Copycat Pita Pit Chicken Bowl: High-Protein Mediterranean Prep

There is a reason the chicken pita is Pita Pit’s workhorse: lean grilled chicken, cool tzatziki, briny olives, fresh vegetables, all wrapped up and endlessly customizable. The only problem is that a pita, delicious as it is, was never designed to sit in your fridge for five days. This copycat pita pit chicken bowl recipe takes everything you love about that order and rebuilds it as a high-protein Mediterranean bowl built for meal prep — 42 grams of protein per serving, bright flavours that actually improve as they marinate together, and a homemade tzatziki that puts the squeeze-bottle stuff to shame. As always with this series: this is our homemade take inspired by Pita Pit, not affiliated with or endorsed by the chain, and we claim no knowledge of their proprietary recipes.

Five bowls, about 40 minutes of prep, roughly $3.90 CAD per serving. The chicken gets a proper Greek-style marinade — lemon, oregano, garlic — and everything else is assembly. If your goal is eating more protein without eating boring food, this bowl belongs in your rotation.

Key Takeaways

• Our homemade inspired-by Pita Pit bowl delivers approximately 42 g of protein per serving.
• Five bowls cost roughly $19.50 CAD total — about $3.90 each.
• A 30-minute lemon-oregano marinade gives the chicken its signature Mediterranean character.
• Homemade tzatziki takes 5 minutes and keeps 5 days; store it separately for the freshest bowls.
• This copycat pita pit chicken bowl recipe is not affiliated with Pita Pit.

The Anatomy of a Great Pita-Shop Bowl

Think about what makes a great pita-shop order work: it is a balance system. Rich, savoury grilled meat against cool, tangy yogurt sauce. Salty feta and olives against fresh, watery vegetables. Something starchy to anchor it all. When you deconstruct that into a bowl, the pita’s job — the starchy anchor — gets handed to rice, quinoa, or even lemon-roasted potatoes. The rest of the formula stays exactly the same, which is why the bowl tastes unmistakably like your favourite pita order.

The protein target here is deliberate. Between the chicken, the Greek yogurt in the tzatziki, the feta, and the grain base, each bowl lands around 42 grams of protein without any powder or supplements. That is a genuinely satiating lunch.

Copycat Pita Pit Chicken Bowl: Ingredients

Ingredient	Amount (5 bowls)	Notes
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts	900 g	Or thighs for juicier, cheaper results
Olive oil	¼ cup	For the marinade
Lemon juice	¼ cup (2 lemons)	Fresh; bottled is a sad substitute
Garlic cloves, minced	4	For the marinade
Dried oregano	2 tsp	The defining Greek herb
Smoked paprika	1 tsp	Colour and warmth
Basmati or long-grain rice	1½ cups dry	Or quinoa for extra protein
Plain Greek yogurt (2% or higher)	1½ cups	For tzatziki; do not use fat-free
English cucumber	1 large	Half for tzatziki, half for the bowls
Fresh dill	2 tbsp, chopped	Or 2 tsp dried
Cherry tomatoes	300 g	Halved on serving day
Red onion	1 small	Thinly sliced; soak in cold water to mellow
Kalamata olives	¾ cup	Pitted; the briny punch
Feta cheese	150 g	Block feta in brine beats pre-crumbled
Hummus	¾ cup	PC or Fontaine Santé; or homemade
Salt & black pepper	To taste	Season every layer

The Chicken: Marinade and Sear

Step 1 — Marinate (30 minutes minimum)

Whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, smoked paprika, 2 teaspoons of salt, and a generous grind of pepper. Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness — about 2 cm — so they cook evenly, then coat them thoroughly in the marinade. Thirty minutes at room temperature is the minimum; 4 hours in the fridge is ideal; overnight is the gold standard. The acid in the lemon starts breaking down the surface proteins, which means more flavour penetration and juicier meat.

A word on chicken breasts versus thighs: breasts are leaner and match the pita-shop original, but thighs are more forgiving, cheaper, and stay juicier through five days of refrigeration. If this is your first time meal-prepping this bowl, thighs are the safer bet.

