20+ Mediterranean Recipes to Make at Home
Mediterranean recipes are what I cook most at home. The food is fresh, healthy and cheap to make, and most Mediterranean diet recipes are on the table in under 30 minutes. I’ve grouped my favourites below by the kind of meal you’re after.
Table of Contents
Dips and Starters
1. Whipped Feta Dip with Harissa
Feta and cream cheese blended together until light and airy, then finished with harissa oil on top. The harissa is spicy and smoky and the contrast with the cold creamy feta underneath is SO good. You can make a full batch whenever you’re having people over or just want something good to eat with pitta.
2. Roasted Chickpea Tzatziki Wrap
If you’re looking for easy Mediterranean recipes, try this one right now. The chickpeas are seasoned with paprika, cayenne and oregano and roasted until crispy, so you get actual texture and bite rather than a sad soggy filling. Tzatziki, crumbled feta, cucumber, tomato and red onion all go in the flatbread. It’s so so good!
Mediterranean Salads
3. Panzanella Salad with Halloumi
A Tuscan bread and tomato salad with pan-fried halloumi added to make it a meal. The bread needs to be stale because it soaks up the tomato juices & the red wine vinegar dressing rather than just sitting there dry. Once it does that it’s really good. You just need 15 minutes to make it and just over £1 a portion.
Panzanella Salad with Halloumi
4. Orzo Pasta Salad
This is what I make when I’m sorting lunches for the week and craving healthy mediterranean recipes. We’ve got orzo and frozen sweetcorn in the same pan, rinsed cold, then tossed in olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano and paprika. Pan-fried halloumi on top – yum!! Most pasta salads taste flat by day 3 but this one holds up, which is why I keep making it.
5. Tabbouleh Inspired Chicken Salad
With tabbouleh you want everything chopped finely so each forkful has parsley, mint, cucumber, tomato and couscous in it rather than a big mouthful of one thing. I add griddled chicken to turn it into a full meal. It keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days without the couscous going heavy, which almost no grain salad manages, and the lemon and olive oil dressing keeps it tasting bright throughout.
Tabbouleh Inspired Chicken Salad
6. Greek Chicken Salad
The yogurt marinade does more than you’d expect from such few ingredients. But it seasons the chicken thighs all the way through and keeps them super juicy off the griddle. Sliced over feta, olives and a lemon dressing it’s def filling enough for dinner. I’ve recommended this one to people looking for Mediterranean salad recipes so many times.
Mediterranean Vegetarian Recipes
7. Baked Orzo with Halloumi and Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables
Courgette, cherry tomatoes and red onion roast first, then the orzo goes in with vegetable stock and kalamata olives, gets covered in foil & bakes until tender. The orzo absorbs all the roasting juices and olive brine as it cooks so it ends up really flavourful, and the halloumi on top pretty much makes the dish!
Baked Orzo with Halloumi and Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables
8. Halloumi Tray Bake with Roasted Vegetables
Halloumi and a bag of mixed veg costs very little, and this recipe makes 4 great portions from that. The spiced tomato sauce coats the roasted veg, gets into the halloumi & makes the tray taste so incredible. I’ve made this so many times for meal prep and it holds really well in the fridge all week.
Halloumi Tray Bake with Roasted Vegetables
9. Moroccan Inspired Veggie Aubergines
The Moroccan spicing here gives the tomato sauce a depth that makes it taste like it’s been cooking for hours. We finish it with crumbled feta and parsley, and the final result usually surprises people who weren’t expecting much from a vegetarian aubergine dish. This is hands down one of my favourite Mediterranean dinner recipes.
Mediterranean Chicken Recipes
10. Greek Yogurt Chicken Marinade
I use this more than pretty much any other marinade. The lemon zest is what makes it different from most yogurt marinades because it brings those citrus oils you just don’t get from juice alone, and combined with oregano and shallot it’s really bright and fresh. 2 minutes to put together and then the fridge does the work.
11. Greek Chicken Bowls
These are such a good option for dinner! Oregano-lemon chicken, potato fries, chopped salad and a quick tzatziki, all in one bowl. Everything reheats well in the air fryer too so it’s a great one for meal prep.
12. Peri Peri Chicken Wings
The marinade is roasted red peppers, garlic, chilli, lemon and olive oil, all blitzed together, so the flavour palette sits right in the Mediterranean even if peri peri itself is Portuguese-African in origin. The griddle char and the honey glaze at the end are what make these so good.
