimes add some of the olive brine too for an extra kick.
I have cooked this about a hundred times. I didn’t change a thing, it’s a family favorite. My “thank you” is long over due.
So glad you enjoy it so much, Amanda! :)
This was so easy and delicious. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand; used dried parsley. Used a box of Near East wild & long grain rice with seasoning packet. Omitted the salt in the main recipe. I will save & share this recipe and make it again for sure. As an added bonus, it is easy cleanup with just one large nonstick skillet for everything.
This is delicious. Have made it twice. Tonight, made some changes based on what I had in the house. Added onion and a splash of white wine. Subbed kale for spinach (and the carnivores did not complain about it) and Parmesan for feta (didn’t want to run to store for it). One thing I wouldn’t change about this dish is the lemon—it totally makes the dish.
Really delicious – thank you for another winner!
If using long grain brown rice, what recommended adjustments should be made? I’m eager to try this recipe! Thanks!
Brown rice takes a bit longer to cook than white. Like Beth mentions in the post, one great way to make sure it works out well is “try cooking the rice separately in the broth, then combining it with the other ingredients in the skillet after cooking.” (Follow the package instructions for a recommended cooking time, since it can vary from brand to brand. We also have some great tips for long-grain brown rice in our “How to Cook Rice” tutorial. Here’s the link: https://www.budgetbytes.com/how-to-cook-rice/
Loved this! i did not have feta or lemon, but it was great still! Thank you!
Really tasty, though I made a few adjustments. I supplemented the seasoning by also adding cayenne, lemon pepper, cardamom, garam masala, clove, cinnamon, and allspice. I didn’t have spinach so I used collard greens. Paired it with a fresh salad with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, red onion, and some chopped mint. Topped it with hummus and a homemade yogurt sauce from a previous Mediterranean meal. Husband agrees it will be a repeat dinner in our home.
Made this again with the same changes as before except I used spinach. Threw in some golden raisins on a whim. Hubby said all it was missing was some sliced almonds and it would be the perfect Mediterranean meal!
Forgot to rate it five stars!
P.S. For some reason I cannot find 19 oz of ground turkey at any store in my area. They are always sold by the pound.
This has been a go-to Budgetbytes recipe for years now. The only change to make it low carb is to replace the rice with a bag of Zero Noodles chopped up, omit the water, but still add a little Better Than Bouillion paste to the skillet. I always top it off with Beth’s Tzatziki sauce. I could eat the whole pan.
Is there a way to double the recipe?
Yes, you can double the recipe. However, if you have trouble cooking rice or with one-pot meals, try cooking the rice separately. XOXO -Monti
This recipe is in heavy rotation at our house. I love the flavors and how filling it is!
I’ve been making this recipe for 3 years. I started making it just the same as the directions, and it was great as is. Recently I’ve modified it into a two pot meal. I brown the rice in saucepan with 2 tbsp olive oil,butter or ghee, then I add 2 cups of chicken stock or chx bouillon to the rice and cook until done. I saute the rest of the ingredients in a saute pan and it turns out great. This way both the turkey is not overcooked and rice is super flavorful. I add the salt at the end for more control over how salty it is. Thanks for the recipe it’s been a go to for years.
Super easy and really great!
We love this recipe so much it’s in our regular dinner rotation!
My family tried this tonight and it got devoured. Might try with ground lamb next time!
We’re just not fans of ground turkey. Do you think this would work the diced chicken breast?
Yep! I think that would work great.
Loved this one, Beth! Made a few substitutions for personal preference and what I had available:
– I only had 1/2 lb ground chicken in the freezer, so I added about half a can of drained & rinsed cannellini beans to make up the difference (plus fiber!). These practically “melted” into the dish after cooking and didn’t add a noticeable texture.
– I added 1 diced red bell pepper and 1 diced yellow onion – sautéed them with the ground meat and garlic – since I had them.
– I used a brown basmati & wild rice blend from Aldi rather than white rice (more fiber!). The instructions on the rice called for a 1:2 rice:broth ratio and 25 minute cook time, but following those instructions, I had crunchy rice. I added another 3/4 cup broth and cooked for another 10 minutes to fully cook. (So 2.75 cups broth and 35 mins cook time total)
In addition to the feta and lemon zest (didn’t have fresh parsley), I topped with a shawarma-inspired hot sauce because everything gets hot sauce at our house. It was delicious!! Will be making again. Thank you thank you!