Step 2 — Sear hard, rest, slice (15 minutes)

Get a grill pan or cast-iron skillet ripping hot. Sear the chicken 5–6 minutes per side without moving it — that undisturbed contact is what builds the charred, flavourful crust. You are looking for an internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). Rest 10 minutes, then slice across the grain into strips. Slicing across the grain shortens the muscle fibres, which is the difference between tender and chewy.

Five-Minute Tzatziki (Better Than the Squeeze Bottle)

Grate half the cucumber on the coarse side of a box grater, then squeeze it dry in a clean tea towel — really wring it out, because watery tzatziki is a tragedy. Stir it into the Greek yogurt with the dill, a grated garlic clove, a tablespoon of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and salt. Taste and adjust: it should be tangy, garlicky, and well salted. This keeps 5 days in the fridge and the flavour actually deepens overnight.

Do not use fat-free yogurt here. The fat carries flavour and gives tzatziki its luxurious mouthfeel; 2% is the minimum worth using, and full-fat is traditional.

Assembly: The Bowl-Building Order

Cook the rice first and let it cool slightly — warm rice is fine, hot rice wilts the vegetables. In five wide containers, layer: rice on the bottom, then sliced chicken, then sections of diced cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion, olives, and crumbled feta. Add a generous dollop of hummus to one side of each bowl. Pack the tzatziki in separate small containers.

Layer order matters for the same reason it always does: wet ingredients on top, absorbent grains on the bottom. The feta and olives can go right on the chicken — their brine and salt will season everything below as the week goes on, which is a feature, not a bug.

Storage and Serving

Sealed bowls keep 5 days refrigerated. Eat cold or at room temperature — like a pita, this bowl is not meant to be microwaved into submission. If you want it warm, heat just the rice and chicken for 90 seconds and add the cold toppings after.

The tzatziki stays fresh 5 days in a sealed jar. The components also freeze reasonably: cooked chicken and rice freeze for up to 3 months (freeze without the fresh vegetables, feta, or tzatziki, and add those fresh after thawing).

Cost Breakdown (Approximate, $ CAD)

Item	Est. cost ($ CAD)
Chicken breasts, 900 g	$8.50
Rice, 300 g from bulk bag	$1.00
Greek yogurt, 375 g tub	$3.50
Feta, 150 g	$3.00
Olives, hummus	$3.50
Vegetables, lemon, herbs	$4.00
Marinade oil & spices (pantry amortized)	$1.00
Total for 5 bowls	$24.50
Per bowl	~$4.90

Swap breasts for thighs and catch the yogurt on sale, and this drops under $4 a bowl. Plug your numbers into

to get your per-portion cost — then compare it to a $13 pita-shop bowl and enjoy the feeling.

Approximate Nutrition Per Bowl

Estimates for one bowl with rice, chicken, tzatziki, feta, hummus, and vegetables. Approximate only.

Nutrient	Approximate amount
Calories	~610 kcal
Protein	~42 g
Carbohydrates	~52 g
Fat	~22 g
Fibre	~7 g
Sodium	~820 mg

Variations for the Adventurous

• Spicy harissa chicken: add a tablespoon of harissa paste to the marinade.
• Falafel Friday: swap the chicken for baked falafel one day a week — most Superstores carry good frozen falafel.
• Lemon potatoes instead of rice: roast cubed potatoes with lemon and oregano; they reheat better than rice.
• Extra greens: add a handful of baby spinach or arugula on serving day.
• Dairy-free: use coconut yogurt for the tzatziki and skip the feta, doubling the hummus.

Your Sunday Timeline: 40 Minutes Flat

Here is how the whole prep fits into one efficient session. Minute zero: get the rice on and the chicken into its marinade — the marinade needs at least 30 minutes, so it goes first. While the rice cooks and the chicken marinates, make the tzatziki and chop every vegetable; that is your mise en place done by minute fifteen. At minute twenty, the chicken hits the hot pan while you crumble the feta and portion the hummus. By minute thirty-five the chicken is resting, the rice is cooling on a sheet pan, and you are lining up containers. Ten minutes of assembly and you are done — kitchen cleaned by minute fifty, five lunches in the fridge, and the whole rest of Sunday still yours. The key insight: the marinade wait time is not downtime, it is your vegetable-chopping window.