Crock Pot Greek Chicken (for pitas & salads!)

Like many of you southern readers, we’ve been snowed in the last couple days! Thankfully neither my husband nor I got stuck overnight in the horrendous traffic that ensued. Instead, we have thoroughly taken advantage of our snow days by building fires, baking these banana chocolate chip muffins, watching movies, and enjoying these easy Greek chicken pitas!

To make the chicken, I threw it in the crock pot with chopped onion, garlic, and Greek seasoning. I made a homemade Greek seasoning blend and used only about 1/4 of it for this recipe, so I saved the rest for another use. (Tip: make sure to put it in a sealed container and label it with what type of seasoning it is and the date you made it!) After everything was cooked, I shredded the chicken in my kitchen aid mixer, but using 2 forks would work too. Here’s what it looked like after:

This made a quite a bit of chicken, so if you have a big family you can rest assured there will be enough for everyone. And probably leftovers. But that’s a good thing, right?! Because it does make more than a couple servings, one day I piled some chicken on a Greek salad while my husband enjoyed it in a pita. Instead of dressing I used tzatziki sauce. So much flavor! Here’s my recipe for fat-free tzatziki sauce if you’re interested in trying it. You could also switch things up by using hummus as well. Play around with it and see what you like best! Add olives, feta, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, or any combination of those ingredients as you like.

If you do NOT own a crock pot (or if you’re low on time), you can also make this by mixing the chopped chicken/onions with 1 tbsp EVOO and the seasoning in a baking dish. Bake it for about 40 minutes at 350F, like the picture below! This recipe is really versatile!

Crock Pot Greek Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1.5-2lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup Greek seasoning

For the Greek seasoning (this makes MUCH more than you need; only use about 1/4 cup of this!):

• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 Tbsp onion pwder
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 2 tsp parsley
• 2 tsp paprika
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp thyme

1). Mix together the seasoning ingredients. Reserve a scant 1/4 cup of seasoning.

2). Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Layer chopped onions, garlic, and chicken. Sprinkle evenly with seasoning and add water. Set on low for 5-6 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

3). Once chicken is cooked, remove the chicken/onions from crock pot and shred chicken using 2 forks or my kitchen aid mixer method. Add some of the cooking juices to keep chicken moist.

4). Serve on pitas or on a Greek salad with tzatziki sauce or hummus. Enjoy!

Serving size: 4 oz shredded chicken. Approximate Nutritional Information per Serving: Calories: 184 Carbs: 0g Fat: 3g Protein: 34g WWPoints+: 4

Recipes adapted from: http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/2013/06/clean-eat-recipe-make-your-own-greek.html 

Adapted recipe courtesy of Audreysapron.wordpress.com.