Mediterranean Bowl

If you are a reader of our blog, you have probably realized already that we L-O-V-E Mediterranean food.

We eat it for breakfast (hummus on bread), lunch (big leafy salads with crisp seasonal veggies, warm pita bread or focaccia, olives, and feta), and we indulge in it for dinner (dips of all kinds, dressings with tahini and yogurt on chickpeas and eggplant dishes).

With this Mediterranean bowl, we wanted to combine our readers’ favorite Mediterranean dishes into one healthy, tasty, and fulfilling dish.

Also, we wanted you to be able to do this on a whim, either with storebought or homemade ingredients.

We think you’ll love this recipe because you can easily customize it to your liking and to what you have available at home; it’s healthy, nourishing, and perfect to share with your loved ones.

Take the list of ingredients as a guideline and use what you have available where you live. You don’t have to put everything we list.

Hummus

You can use storebought or homemade hummus.

Substitute Baba Ganoush or eggplant dip, Mutabal or eggplant and yogurt dip, Muhammara (red pepper and tomato dip), lentil hummus, white bean dip, zaalouk.

Falafel

You can use storebought or homemade falafel.

Substitute roasted eggplant, air fryer eggplant, roasted cauliflower, air fryer cauliflower, roasted zucchini, air fryer zucchini, roasted chickpeas (garbanzo beans), or air fryer chickpeas.

Pita bread

You can use storebought or homemade pita bread; warm it up.

Substitute Italian flatbread, focaccia, farro, barley, bulgur, couscous, buckwheat, amaranth, millet, or whole grain rice for gluten-free. Quinoa is not popular in the Mediterranean, but you can use that too to make a Mediterranean quinoa bowl.

Boil the grains in water or vegetable broth before adding them to the bowl.

Fresh vegetables

We recommend adding some mixed leaves (lettuce, arugula, or spinach), ripe tomatoes, crunchy cucumber, and olives.

We like gaeta olives, taggiasche olives, or kalamata olives.

Feta cheese

Diced or crumbled feta cheese adds a nice tang and is very tasty. Substitute non-dairy feta to make this recipe vegan or another type of goat cheese.

Dressing

We use our lemon tahini dressing made with tahini, lemon juice, water, salt, and garlic.

Substitute a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, tzatziki sauce, plain Greek yogurt, or tahini yogurt dressing.

Toppings (optional)

Fresh herbs: go for flat-leaf parsley; that’s what’s most popular in the Mediterranean regions. Swap fresh cilantro, mint, or basil.

Lemon wedges: squeeze on top before serving.

Something pickled: try to add something pickled to the bowl. We use our quick pickled onions, but anything storebought works. Try pickled beets, cucumbers, onions, carrots, and cauliflower.

Spices: for even more flavor and aromas, sprinkle your Mediterranean bowl with a pinch of sumac, za’atar, paprika, or cumin.

To a bowl, add mixed lettuce leaves, chopped tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, falafel, warm pita bread cut into pieces, feta cheese, olives, a couple of tablespoons of hummus, pickled onions, a lemon wedge, and a pinch of chopped parsley.

Drizzle with tahini sauce, and enjoy!

Make your own Mediterranean bowl

Use our bowl as inspiration and come up with yours by using your favorite ingredients. We made one with tabbouleh, roasted bell peppers, and pickled beets.

Mediterranean platter

Why not turn the bowl into a plate, put it at the center of the table, and share it with your friends and family?

We made this with tabbouleh and grilled eggplants.

Meal prep: you can make most of the components of this bowl ahead of time. For example, make the hummus, falafel, and pita bread 3 – 4 days in advance and keep them in the fridge in separate airtight containers. With those ready, building your Mediterranean bowl will be a breeze.

Storage

Refrigerator: keep components in separate containers in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. Store leftovers of the bowl in the refrigerator, covered with film or a plate for one day.

Freezer: we don’t recommend freezing the Mediterranean bowl.

If you love wholesome and delicious salads, take a look at these colorful grain bowl ideas:

• Buddha bowl (mango, carrot, brown rice, avocado, grilled tofu, etc.)
• Farro salad (roasted vegetables, sun-dried tomatoes, pistachio nuts, etc.)
• Rice salad (olives, cherry tomatoes, bell pepper, chickpeas, parsley, etc.)
• Vegetable couscous (roasted vegetables, couscous, lemon juice, olive oil, etc.)
• Tabbouleh (parsley, tomato, lemon, bulgur, mint, scallions, etc.)

Get more Meditteranean-inspired meal ideas from these refreshing dishes:

• Fattoush (lettuce, pita bread, tomato, radishes, tahini sauce, cucumber, etc.)
• Couscous salad (chickpeas, couscous, tomato, cucumber, lemon juice, parsley, etc.)
• Horiatiki Greek salad (tomato, bell pepper, red onions, olives, feta, olive oil, etc.)
• Carrot lentil salad (lentils, carrots, parsley, cumin, maple syrup, almonds, etc.)
• Baba ghanoush (roasted eggplant, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, etc.)

For many more salad ideas, check out our salads category page.