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On this page, Uncle Gussy’s offers a range of healthy dinner ideas. Throughout the year, we use only the finest fresh products. Uncle Gussy’s Greek cooking is very simple yet colorful and highly nutritious. You can enjoy Greek appetizers and perfectly prepared chicken breast recipes. Of course, we cannot omit meat, fish, soups recipes and vegetables.
Fish and seafood, as well as meat and poultry, are great main courses. Fresh fruit and a variety of sweets make a perfect dessert.
Eating means socializing
If you are looking for ideas for delicious and healthy supper, then Greek cuisine is what you need.
For Greeks, to eat means to socialize, not just satisfy hunger. So, when we start preparing our famous Souvlaki, chicken breast or soup recipes, we’re always thinking about people who will eat them.
Traditional Greek Appetizers
Appetizers (‘Mezethes’) are a major part of the Greek diet. In fact, no healthy evening meal idea goes without appetizers, because it’s very good for digestion. Most important: if you eat an appetizer first, you will not overeat your main meals. In general, ‘Mezethes’ represent a set of small plates of olives, feta cheese, sliced cucumbers, and fried cheese (‘Saganake’). You may also see there stuffed vine leaves (‘Dolmathes’), cheese pies (‘Tiropita’), and spinach pies (‘Spanakopita’). Octopus is our traditional food too. It can be baked, grilled or pickled. This see product participates in many of healthy menu ideas for lunch and dinner.
Another key point is that appetizers go together with a variety of Greek dips. Usually, dips and sauces include some olive oil, lemon and oregano marinade. They combine just perfectly with our chicken breast recipes.
Greece produces some of the world’s finest olives. Kalamata olives are our favorite, by the way. You can spot them in many Greek recipes. We love adding olives in our legume dishes, and even chicken breast soups. For the most part, Greek cooks use either Kalamata virgin or Extra Virgin Olive Oil varieties.
Fresh crusty bread is often served with salads, so you can soak up the herbed, oil and vinegar dressing. Feel free to do the same thing when it comes to soup recipes. After all, Greek bread accompanies every meal. You will definitely love our ‘Prosforo’, ‘Lagana‘, ‘Kathari Deftera‘, and ‘Christopsomo‘ bread.
Feta cheese is the most famous Greek cheese made from goat or sheep’s milk. It’s truly hard to find healthy dinner ideas which do not include cheese.
Vegetables
Greeks eat vegetable dishes all year round. Our traditional soup recipes always contain vegetables. Especially, fresh beans, dried legumes, eggplant, zucchini, and artichokes are very popular. They taste very good in many of chicken breast recipes. We also love rice. In fact, we often cook rice and spinach pilaf. Therefore, you can find out that rice is a quite frequent ingredient in Greek soup recipes.
In Greece, we eat salads every day. For example, ‘Horiatiki’ salad consists of tomatoes, cucumbers, ‘Feta’ cheese, olives, and onion. We dress it with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil, balsamic vinegar and oregano. As a result, it is very hard to resist. Surely, you’ll admit that salads are the best healthy ideas for dinner.
Fish & Seafood
Greek fish & seafood dishes include a variety of fish like red mullet, sardines, snapper, and octopus. We cook this food in many ways: boiled, fried, baked, grilled and barbecued. Nowadays, Mediterranean seafood soup recipes are cornerstones of healthy supper ideas.
Meat & Poultry
Meat & poultry dishes are made from beef, lamb, pork, goat and rabbit. Generally speaking, various kind of meat broth is a base for many Greek soup recipes. We love casseroles and stews, as well as grilled, barbecued and skewered meats (‘Souvlaki’). For example, ‘Lamb on the spit’ is a popular food for a special occasion. You can cook it if you run out of your healthy dinner thoughts. At the present time, many of us strive for better living in general. For this reason, the quality of food becomes important. Therefore, Greek chicken breast recipes are cooked on a daily basis because of their nutritional facts.
Sweets
Greeks make sweets with filo pastry, nuts, honey, and cinnamon. ‘Baclava’, ‘Galaktobouriko‘, and ‘Karithopita‘ are some of our well-known traditional sweets. Well, a little bit of Greek sweets will not corrupt your healthy evening meals ideas.
Drinks
‘Retsina‘ is a Greek wine with a strong flavour. Ouzo is a semi-clear spirit served with appetizers like grilled octopus. Tsipouro is home-made moonshine from the remainder of the pressing of the grapes. Additionally, herbs like oregano, thyme, rosemary, dill, mint and basil are commonly used in Greek cooking. Herbal teas are free of any caffeine or tannins. Greeks believe chamomile (‘Hamomili‘) and wild sage (‘Faskomilo‘) are good for your health. Greek Coffee is always served black. We never add milk. It will disturb the thick sediment at the bottom of the cup, and the drink will get gritty. As a matter of fact, coffee drinking is a purely social experience.
