Sausage & Rice Greek Bowl with Toasted Pita Bread

The various flavors of Greek ingredients combined into a bowl create an appetizing and flavorful dish to savor. Greek food bowls are a delightful blend of flavors and spices that anyone can enjoy for a lunch or dinner meal.

Greek Bowls and Meat Options

Greek bowls are excellent dishes to put together for a filling meal. I often like assembling Greek bowls for a light and healthy lunch or dinner dish. These types of bowls are very versatile and simple to put together. Greek bowls can be vegetarian, or meat can be added. Grilled chicken is a popular option for many Greek bowls. Beef and sausage are other great alternative meat choices. For this Greek bowl, I opted for sausage this time. This is a tasty meat choice that may be overlooked by the other popular meats in the market. The sweet sausage gives this dish a slightly sweet and flavorful taste.

Sausage & Rice Greek Bowl with Toasted Pita Bread

I created this bowl with some of my favorite Greek ingredients, creating a tasteful and light bowl. This bowl includes Italian sausage, wild rice, chickpeas, sliced cucumbers, black olives, grape tomatoes, red onion, feta cheese, and pita bread. The blend of sausage, rice, vegetables, toasted chickpeas, and pita bread is a flavorful Greek bowl combination. I toasted the chickpeas and pita bread to give the dish an extra crispy texture and for added flavor as well.

Ingredients Details

• Meat: Ground sweet Italian sausage; alternative chorizo or chicken
• Rice: Long grain wild rice; alternative brown or white rice
• Bean type: Chickpeas
• Cucumber: Mini cucumbers; alternative English cucumbers
• Tomatoes: Grape tomatoes; alternative cherry tomatoes
• Olives: Black pitted olives; alternative sliced olives
• Onion: Red onion
• Cheese: Crumbled feta cheese; alternative whole feta cheese 
• Dip: Red pepper feta dip; alternative tzatziki sauce 
• Bread: Pita bread

Oil and Seasoning

• Cooking oil: Olive oil; alternatives sunflower, grape seed, or avocado oil 
• Salt: Garlic salt; alternative garlic powder or onion powder
• Pepper: Ground black pepper
• Spice: Paprika; alternative chili powder

Instructions Details 

Sweet Italian Sausage 

1. Heat a skillet. Then add olive oil once heated. 
   
2. Add the ground Italian sausage. 
3. Add the garlic salt and black pepper to the sausage.
4. Break up the Italian ground sausage.
   
5. Cook the sausage until fully cooked. 

Rice

1. Heat a saucepan, then add olive oil.
2. Add the rice.
3. Pre-cook the rice before adding the water. Use a spoon to stir the rice and olive oil. (Toasting the rice enhances the flavor)
4. Add the boiled water.
5. Add the rice seasoning mix packet. (This is included in the rice box)
6. Cook until the rice becomes soft. 

Toasted Chickpeas

1. Cover a baking pan with aluminum foil. Remove any excess liquid from the chickpea can prior to adding it to the baking sheet. Add the chickpeas to the pan.
2. Add olive oil and paprika to the chickpeas. 
3. Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until chickpeas are toasted. Then let the toasted chickpeas cool. 

Toasted Pita Bread

1. Cut the pita bread into triangle shapes. 
2. Add the pita bread to a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Add olive oil. (This helps the pita bread from drying.)
   
3. Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until pita bread is toasted. Let the toasted pita bread cool. 

Greek Bowl Ingredients 

1. Cut the cucumbers into small, round, thick slices. 
2. Cut and slice the red onion into half-moon-shaped slices. 
3. Cut the grape tomatoes in half. 
4. Cut the black olives in half. 

Assemble the Greek Bowl

1. In a bowl, add cooked sweet sausage, rice, cucumbers, black olives, and grape tomatoes.
2. Then add the sliced red onion and toasted chickpeas.
3. Add crumbled feta cheese.
4. Then add the toasted pita bread.

Red Pepper Feta Dip 

Storage

Greek bowl meals can be refrigerated. An airtight container is a great option. Add the leftover Greek bowl food to the container and refrigerate. Freezer storage is not recommended for Greek bowl leftovers. 

Thoughts

Greek bowls are delicious bowls that include a nice light blend of Greek flavors. The meat option and other ingredients can always be changed to one's personal choice. When it comes to Greek bowls, I always like to try out new ingredients for these types of dishes. For this sausage and rice Greek bowl, I created it with ingredients that I like and wanted to try out in this dish. This bowl was a savory blend of a light sweet flavor from the sausage, mild flavors from the rice, chickpeas, and vegetable ingredients, and the creamy taste of the feta cheese and dip.

Recipe

Ingredients

Sausage 

• 16 oz ground sweet Italian sausage (1 packet of sausage)
• ½ tablespoon olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Rice

• 2 boxes long grain wild rice (4.2 oz each) 
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 packet rice seasoning mix (packet is included in the rice box)

Toasted Chickpeas

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• ½ teaspoon paprika

Toasted Pita Bread

• 2 pita breads
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Greek Bowl Ingredients

• 2 mini cucumbers
• ⅓ cup red onion
• 1 cup grape tomatoes  
  
• ¾ cup black olives 
  
• ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese 
  
• Red pepper feta dip

Instructions

Sausage. Heat a skillet, then once heated, add olive oil. Add the sausage, then season with salt and pepper. Cook until the meat browns and is fully cooked.

Rice. Boil a cup of water. Heat a saucepan, then add olive oil. Add the rice. Pre-cook the rice. Add the boiled water. Then add the rice seasoning mix packet. Cook the rice until it is soft.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Toasted chickpeas. Remove any excess liquid from the can of chickpeas. Add the chickpeas to a baking pan covered with aluminum foil. Spread the chickpeas, then add olive oil and paprika. Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until chickpeas are toasted.

Toasted pita bread. Cut the pita bread into triangle shapes. Add the cut pita bread onto a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil. Spread the pita bread, then add olive oil. Bake at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until pita bread is toasted.

Greek bowl ingredients. Cut the cucumbers into round, thick slices. Cut and slice the red onion into half-moon-shaped slices. Cut the grape tomatoes and pitted black olives in half.

Assemble the Greek bowl. In a bowl, add the cooked sausage, rice, cucumbers, black olives, grape tomatoes, the sliced red onion, and toasted chickpeas. Garnish with crumbled feta cheese and the toasted pita bread. Top with red pepper feta dip.