This is one of our all-time favorite recipes! My husband and I love this dish- so delicious and easy to make. We substitute brown rice (need to add more water and cook longer) and it still turns out so great. Sometimes we’ll add fresh spinach instead of frozen and that too works very well. Thank you for such a great recipe!
I’d love to see a version of this using brown rice or quinoa! I love the convenience of one-pot meals, but so many of your recipes use white rice and I’m not confident enough in my cooking skills to modify on my own for this type of change. I know I can’t be the only one who needs to choose more whole grains for personal nutritional needs!
(Don’t get me wrong, white rice is great. But when you cook for one and eat all the servings as leftovers over the span of a few days it’s hard to balance with my dietary needs.)
I completely agree with you here! Tonight I tried this with quinoa. All I did was sub out the rice for equal amounts quinoa and then upped the broth to 2 cups. Waiting on it to finish up now, and it seems to have worked out so far!!
Did the quinoa work? I would love to try it, but am not much of a chef or about to substitute much on my own!
I follow this recipe to the T. It is sooo good. We have it once a week and my family loves it (me too!).❤
Absolutely love this recipe! Easy, quick and hearty meal to cook on a busy weeknight.
Love this recipe. We make it about once a week. It’s so easy to make, and on a busy week night it is better than takeout!
This is so good and filled with so much flavor 💗 I will be making this again and again 😉
Another 5 stars!! I made this *almost* exactly as written. Added a bell pepper and used an entire bag of frozen spinach bc I didn’t have another plan for it. Flavor was awesome. I had it all put together and on the stove and prep cleaned up in under 15 minutes. So easy. Will definitely make it again. I will omit the lemon zest. My 10 year old claims that’s what he didn’t like about it. 🙄
How would you use cauliflower rice instead of regular rice?
Honestly, you’d probably need to change the recipe quite a bit, and since you’d need to make so many changes I wouldn’t be able to offer a suggestion without testing it. The reason you’d need to change it so much is that rice absorbs liquid while cauliflower rice releases liquid. So you’d need to reduce or eliminate the broth in the recipe to make up for the fact that the cauli wouldn’t be absorbing it, but then you’d be missing all the flavor from the broth.
What about subbing quinoa? Would it throw off liquid ratio?
It might, but I’d have to test it to know for sure.
Really delicious an easy to prepare.
This was so yummy! I like the convenience of doing everything in one skillet, but I felt like the rice to turkey ratio was off (wanted more rice, less turkey) so next time I’m going to cook more rice in chicken broth separately. Also, I’m assuming that 19 oz ground turkey is a mistake? I have only ever seen it sold in 16 oz packages, and 16 oz was plenty.
Some brands sell ground turkey in 19oz. portions. I agree, it’s so weird and random. :P
Amazing recipe! Definitely a keeper.
Goodness gracious!! This recipe was so delicious and easy! Single girl here, and this will easily feed me for several meals (extra cost savings, easy, AND delicious? The ultimate win!). I live in a studio with no real stove, so I used an induction cooktop with my Our Place pan. The pan was the perfect size for this recipe in terms of depth and width. And the one pan recipe makes this a dream to clean in small spaces!
I added more greens (store was out of spinach, so I used mustard greens) and a smidgen more stock. Perfect!
Thank you for this delicious and easy recipe!! Can’t wait to finish my leftovers and make it again in the future!
Super delicious and simple! My husband gobbled it up with some yogurt. I think next time, I will add a little dill. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
This recipe is so good! I don’t like olives (gross) so I substituted with capers! Great light meal that reheats well!
This was delicious! I will definitely be making this again!
The only substitution I made was roasted red peppers instead of sundries tomato because I didn’t have any. Other than that, I followed to a “T” and it is now one of my FAVORITE dishes. Thank you for sharing it. This is also my first ever review for a recipe, so you know I really love it!
Wow! I originally decided on this dish to use up some ingredients, not thinking I would be particularly keen on the end result. But it was absolutely delicious! Second helpings delicious. We made it according to the recipe, except that I only had a lb of turkey, which was plenty for us, and we used some leftover queso fresco we had in place of the feta. Lots of tangy, salty, herby flavor with a touch of sweet tomato to round it out. Loved it!
Thank you very much for sharing this recipe. I ran out of idea on what to do with ground turkey and I found your recipe. We love Greek food and this is a keeper. Since I have a rice cooker, I transfer the mixture after they were all combined. Perfect! My husband said I can make it again for our group in the church.
