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From pasta to lettuce in just one day…
Promise it’s the good kind of lettuce. The kind that can even rival a bowl of pasta…seriously.
I have some genuine love for these pretty Greek goddess chicken lettuce wraps. Meaning, I could probably eat them for a week straight and not be bored. They are that good, and nothing like you might expect. You see, I think a lot of people make lettuce wraps to replace the carbs in their life, but me? No freaking way, carbs are they best, and I’m not ditching them anytime soon. So when I make lettuce wraps I make them with other healthy and delicious ingredients, like roasted chicken, avocado, olives, cucumbers, etc. But I’m also not afraid to add things like homemade roasted french fries. YES. french fries.
I even took it a step further and paired a few of my wraps with some fresh homemade pita bread. To be honest, I did this more for photo purposes because I was having a hard time fitting everything into my tiny lettuce leafs, but I am sure as heck not complaining. You can do what you want as far as including the pitas or not. I kind of like the pita in addition the lettuce, but again I was brought up to basically live off carbs. Either way, these wraps are going to be delicious.
I have been so excited to share these for what feels like way too long. The flavors are some of my favorites. They are my go-to flavors/foods when cooking for myself, the kinds of flavors/foods my dad used to cook up when making dinner for the family.
These wraps are fresh, but satisfying, and I cannot get over the colors…love the colors, and the textures, and the fact that we can totally call these health food…cool. cool.
What’s really odd is that while I absolutely love these flavors and eat them often, I feel like there are not a ton of recipes like this on the blog. When I realized this the other week, I knew that I needed to change that pretty much immediately. I think that sometimes I can overlook the foods that I make when cooking for no one other than myself and my family. Almost like they are too boring to share. In some cases that’s true, but when it comes to Greek recipes, I feel as though they should all be shared and loved, I mean, right?
So today, I am sharing one of my favorite ways to cook up chicken. Typically I’ll just serve it with rice, but I really wanted to do the whole “Greek Goddess” thing, so I made a really pretty, and even more delicious, pistachio basil goddess sauce, stuffed my chicken into some lettuce and then topped it with all the pretty things. Think of these as a Gyro, but done a little healthier and simpler.
First things first, I have to express how vital the goddess sauce is here. As my dad said, it’s what completes the recipe. The sauce is everything. Loaded with basil, pistachios, and lemon and then spiced up a bit with jalapeno. Honestly, it’s just addicting, and any leftovers can be used for salads, served over meats or seafood or simply eaten with some fresh pita as a dip.
So that’s the sauce. Now the chicken. Like I said, this is my favorite way to season chicken…smoked paprika, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper…oh, and thinly sliced lemon. It’s basic, but really good, and if you can, try to let the chicken marinate overnight, it makes for an incredibly tender, not tough, chicken. Put the sauce and the chicken together and you have the perfect meal. Ahh wait, sorry, put the sauce, chicken, oven roasted fries, lettuce and feta together and you have the perfect meal…clearly I am all about the loaded wrap!
The fries and feta are kind important too. My dad used to put homemade fries on literally everything…I now do the same.
FUN FACT: I secretly hate pickled red onions, BUT love, love, love getting to use them in recipes because they add the prettiest pop of color.
Greek Goddess Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken, cut into strips
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 lemon, sliced
- kosher salt and pepper
- 2 potatoes, cut into matchsticks
- 4 warmed pitas (optional)
- 1 head butter lettuce
- 2 Persian cucumbers, cut into matchsticks
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1/3 cup kalamata olives, pitted
- feta cheese, pickled red onion and microgreens, for serving
Pistachio Basil Goddess Sauce
- 1/2 cup roasted pistachios
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup fresh basil
- 1 jalapeno, halved (seed if desired)
- kosher salt
Instructions
- In a large ziplock back, combine 2 tablespoons olive oil, the chicken, garlic, smoked paprika, oregano, lemon and a large pinch of both salt and pepper. Marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes or up to overnight.Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.Dump the chicken out into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Transfer to the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.During the same time, toss together the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, potatoes and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Transfer the potatoes to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, tossing halfway through cooking until golden crisp.To assemble, layer the lettuce inside a warm pita. Add the fries and chicken. Top with cucumber, avocado, olives, feta, onion, and greens. Serve drizzled generously with Goddess Sauce (below).
Pistachio Basil Goddess Sauce
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and add 1/4 cup water. Blend until combined, adding water if needed to thin. Taste and adjust salt as needed.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Tomorrow more color…but in a sweet way.
This recipe with the green goddess sauce turned out horribly! The chicken tasted good but the rest was a disaster. The green goddess “sauce” following your recipe exactly, was a thick paste. I couldn’t find pita that looked like your lovely photograph so that, too, was awful. Do you only want feedback when it is glowing? Sorry.
Hey Denise,
So sorry you did not enjoy this recipe, was there anything you may have adjusted? It sounds like you may have needed to add more water to thin as I state in the instructions. I did link the recipe for the homemade pita: https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/traditional-greek-pita-bread/ I hope this helps for next time, again sorry you had issues here. xTieghan
How do you cut the chicken? In strips or like fileting it?
Hey Linsie,
I cut the chicken into strips. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I will make this tonight, and then reimagine the ingredients into pizza later this week. The sauce should keep a few days? Like a pesto? It will be my Greek pizza sauce
Yes, the sauce will keep just like pesto. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
Can I keep leftover sauce in the fridge?
HI! Yes, the sauce stays fresh in the fridge for up to 3 days. Please let me know if you have any other questions. I hope you love this recipe! Thank you! xTieghan
LOVEEEEEE EVERYTHING ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Thank you so much Natalia! xTieghan
Hi! This looks delicious. Is it enough to feed four? Also I’m making this for my cousins who are allergic to nuts can you think of any alternatives to the pistachios for the sauce? Thanks!
HI! Yes, these will feed 4 and you can use cashews, almonds, or sesame seeds in place of the pistachios. Please let me know if you have other questions. Hope you love this recipe! Happy Holiday’s ? 🙂
My family loved them. We now make them all the time. The sauce is great. I will oftem make extra and use on pasta or on pita to make a greek style pizza.
So happy you liked it! The extra sauce is genius!! So yummy with pita!!
Just made these for lunch for the week. So tasty! I substituted just plain red onion for the pickled red onion because I already had a red onion at home and it still was good. The goddess sauce and marinade on chicken are great.
So happy you liked it Natalie!
Thank you for making it (:
Oh my goodness, these were absolutely amazing! Thank you!
Awesome! I am so glad you loved them, Sam. Thank you!!
This was amazing!! My husbands exact words were “That was a homerun!” Thanks so much for your delicious and fun new ideas for what to make for dinner!
Wow!! So happy you both liked it, thanks Susan!
I’m going to make these tonight, I don’t see lettuce in the ingredient list. It looks like butter lettuce though, is that what you used? Thanks.
Hi erica! Yes, I used butter lettuce. Fixing the ingredients now. Hope you loved these! 🙂
Made this tonight. Minus the pita and added grilled zucchini and tomatoes. That green goddess dressing is genius and goes so well with the chicken.
Awesome! So happy you liked it Nadia, thank you!
Absolutely making these this week!! I’ve made Green Goddess dressing before but never with pistachios… sounds delicious!
Ah, yay! I hope you love them Susan (:
NEED these lettuce wraps in my life.
Ah yes!! You would love them (: Let me know what you think if you make them of course!
These look and sound amazing Tieghan! Love for fresh and light they look! ❤️
Thanks so much Debs! Hope you get to try them!