Greek Chicken with Feta, Olive + Tomato Relish

If I could give this meal a hug, I would.

Seriously, ever since we became… well, whatever you want to call it: “flexitarians,” semi-veg, sometimes-meat eaters, apathetic carnivores, what have you… any time we decide that “Tonight is the night we will eat meat for dinner!” I’m not going to lie to you, I get REAL excited. This only happens like once every week or two so, you know, it’s a big deal.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my salads and soups and non-meaty meals, I really do. But sometimes a girl just wants a dang chicken tender. Especially one that’s dipped in Greek yogurt and breaded with panko breadcrumbs and Greek seasoning and then baked to crispy perfection and topped with a relish of the tomato/olive/feta/mint variety. With some cocoa-roasted almonds for dessert. Oh yes.

So obviously, since I am really excited about eating chicken and I haven’t done so in a while, I want the time between starting to make dinner and chicken-tender-in-my-pie-hole to be as minimal as possible. Enter this recipe for Greek chicken. I don’t know what it is about coating chicken in Greek yogurt and Progresso panko breadcrumbs mixed with herbs and spices — something about the combination of yogurty tanginess and Greek seasoningness and crunchy panko breadcrumbness and making up wordsness is just pure magic. The kind of magic I want to repeat for dinner every week.

For those of you unfamiliar with the chicken tender breading technique, it’s a pretty straightforward dunk, coat and bake situation. The feta, olive and tomato relish? It’s a slice, crumble and toss situation. Both situations lead to an easy and delicious dinner situation. A whole lot of situations, but not a whole lot to worry about.

All you need to worry about is who’s going to get to eat the last chicken tender.

Breaded Greek Chicken with Feta, Olive + Tomato Relish
A Girl Versus Dough original

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 (6-ounce) container plain Greek yogurt
1 cup Progresso plain panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Greek seasoning
1 (14-ounce) package uncooked chicken tenders
1 1/2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup pitted kalamata or black olives
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
dash or two Greek seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Spoon Greek yogurt into a shallow bowl. Mix breadcrumbs and Greek seasoning in a separate shallow bowl (or in a large resealable food-storage plastic bag). Dip and coat chicken tenders in Greek yogurt, then coat with breadcrumbs (if in bag, shake to coat). Transfer chicken tenders to prepared baking sheet.

Bake chicken 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, until golden brown and baked through. Meanwhile, make the relish: In a large bowl, lightly toss halved tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, mint, olive oil, Greek seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with chicken.

Disclosure: I received compensation from Progresso for recipe development purposes. All opinions are my own.