My all time favorite budget bytes recipe!! I just made it again after a couple years and it’s even better than I remember. I threw in some banana peppers as well and it’s delicious. I can get all the ingredients for the recipe at aldi for under $20 and get 4-5 servings out of it which is such a good deal. Tastey!!
I’ve made this twice. The first time I followed the recipe almost to the letter. I did substitute precooked brown rice. It was a little soupy- I should have decreased the liquid. It was delicious! It does need more color- but either way delicious!
The second time I really strayed from the recipe- i has to use what was on hand! I used chicken thighs cut into cubes. I used pan fried gnocchi instead of rice. Frozen peas instead of spinach. Still delicious!
Will definitely make this again!
Such an excellent recipe, loved it. Thank you for sharing it!
I think my rice was a little overcooked but all of the liquid was absorbed so I probably had the heat up a little too high. Nice flavor & quick to make. Didn’t have spinach so used kale instead & it worked out just fine. I would make this again. The lemon gave it a nice pop next to the feta cheese. Thanks for the recipe!!
Made this for both me and my dad, it was pretty good and we finished it in two days. I did have some trouble with the rice being cooked enough and had to add in a bit more broth but it was still tasty. I think next time I will cook the rice separately and hope the same flavors are achieved. I didn’t add the olives because I’m not a fan, and couldn’t figure out where in the store to find sun dried tomatoes. I still enjoyed it though and may think of other things I can sub for the tomatoes and olives next time!
I really don’t love the taste of fresh parsley. Any suggestions on an herb substitute? Looks super delish otherwise.
Thanks!
You could omit it if you’d like or swap with cilantro if you prefer.
This is a keeper! Just happened to have most of the ingredients, I did sub some pepperoncini as someone suggested for the olives. This was such a satisfying meal, had it with a side of roasted broccoli, yum, and tonight we will have with Beth’s fresh cucumber salad. Definitely will add to list of favorites and make again.
I want to use this as a filling for stuffed peppers. I think it would be delicious!
So. Freaking. Good. I made the rice separately in a rice cooker but otherwise followed exactly as suggested. Thrown together in about 25 minutes with the pre-cooked rice. Going to keep this one on the regular rotation. Thanks as always for all your wonderful recipes, Beth!
Do you have to soak the sundried tomatoes in water before you slice or use them?
Nope you can use them right away.
Recipe looks great, but…let’s talk about that OXO pan you show. Can you share where you obtained it/what it is? I LOVE one pot/skillet meals, but it’s hard to find good pans for it. I have on that I LOVE but it’s coated. Yours looks stainless and good and heavy-bottomed. :)
Just wanted to say that I have made this recipe many times and we never get tired of it! I usually cook the rice separately in my instant pot.
OMG this is so good and seriously quick and easy! I used a blend of ground beef and lamb and added chopped asparagus at the end rather than the spinach (because that’s what I had. Otherwise I followed the directions exactly. It’s definitely going on our rotation
Just made this for dinner tonight and it was a family favorite…even with our very picky 2.5 year old! The only note I had is that I had to add an extra 1-2 cups of broth to get the rice cooked through…the 1.5 cups the recipe called for disappeared pretty quickly. Otherwise, it was perfect. Thanks!
I made this with two cups of cauliflower rice which meant I left out the chicken stock. I did this for meal prep this week. Each dish I added a half cup of the greek ground turkey goodness, one cup of spinach and a half cup of chickpeas. I also made a side of tzatiki (spelling). Also omitted olives because my partner hates olives. It was really good even with all my adjustments :D
Great to know!
I`ve made this twice. The first time I followed the recipe almost exactly except for the fact that my sundried tomatoes were packed in oil. DH and I are trying to eat more vegetarian meals so the second time I made it with tofu. I froze the tofu then rinsed and squeezed it to get it closer to the texture of ground meat. I also added more oil to compensate for the lack of fat. Both times it turned out delicious.
Oh great idea swapping in tofu. I’m glad to hear it worked!
This is a fantastic recipe! It is definitely going in my regular rotation.
So good!!! Made this tonight and as always, did some more. I LOVE how flexible your recipes are! We used chicken thighs, 2c broth, 5oz fresh spinach and baby kale, and 2oz feta. I could have eaten the whole thing, too!