Greek Lemon Chicken Soup Avgolemono
This is the best of Greek soup recipes and it should definitely be among your healthy and well-balanced supper plans.
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 6 tablespoons chicken soup base
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
First, take a large pot. Second, mix there the lemon juice and chicken broth with carrots, onions, soup base, add some celery, and white pepper. Third, bring to a boil on high, then reduce the fire and cook the soup for 20 minutes.
Now take a blender and make a smooth mixture of butter and flour. Then slowly add it to the soup. Make your soup simmer for 10 minutes more. Do not leave it unattended, stir frequently.
At the same time, beat the egg yolks until it gets light. Carefully pour a small portion of the hot soup to the egg yolks, always stirring. Then put the egg mixture to the soup pot and heat. As a final touch, add the rice and chicken. Garnish soup bowls with lemon slices.
Indeed, what healthy dinner ideas are without chicken breast recipes? If you like to find new soup recipes, you cannot miss this one!
Greek Meatballs (Keftedes)
Keftedes it’s a truly traditional Greek dish. You’ll certainly love the beautiful flavor of fresh parsley mixed with red onion, tiny aroma of mint and dried oregano. These meatballs are usually served as an appetizer or as a meal.
You cannot avoid adding some Tzatziki and Pita bread to them (delicious!). Keftedes will make a delicious orchestra with some chicken breast. If you are cooking Keftedes, we suggest considering one of the Greek soup recipes as well.
Ingredients
- 250 g coarsely minced pork
- 250 g coarsely minced beef
- 1 large brown onion, grated
- 2 handfuls of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tsp roughly chopped mint
- 2 tsp salt flakes
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp cracked pepper
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 large eggs
- 4 potatoes, grated, excess liquid squeezed out
- vegetable oil, for pan-frying
- flat leaf parsley and chervil, to garnish (optional)
Mix well all the ingredients (except the oil) in a bowl. Leave for 30 minutes at room temperature. Then take tablespoons of the mixture and consequently shape them into small balls. If you use the amounts of products as shown above, you’ll have approximately 16 keftedes.
Pour 2–3 cm of the vegetable oil into a frying pan and place it over medium heat. Fry the Keftedes for 10–12 minutes or until cooked through well enough. Drain the extra oil on a paper towel. Then garnish your keftedes with parsley and serve hot.
Tzatziki Cucumber Sauce
Craving for Uncle Gussy’s Gyro and Tzatziki? A creamier version of Tzatziki. You can play around with adding a little more garlic, or sour cream. Besides, you can add a touch of Cayenne and/or a teaspoon of lemon juice. Cucumber sauce will taste perfectly in chicken breast recipes too. Can this dish participate in your ideas for healthy supper? Absolutely yes!
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- salt and pepper to taste
Chop the cucumber until nearly liquefied. You can do it in a food processor or by hand. Use cheesecloth to remove excess moisture by straining the chopped cucumber through. But bon’t exaggerate your forces and keep the fresh flavor.
Mix the cucumber with sour cream, garlic, and yogurt. Then season your sauce with salt and pepper.
Horiatiki Salad
At a matter of fact, there are no healthy dinner or other meals ideas without salad. Greeks believe that this salad is originated from a farmer’s meal. Because it consists of ingredients typical for an ancient Greek farmer.
Ingredients
- Tomatoes
- Sliced cucumbers
- Onion
- Feta cheese
- Olives (usually Kalamata olives)
Greek salad is usually seasoned with mountain oregano and salt. Besides, it is dressed with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Salad will be a perfect addition to any of chicken breast recipes, for example.
Caperberries and green bell pepper slices are a good addition to this salad.
Pork Souvlaki
It’s all about being simple when it comes to Greek cuisine. As an illustration, marinate anything (preferably pork) with touches of salt, pepper, oregano, and lemon mix. Then cook it on a skewer, and here comes the flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 lbs boneless pork loin or 1 1/2 lbs pork tenderloin
- 1⁄4 cup lemon juice
- 1⁄4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
- 3⁄4 cup prepared Tzatziki sauce
- 6 Greek Pita breads
First, take a good piece of pork, cut it into 1 inch cubes. Then you’ll need a large bowl. Whisk oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper all together. Consequently, add cubes of pork and stir to coat. Let marinate for 10 minutes.
