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.
This post contains some affiliate links, which means that we make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.
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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!
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!
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.