Thanks Felicia!
This dish came out better than I could have hoped. It was also my first time cooking turkey. I’ve enjoyed the simplicity of the recipes on this site and appreciate the step by step pictures. This recipe in particular kindled a love of Kalamata olives and feta. What a delightful combo!
Happy to hear it Sally!
Ground lamb would be fantastic in this too, depending on price. Can’t wait to try this!
Ooh yes definitely!
I made this last night with a few modifications and thought I’d share how it went. I’m not a fan of ground turkey so I used 85/15 ground beef (1.5 pounds), skipped the oil since the beef didn’t need it like the turkey would have. I used capers (2Tbs plus a Tbs of juice) since I didn’t have any olives and my sun dried tomatoes were the oil packed ones. I also doubled the amount of spinach.
Overall, I really enjoyed it. I think that it needed more of the vinegar profile so I would def. use more capers next time or be sure to get the olives. I liked the beef with it quite a bit, it gave it a nice full body flavor. I’d probably amp up the spices a bit more too but that’s me. I added extra rice (and broth to compensate) but felt that the liquid cooked out far faster than the time indicated so I ended up needing to monitor more and additional liquid. My stove can be tricky to regulate when doing a simmer.
I think this would be amazing stuffed into peppers and baked!
Not going to lie, I was a little skeptical of this dish. But it is AMAZING. I made this for my boyfriend recently, and he cannot stop talking about how flavorful it is. I am definitely adding this to my box of recipes! I think the only thing I changed in the recipe is adding more spinach, and the consistency ended up being fine.
Would I need to change the cook time if I doubled the recipe? We are addicted and wish there was more!!
If you double the recipe it will probably take longer to cook simply because it will take longer for the contents of the skillet to come up to a simmer, but unfortunately I can’t guestimate the cook time without testing it.
Fantastic recipe!!! Will definitely make again, everyone loved it. I added bulgur bc it’s high in fiber, loaded with minerals, high in protein and high in B vitamins.. I used fresh spinach instead of frozen also added 1 large onion (which I sauteed in coconut oil). I didn’t have parsley, lemon or feta….will add next time, however the end result was outstanding. Thank you so much for this fabulous recipe. :)
I made this for dinner tonight, with a few tweaks based on what I had on hand (ground beef instead of turkey, black olives instead of kalamata, orzo instead of rice) . However the basic recipe flavors stayed the same and it was delicious! I served with toasted pita and an improvised Greek salad and my family raved about it. Another winner – Thank you!
Has anyone tried this with leftover shredded turkey?
If i use orzo, can i throw it in like rice ?
The cook time and liquid ratios might need some tweaking, but you can definitely cook orzo in a similar manner.
so good! I accidentally bough sun-dried tomato pesto instead of just sundried tomatoes but that was a happy mistake because it added flavor without the texture of sun-dried tomato (not my fav). I doubled the oregano and used garlic powder, and used leftover cooked rice that I threw in at the very end (so cooking time was much less). Thank you! Would have never thought to put this all together, and it was a win
This was so so so amazing! I used a whole bunch of fresh kale since I’m finicky about spinach and used a Mediterranean Cauliflower Rice from Cookie and Kate since I’m trying to up my cruciferous veggie intake. OMG what an amazing dinner! Exactly what I needed!
This is my all time favorite recipe. I make it all the time and since I cook for one I don’t dread having to eat it all week. For everyone asking it freezes and reheats perfectly. My second time making it I accidentally used orzo pasta instead of rice and I’ve never gone back! It tastes basically the same and pasta is less temperamental to cook on the stove for me than rice. I leave out the olives but I’ve added pepperocinis before and that was awesome!
Do you or anyone else have any ideas for something to use instead of olives? I don’t particularly like them but I’m not a picky eater and like most flavors, olives just seem to be one thing I can’t take!
Capers have a similar briny flavor that will add a salty pop to this.
How do you think artichoke hearts would work in this? As a possible olive sub…?
Artichoke hearts would be delicious! You could just omit the olives if you’d like.
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Used Italian seasoning since I didn’t have plain oregano and I didn’t have parsley. Will definitely make again.
I love this recipe!! I made it the first time when it came out and loved it, then I went vegan and found the recipe again and decided to modify it for a vegan diet. I replaced the turkey with crumbled firm tofu, chicken stock with veggie stock (homemade w/added vegan chicken flavored bouillon cube), and skipped the feta. Still came out fantastic!! I guess you can’t really beat the combo of sun-dried tomatoes, kalamatas, parsley, and spinach!