13. Spanish Chicken
Add some spice to your next meal with Spanish chicken! This Spanish chicken recipe uses flavourful yet simple seasoning, savoury chorizo, juicy chicken thighs, tomatoes, olives, and rice for a deliciously rustic dish. It features a tangy, bold bravas sauce that will have you hooked.
Mediterranean Fish Recipes
14. Salmon Tray Bake with Asparagus
The honey-soy glaze goes sticky in the oven and coats the salmon and the vegetables equally so everything on the tray tastes equally amazing, not just the fish. You just need 30 minutes, one tray, and it’s done!
Salmon Tray Bake with Asparagus
15. Perfect Pan Fried Cod
A lot of people undercook or overcook cod because it goes from perfect to dry really fast. This recipe has clear timing & the flour dredge gives you a delicious crispy golden edge. You can make the garlic butter sauce in the same pan in about 30 seconds. If you’re looking for budget Mediterranean recipes, make sure to give this a try.
16. The Best Garlic Prawns
Spanish gambas is about as simple as cooking gets and this version is spot on. The key is getting the garlic properly golden in the butter and olive oil before the prawns go in – it takes maybe 2 minutes but it makes a real difference to the flavour. This is good as part of a spread or just on its own.
17. Prawn Rice
What I like about this one is that the chillies are blended into the stock rather than left in chunks, so you get an even heat throughout rather than biting into one. It sounds like a small thing but it changes the texture of the dish. Frozen jumbo prawns work really well here & they’re much cheaper than fresh.
18. Creamy Smoked Haddock
Smoked haddock poached in a cream & fish stock sauce with sweetcorn & crispy bacon. The sweetcorn picks up the smokiness from the fish & bacon and makes the sauce taste unbelievable! I always save a spoonful of the crispy bacon to put on top at the end as it makes the bowl look really good.
Mediterranean Soups and Stews
19. Greek Lemon Chicken Soup (Avgolemono)
Avgolemono is a Greek classic and once you know how it works you’ll make it all the time. The creaminess comes from whole eggs whisked into the hot broth, the same way carbonara gets creamy, so there’s no cream in it at all. The lemon keeps it from feeling heavy.
20. Spanish Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew
Butter beans in a slow cooker go super creamy & with chorizo fat and smoked paprika in the sauce they absorb sooo much flavour. I like to make a big batch at the start of the week and it sorts lunches for a few days without me having to think about it.
Spanish Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew
21. Chicken and Chorizo Paella
The rule with paella is to leave it alone once the stock goes in. No stirring, just let the rice absorb everything and get slightly toasted on the bottom. Turmeric stands in for saffron here to give the rice that golden colour without the cost, and it’s ready in about 35 minutes.
Mediterranean Recipes FAQs
Dishes from the cooking traditions of countries along the Mediterranean Sea, like Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Morocco and Lebanon. The common thread is olive oil, fresh vegetables, legumes, fish & bright flavours from lemon, vinegar and herbs.
The Mediterranean diet is an eating pattern based on the traditional food of Mediterranean countries, mainly vegetables, fruit, whole grains, olive oil, fish and legumes, with red meat kept to a minimum. The Mediterranean diet benefits are well documented – the American Heart Association links it to lower risk of heart disease and stroke, which honestly makes sense given how fresh and vegetable-heavy the food is.
SO budget-friendly. The foundations are chickpeas, lentils, tinned tomatoes, pasta, orzo, frozen fish, eggs and whatever veg is cheap that week. Bean stews, grain salads and egg dishes are often the cheapest things on the list and also the most delish.
Fish is a big one – salmon, cod, prawns, white fish. Chicken thighs are the most common meat and the best value cut to use. For vegetarian dishes, halloumi and feta are amazing, and chickpeas, lentils and butter beans are brilliant too if you want to keep it plant-based.
Of course, Mediterranean meal prep is my go-to. Grain salads, marinated chicken, roasted veg trays and slow-cooked stews all hold for 3 to 4 days in the fridge. The chorizo and butter bean stew tastes even better on day two once everything has had time to sit.
Greek cooking uses loads of oregano, lemon, dill and mint. North African dishes use cumin, cinnamon, smoked paprika and harissa. Spanish cooking is big on smoked paprika and garlic. Italian uses more basil, thyme and rosemary. Garlic & olive oil run through pretty much all of it.
Eating Mediterranean food just means cooking dishes from the region. Following the mediterranean diet means eating the way people there traditionally have – mainly plant-based, lots of fish, olive oil as your main fat, very little red meat or processed food.
