This is a meal we came up with by combining several of our favorites: Greek Salad, which never lasts long at our place; Souvlaki Chicken which is great by itself or in Gyros; Hummus which is almost as good and versatile as salsa; and flour tortillas to hold it all together. You could use pita bread for more authenticity, but we always seem to have tortillas around anyway, so that’s what we usually use.
Marinade the chicken
We start by making the marinade and soaking the chicken. Put all the ingredients (listed below) into a shallow, wide bowl (or a zip-lock bag). Cut the chicken into bite size chunks and add it to the marinade making sure to coat all sides of the chicken pieces. Seal it up and let it soak in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1-1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Pro Tip: while you’re making the marinade, you can also be making the dressing for the salad (below)
Prepare the salad dressing
Put all the salad dressing ingredients together in a measuring cup and set aside for the flavors to meld.
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
Build the salad
Now that the chicken is marinating and the dressing is melding, begin chopping vegetables for the salad. You can use whatever tomatoes you like best – about 4 or 5 Roma tomatoes or a pint or so of Grape tomatoes (our favorite). Also, you can use a sweet onion or a yellow onion, whichever your prefer (or have on hand).
For the olives, we buy the can (I know… center aisle of the store, but sometimes we can’t help it) of Large, WHOLE black olives and slice them ourselves. Much better quality than the ones you buy already sliced.
A yellow or orange bell pepper gives better color to the salad, but you can also use green or red, or again – whatever you have on hand.
Feta cheese – again, it’s a little more work but we think it’s worth it to buy the block of feta rather than the pre-crumbled stuff (unfortunately for this blog post, as you can see in the photo, we couldn’t find the block so it’s pre-crumbled today)
Anyway, throw all the salad ingredients into a bowl and then top with the dressing and stir. You could eat this right away but it’s better if you chill it for at least a half hour.
- 1 pkg grape tomatoes, chopped
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- 1 small English cucumber, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 can black olives, sliced
- 2 – 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
Cook the chicken
After the chicken has been marinading for at least 2 hours, set a fry pan on medium-high heat. You want it good and hot so you will brown the chicken a bit – give it the old maillard reaction, this really adds a lot to the flavor and you can’t do this over lower heat.
Pro tip: Take these over the top by putting the chicken chunks on skewers and cooking them over the barbeque
Either in the pan or on the BBQ, cook the chicken for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning frequently to brown all sides. Cook until a thermometer poked inside reads 160 degrees. Be careful not to overcook the chicken which will dry it out too much.
Prepare the tortillas
Place a large pan over medium heat and warm the tortillas on both sides, about 30 seconds per side. Warm tortillas are more flexible and easier to wrap up without cracking.
Add a generous portion of your favorite hummus – put it across the center of the tortilla but not quite all the way to the edges. Spread it about 2 or 3 inches wide across the center.
Now, add some chicken on top of the hummus and top it off with about 1-1/2 cups of the greek salad. Fold the side edges of the tortilla toward the center, then roll the whole thing up like a burrito.
That’s a wrap!
Chow down and enjoy!