This is the best meal i’ve ever made from budget bytes and possibly the best thing I’ve ever personally cooked. I have never scarfed down anything so fast in my life. Used fresh spinach instead of frozen. Dunno if that makes a difference. Anyway, so flavourful and easy to make. Make this.
I’m super happy with the way this turned out! The only thing I did differently was add onion, and use brown rice which I pre-cooked rather than simmering in the pan with everything else.
Do you know the nutritional facts or the calorie count per serving?
No, I’m sorry I do not.
MY FAVORITE RECIPE by far on this site! I easily make this once a week and NEVER get sick of it. I’ve gotten a little creative and started adding artichoke hearts, etc. My boyfriend loves it and frequently requests that I make it.
wow!! this was very cheap & tasty! olives were a little out of my budget but i had an extra half red onion I threw in with the garlic and it was great! tasty tasty
Another winner! I was looking for a new way to use up cooked rice that wasn’t fried rice, and found this delicious recipe. I didn’t have olives, so left them out, added more spinach because we like it, and subbed cilantro for the parsley as that is what was on hand, and of course used the already cooked rice. Served it with steamed green beans with a little olive oil and lemon, and a simple cuke/tomato/red onion (w/ a splash of oil and red wine vinegar) plate. It was a rousing success! Quick, easy, delicious, and budget friendly!
This was so good and a pretty flexible recipe! I subbed in shredded Parmesan cheese for the feta and spanish olives for the Kalamata olives, and it still tasted great. I served it with cucumber slices for a little crunch. Thanks for another great recipe!
Would this freeze well? I’m considering prepping this cooked and carrying it frozen for a meal while we visit Mount Rushmore…
Yes, I think this would freeze well. :)
Love this recipe! Quick, easy, mostly pantry staples and super speedy cleanup! I’ve added a can of white kidney beans a couple times to bulk out the fibre content and add protein while stretching the meat and its delish!
Ohhhh yes. This is for sure going in to the regular rotation. I used Basmati rice, and it was excellent! I am a little weird about cooked spinach (especially when I know I’m reheating leftovers) so I left that out and served sliced tomato with salt and pepper and some steamed cauliflower on the side. I doubled the feta (because, feta) and used about 20 olives total. We always have these on hand so it’s no big for me. Thank you, once again, Beth for being my meal planning inspiration! I don’t know what I would do without ya!
I made this the other night, and it was great! Light, flavorful, and kept well for leftovers. Do you think it would be possible to make it with brown rice instead of white?
It would definitely require some alterations to use brown rice, since brown rice needs more liquid and a longer cooking time to soften.
Question: Any advice on how to make this with cauliflower rice instead?
You’d need to change the method quite a bit, unfortunately. Regular rice absorbs moisture as it cooks, whereas cauli rice releases moisture. So you wouldn’t be able to use quite the same method. It would require some testing to find the best method.
Excellent balance on this. I’m not great in the kitchen, but my wife loved this. I served it with a broiled Romaine and cheese wedge and was told I can make it again some time soon, :)
Made this tonight and it was delicious! Served it with a salad and my husband and I really enjoyed it.
Had the ground turkey but didn’t know what to do with it. Searched recipes and this one popped up. It was perfect as I had all the ingredients, even an opened carton of chicken broth. It was sooooo good. It’s definitely a make again. Thank you!
This was great! Made a few adjustments to go with what I already had. Added canned tomatoes and omitted the spinach. Stuffed a few bell peppers with the mixture and topped with mozzarella cheese and baked it until melted and brown on top…..amaaazing!
Cooking time too short to cook the rice. After letting it sit rice was still not fully cooked.
This is one of the easiest and most delicious recipes I’ve made in a long time! I had all the ingredients in my fridge and I wanted somthing different than just meatballs or meatloaf and I came across this recipe and I haven’t had Greek food in a while so I gave it a shot! DEFINITELY MUST TRY THIS RECIPE!!! YUM!
Just made this and it was amazing. The lemon zest at the end just makes it. I did substitute artichokes (the ones in oil) for olives , as they are not liked in my house, but appreciate that this was so easy and was a good use of the ground turkey I had on hand.
Anyone have the macro count for this? Whats the serving size?
