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Greek chicken

Chopped chicken with olive oil, lemon, fresh dill and sheep's milk feta. Serve it with lemon rice and cucumber salad. This one gets seconds.

By Jared Veldheer

Published

Servings
6
Total time
About 1 hour, plus overnight marinating
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Greek chicken with feta and dill, rice, cucumbers and tomatoes on a lunch tray.
In the school kitchen.

Why Greek chicken gets seconds

My own kids will look me in the face and tell me they don't like extra virgin olive oil. They despise feta. Fresh dill would usually get passed over, too.

Greek chicken uses all three, and they love it.

I chop the chicken and fold the olive oil, sheep's milk feta and fresh dill through it. The ingredients come together instead of one taking over the bite. Alongside it is rice cooked in organic chicken bone broth. Kids come back for seconds.

Good ingredients, a budget that works

Playing in the NFL got me interested in how food helped me perform. Now that shapes the way I cook for the kids. I want nourishing ingredients in a meal they actually enjoy.

Smart Chicken donates the chicken, the biggest ingredient cost in this meal. I buy the other ingredients separately and shop carefully. Costco is one place I find things like organic chicken bone broth at a price that works for the program.

After enough good lunches, kids start to trust the food. They might not know what Greek chicken means when they pass the line, but they're willing to give it a shot.

Watch it in the kitchen

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Home recipe

Greek chicken

The Lunch Lady · Jared Veldheer

Servings
6
Prep time
About 25 minutes
Cook time
About 25 minutes
Total time
About 1 hour, plus overnight marinating

Equipment: Sheet pans, mixing bowl, pressure cooker for the rice.

Ingredients

Check off ingredients as you go.

Chicken

Feta and dill finish

Lemon rice

Cucumber salad

Instructions

Chicken and feta

  1. Toss the chicken with the weighed salt, oil, garlic, oregano and pepper. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Keep the lemon juice and zest for the next day.
  2. Add the lemon juice and zest 30 minutes before cooking. Keep the chicken refrigerated during this time.
  3. Heat the oven to 400°F convection or 425°F conventional. Spread the tenders in one layer with room between them, using two pans if needed. Discard leftover raw marinade.
  4. Roast without flipping. Begin checking around 15 minutes. Check the thickest tenders with a thermometer and take them out at 165°F.
  5. Rest about 10 minutes. Cut the tenders into roughly three pieces each.
  6. Stir together the feta, fresh lemon, dill, a little olive oil, oregano and pepper. Fold through the chopped chicken. Add more oil only if it needs loosening. Taste before adding salt; the feta is already salty.

Lemon rice

  1. Rinse and drain the rice, then put it in the pressure cooker with the broth.
  2. Cook on high pressure for three minutes, then let the pressure release naturally.
  3. Fold in lemon juice and olive oil. Taste before adding salt.

Cucumber salad

  1. Slice the cucumbers thinly, toss with a little salt and leave about 20 minutes. Drain the liquid they release.
  2. Add red wine vinegar a little at a time, a pinch of garlic powder and the fresh dill. Taste and adjust. Start lightly because the cucumbers are already salted.
  3. Serve with the chicken and rice. Add carrot sticks and a small bowl of tzatziki if you like.

Recipe notes

  • Use fresh dill for the finish. Stir it in after roasting so you keep that fresh flavor.
  • Marinate the chicken overnight, then add the lemon 30 minutes before roasting.
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