Thread pork cubes onto six 8 inch skewers. Then place them on a baking sheet lined with foil. Brush with marinade. Broil Souvlaki about 12 minutes, turning halfway through, until ready inside.
You can further remove pork from skewers and place on Pitas with Tzatziki spread over each of them.
Greek-style baked salmon
Baked salmon is so delicious! Here is your quick and easy recipe for healthy supper ideas.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs salmon fillet
- 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp fresh dill
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp paprika
In the first place, you’ll need a shallow casserole dish. Whisk together the oil, lemon zest, and juice, garlic, oregano, dill, salt and paprika. Next, add the salmon and coat with the marinade. After that, let it marinate in the fridge for half an hour. Point often overlooked: don’t forget to cover the casserole with plastic wrap.
Preheat oven to 400 °F. Gently place salmon and marinade on a prepared baking sheet with foil. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Serve with Tzatziki and salad.
Chicken Gyro
When it comes to chicken breast recipes, always sprinkle a little Greek Oregano on your food. Thus, you’ll taste some more of Greek goodness! This dish combines ideally with one of the soup recipes.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3/4 teaspoon minced garlic, divided
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch strips
- 1/2 cup of chopped peeled cucumber
- 1/3 cup plain yogurt
- 1/4 teaspoon dill weed
- 2 whole pita breads
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
This is one of the very popular chicken breast recipes in Greece. In the first place, take a large resealable plastic bag, and mix the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon garlic, oil, oregano and mustard. Then add chicken. Seal bag and coat chicken by turning the bag. After that, refrigerate it for 1 hour.
Prepare the sauce. For this purpose, cut the cucumber, add dill, yogurt and remaining garlic. Then cover the bowl and refrigerate until serving.
Drain the marinade. In a large pan, cook and stir the pieces of chicken for 7-8 minutes or until ready. Consequently, put the chicken onto pieces of Pita bread. Top with sauce and onion; fold in half. As you can see, Greeks have very healthy chicken breast recipes.
Double Nut Baklava
This sweet and yummy dessert recipe came to Greece from Mesopotamia a long time ago. Since then, Baklava has settled down for good in the traditional Greek cooking. As a matter of fact, nuts contain many useful substances. So, take this recipe for your collection of healthy dinner ideas.
Ingredients
- 1-1/4 cups sweetened shredded coconut flakes, toasted
- 1/2 cup finely chopped macadamia nuts
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1-1/4 cups butter, melted
- 1 package phyllo dough (16 ounces, 14×9-inch-sheet size), thawed
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup honey
Firstly, combine the first five ingredients and set them aside. Secondly, take a 13×9 baking pan and brush it with some butter. Thirdly, unroll the sheets of Phyllo dough; cut to fit into the pan.
Layer 10 sheets of Phyllo in prepared pan, brushing each with butter. (Cover the remaining dough with plastic wrap and a damp towel, so it stays fresh.) After that sprinkle a third of the nut mixture over a layer. Then repeat layers twice. At the end, layer 5 Phyllo sheets on the top, brushing each with butter. Brush top sheet with butter as well.
Cut into diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.
In addition, boil the water, sugar and honey using a small saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Pour hot syrup over baklava. Then cover and let stand overnight.
If you choose one of soup recipes for dinner, you can surely delight yourself with a piece of Baklava. It will do no harm to your diet. Trust us.
Greek Coffee (Ellinikos Kafes)
Greeks love to sip this coffee slowly and usually during a lively conversation.
Ingredients
- Water
- Greek coffee
- Granulated sugar
Firstly, get a small coffee pot called a Briki.
Secondly, take one coffee cup of water and pour it into the Briki. Make sure you leave space to let the coffee bubble and foam. Add 2 teaspoons of coffee and sugar at your liking, then stir. This ration will give you a pretty much strong coffee.
Then place the Briki on the gas and turn on low heat. Let your coffee heat up slowly. But do not leave it unattended.
You will notice the surface starts to tremble. Once it starts foaming, lift it slightly from the heat until the foam settles and then put it on the fire again until it starts puffing up. Then remove. In order to make a good coffee, don’t let it over-boil, so you’ll have nice and creamy foam on top.
Serve the coffee with a glass of cold water.
Sage Tea
In Greece, we use sage to make a nice and healthy herbal tea. In fact, this herbal tea recipe has been used since the ancient years. Usually, you won’t drink coffee before going to bed. So, sage tea is a perfect element of healthy dinner ideas.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons of sage
- 2 glasses of water
- 2 teaspoons Greek honey (or to taste)
Infuse sage, but don’t keep it for longer than 20 minutes in the teapot to avoid bittering of the taste. This sage herbal tea has a range of medicinal properties that are good for your health.
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