I am one of those people who always burns rice on the stove (I only manage to make good rice in the Instant Pot), but I cooked this in one pot on the stove and it came out perfect! I was afraid I’d burned the rice when I briefly removed the lid to stir, but after it sat for 10 minutes it had released and was perfectly cooked. This is definitely going into regular rotation!
Quick and easy. I don’t use ground turkey very often so this was a nice change. I also had part of a jar of roasted red peppers that needed to be used so I tossed them in as well. I will definitely make this again.
Wow! This is one of my new favorites, Beth. I was a little nervous about cooking the rice in the same skillet, but it turned out perfectly. Also, I didn’t have olives on hand, and it still tastes incredible. Thank you!
I made this in the Instant Pot for dinner tonight- 4 minutes on manual after sautéing the garlic, ground turkey and (added) onion. I think this will become a regular in our weeknight rotation
My family Loves this one! We have to serve it as a side since the 4 of us devour it. I’ve be n sharing this recipe with everyone!
You killed it with this one. The flavors are bold and blend perfectly.
This surprised me how tasty it was. It was so full of flavor and super easy to make.
looks great…going to try this with quinoa instead of rice :)
I love how this looks like confetti! The first time I made it I followed your recipe almost to the letter (used beef instead of turkey because that’s what I had) and it was delicious — so addictive! Then, inspired by your pastambalya recipe, I tried using whole wheat rotini instead of rice. I had to add an extra 1/2 of liquid and an extra 1/2 tsp of salt (maybe because the pasta has more bulk than rice, maybe because I used homemade chicken stock instead of bouillion so there was already less sodium). It had a much creamier texture, as expected, but still delicious!
Mu husband LOVES this recipe so I make it quite often and he takes the leftovers the rest of the week. I made it last night (with ground chicken) and then today decided to repurpose the leftovers. I steamed some peppers for 10 min, mixed the leftover rice with an 8oz can of tomato sauce, and stuffed the peppers with the rice. Then I baked them off for 35 min at 350 (topping with cheese at 30 min). They were hands down THE BEST stuffed peppers I have ever made.
I made this using ground pork, because that is what I had on hand. Turned out delicious.
You can get Julienned sun-dried tomatoes at Trader Joe’s for pretty cheap. I also get my olives there, great for dressing up a frozen pizza
This was really delicious! We don’t eat olives, so we didn’t add them. What a simple, easy to make dish! We will definitely make this again!
We made this last week and absolutely loved it. My fiance and I like a little bit more spice in our food, so I added a little cumin and cayenne to the turkey so that it had a bit more flavor. It made it pretty delicious, with a a nice subtle amount of heat on it. I think we will also add a bit more sundried tomato, since the sweetness from those were a really nice balance with the heat of the turkey and the saltiness of the olives. Definitely will make again.
Total winner. Absolute keeper.
Didn’t have any spinach so we used a package of frozen chopped turnip greens. Still awesome.
This sounds absolutely amazing. My boyfriend is OBSESSED with feta and kalamata olives. Perfect dish. Will definitely be making this soon.
Just made this tonight and the whole family, including the 2 picky eaters, loved it. This was so easy, and I’m sure it would have made great lunches for tomorrow if there had been any left.
I made this tonight. Someone earlier mentioned they doubled the spinach and left out the olives and I did the same. Just not a fan of olives. I also subbed the rice for quinoa which worked perfectly.
I made some of your Falafel to go with it, had had some tzatziki on the side. I even dolloped some tzatziki on top of the quinoa mixture once served which I don’t regret in the slightest. Great meal all around.
This recipe is a keeper. Easy & delicious! Thanks Beth!
Great rice dish! Even my kids like it. I didn’t do lemon at the end as I don’t like lemon in savory dishes. I know I’m weird. I’m going to try this same combination with uncooked turkey in grape leaves. My hubby loves dolmates but only eats if it swims or flys so I think this will work. They’re for him really, as again no lemons please.
This was delicious! I subbed cooked swiss chard (I am overrun thanks to my CSA) for the spinach and roasted some overlooked grape tomatoes to sub for the dried so I wouldn’t have to throw them out. Really delicious and really easy. Thank you for posting such consistently great recipes, Beth!
I made this tonight and I love it. I made mine with brown rice and super grains. On the side I had fried eggplant and falafel.
Another winner! There were no leftovers. I deal with picky eaters and this got a thumbs up all around. Thanks for the great recipes.
