One pot pasta: chicken and vegetable kritharaki pasta
Dive into the realm of Mediterranean flavors!
Pasta, meat, vegetables. To me it’s that trio which I can eat anytime for lunch. You can make a thousand versions of it with different spices. When I thought I’d varied that trio in every possible way, a spice mix surprised me whose flavor I had never used before. In this recipe, the dish got a truly great taste from the Kania Roast Chicken spice mix (available at Hungarian Lidl).
Honestly, this spice mix had been sitting on the shelf for weeks, because it’s not a typical roast chicken mix and I didn’t know how to use it. The spice blend contains cumin, fenugreek, and chili. Those don’t fit my Hungarian recipes, but for a Greek one-pot dish they are excellent. Once I marinated the meat and smelled the aromatic scent, I knew that grilled pepper and zucchini would go well with it.
For the pasta I chose a Greek pasta – kritharaki (also known as orzo). Usually it’s put into soups or mixed into salads. It fit this dish really well. On top of the finished dish I think a bit of Greek feta cheese or a spoon of Greek yogurt is needed to soften the spicy flavors. Try it and immerse yourself in Mediterranean flavors!
Pasta Tip
Kritharaki pasta is a very popular ingredient in Greek cuisine. It’s ideal for one-pot dishes made with beef or poultry, and also great for casseroles and pasta salads.
Kritharaki pasta is made from durum wheat. These kinds of pasta are less likely to fall apart during cooking and do not spike blood sugar as much, thus supporting fat burning.
This pasta appears in many Mediterranean countries. In Italy, for example, it is called “orzo.”
One pot pasta: chicken and vegetable kritharaki pasta
Ingredients
For the meat:
- 300 g chicken breast fillet
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons roast chicken spice mix
- 1 pinch dried oregano
Vegetables:
- 1 red onion
- 1 zucchini
- 1 sweet pointed pepper or bell pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1-2 turns of salt with Mediterranean herb
For the pasta:
- 150 g greek pasta (kritharaki, aka orzo) (sold at DM or sometimes at Lidl or Aldi)
- water
- salt
For serving:
- 100 g feta cheese
- 1-1 tablespoon plain Greek yogurt per serving
Instructions
- Clean and dice the chicken. Mix the olive oil with the roast chicken spice mix and the dried oregano, then pour it over the chicken and stir. Let it sit for 15 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.
- Clean and dice the red onion, set aside.Cut off both ends of the zucchini, wash it thoroughly, cut in half, then quarters, and dice. Set aside.Wash the sweet pointed pepper, remove the seeds and core, cut in half, then quarters, and dice. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. It takes 10-14 minutes, so it’s good to start it before cooking the meat. Reserve about half a cup of the cooking water.
- Drizzle a little olive oil into a deep frying pan, add the onion, sauté until translucent, then add the zucchini and sweet pointed pepper. Sprinkle with Italian seasoned salt and oregano. Sauté all the vegetables while stirring, then pour them into a bowl and set aside while you cook the meat.
- In a hot pan, fry the marinated chicken until golden brown. Return the cooked vegetables to the pan, stir together and let them lightly sauté together. Pour in some of the reserved pasta cooking water, then add the drained pasta. Stir well and cook until creamy.
- Finally (still in the pan), stir in the diced feta cheese. There’s no need to cook further.
- When serving, put one tablespoon of plain Greek yogurt on each portion.
Calories and macros
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