Made this tonight with some changes, and it was delicious. I used ground beef instead of ground turkey and fresh spinach instead of frozen. Then instead of adding in the rice and broth and cooking it all together, I cooked quinoa on the side and served it in a ‘bowl’ format with the ground beef mixture on top. It was really good. I also used dried tomatoes in oil (that was all I had), and they worked fine for me. I know I changed it up a bit, but your main recipe was definitely the inspiration and this goes on the repeat list for us. Very tasty, thanks for the idea.
This was so good! We doubled the spinach and ditched the olives, and basically scraped our plates clean. I would highly recommend this meal to anyone who needs something easy but is is over a simple rice and beans meal.
I made this using brown basamati rice but had to add a lot more liquid than it calls for. In fact, it is cooking right now and has been simmering for half an hour and the rice is still hard. I added another cup of liquid and I am keeping it covered. Maybe white rice is better or cook the brown rice separately.
Any idea how much I should increase cooking time by if using brown rice? Thanks!!
Brown rice usually requires more liquid and more cooking time. You may need to increase the liquid by about 25% and the simmer time will probably need to be at least 30 minutes. I haven’t tested it with brown rice, though, so these are just guesses.
This was delicious! Thank you for all that you do to bring these great recipes to us.
My husband doesn’t like kalamata olives so next time I make this I will use canned green olives for a milder flavor. However I love it as written and was happy to eat the olives he picked out. Haha.
I forgot to get fresh parsley so I added a tsp or so of dried (along with a few red pepper flakes) during the “fluff rice” step. I bet it would be good with the sweetness of sun dried tomatoes but we don’t like their chewy-ness so we used a similar amount of fresh cherry/grape tomatoes, sans juice and seeds.
So good!
Hi Beth, love your recipes! I use them almost exclusively! I have quite a bit of frozen shredded turkey from a Thanksgiving bird I picked apart last year. Do you think this recipe would be OK if I used the chunks of shredded turkey instead of ground? Would the flavor and texture still work OK? I’ve never used ground turkey before so have no experience with it.
Yes, I think you could do that! The chimichurri really carries most of the flavor here, so I think it would be safe to swap out the meat.
Is there a good substitute for the olives? Or just skip all together.
You can just skip them, or if you happen to have capers, a tablespoon of those would probably also be good and give that briny flavor.
Yum! I need to pick up a couple items – most is in my pantry/fridge/freezer.
Two things – any preference as to oil pack vs water pack vs dry for the sun dried tomatoes? Some recipes are really specific on the subject and others a bit looser – just curious. Also I got a chuckle out of the servings note – 26 to 6? Guessing that was meant to say 2 – 6 but this looks so good I would hazard a guess it would only make 6 servings with a big Greek salad on the side LOL <3
Thanks for catching that typo! :D I prefer dry tomatoes for this because I feel like the oil packed would give off too much oil. Sometimes the oil pack are good for dry dishes (like pizza or something), but since this one simmers with liquid the dry tomatoes work great because they get rehydrated as it cooks.
26 servings???
Yeah, I don’t know how that 26 ended up in there. Must have been some technical glitch. :P It’s 4-6 servings.
Beth, I have tried a few of your recipes–thanx so much, b’cauze they are eazy & quik & healthy & tasty. Your famous Greek Turkey & Rice sounds delicious. I welcome every opportunity to eat Kalamata olives.
Thank you much for your creative blog.
If I cook the rice separately (as you note at the top): would I saute the meat and then add the cooked rice & everything else all at once, & that’s it? No need to keep cooking everything together? I’m trying to think if the flavors would blend enough that way …
Yep, just add everything and then cook until heated through. The flavors will be a little less blended, but I think it will still be great.
Doing an unplanned run to the grocery store right now.
LOL…. I’m right behind :)
Inspiration strikes when visiting Beth’s blog!
My mouth is watering right now!!! :-)
Any substitutions for the sun dried tomatoes? I don’t like them. Or just leave them out?
I think fresh tomatoes would be great, too.
I used up some fresh cherry tomatoes I had on hand (I squeezed out the juicy insides and just chopped them like dried tomatoes would be) and it was great.
Do you think this would be just as good with ground beef (I have a package in the freezer!) or would it overwhelm the other flavors? It looks delicious and I’ll totally make a special trip the store for turkey if I have to!
Yes, I do think beef would still be great. :)