Our 20 Best Mediterranean Diet Recipes

Hummus toast is the best thing that can happen to a delicious and quick Mediterranean breakfast; it is a classic Middle Eastern dip. You can make it by blending chickpeas, tahini, garlic, and citrus. It is an excellent source of fiber besides vitamins and minerals.

You could choose any type of bread and topping that you like to build your hummus toast. Add fried eggs, avocado, tomatoes, salt, and pepper for a savory toast, or load it with bananas, honey, and cinnamon to make it sweet.

If you want something other than boiled, mashed, or riced, bake them in the oven for delicious roasted cauliflower steaks. These slabs of cauliflower steaks are satisfying and can be both a main course or a side dish.

A few steps and ingredients are all you need to make these easy Mediterranean diet recipe steaks. Wash, trim, and slice cauliflower heads ¾-inch-thick. Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes after oiling and seasoning.

Colorfully bright orange, green, and red bell peppers are baked to tenderness and filled with a succulent rice mixture of spinach bulgur, seasoned ground beef, and feta cheese. This is one of the cheap Mediterranean diet recipes.

Begin by making the fillings of the peppers. In a big bowl, mix minced beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, bulgur, egg, oregano, salt, soaked rice, and a few grinds of pepper. 

Fill peppers with this mixture of meat, place tomatoes on top and crumbled feta cheese, and bake in the oven until everything is cooked.

This is a delicious and healthy banana breakfast smoothie or afternoon pick-me-up shake. Unlike most shakes, this one requires ice cream. It is creamy, rich, and decadent.

Its consistency comes not from the ice cream but from tahini, or ground sesame butter or paste. The tahini adds nuttiness to the shake that goes along with the flavors of the ripe frozen bananas, almond milk, and a pinch of cinnamon.

You can make this simple easy Mediterranean diet recipe by blending everything in a blender together with ice until smooth.

A green smoothie is the healthiest thing one can have in the morning. It's so effortless and yet packed with such healthy ingredients that will give one the much-needed immunity boost.

This anti inflammatory diet recipe smoothie can be loaded up with any leafy green vegetables you like: celery, spinach, or kale, full of antioxidants and fruit like apples, bananas, and mangoes will add sweetness. 

Blend these veggies and fruits in a milk of your choice for creaminess, and you have a delicious smoothie.

A chickpea salad loaded with crunchy veggies, fresh herbs, and everyday salad dressing is light, refreshing, and ideal for brunch or lunch. It is satisfying on its own.

Add your chickpeas, crunchy chopped veggies, and herbs like dill and parsley in a bowl, and the salad dressing, made with olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice (or vinegar), dijon mustard, sea salt, and cracked black pepper.

An eggplant dip, also known as baba ganoush, is a delicious way to use eggplants. It is similar to hummus and served with veggies, flatbread, and pita wedges.

The dip is made by roasting eggplants until soft. The tender flesh is removed from the skin and blended with tahini, garlic paste, yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, and smoked paprika. 

Everything is blended till smooth and topped with the diced peppers and the chopped parsley before serving.

Save this Mediterranean diet recipe of salmon for the weeknight dinner rotation, busy cooks, because it requires little prep and cooking time. Perfectly cooked, juicy, and tender salmon will make your taste buds sing.

This would deter many from cooking salmon, as it usually ends up very dry and flavorless. The trick here is to wrap the salmon in foil; the foil traps the steam and helps cook the fish while retaining its moisture.

If baked salmon is not for you, you can go for a grilled salmon or any other fish like sardines, tuna, red snapper, and swordfish.

Before grilling the fish, remove that fishy smell or taste by briefly soaking the fish in salt-vinegar water with lots of ice and pat dry before using.

Marinate the fish in 6 to 12 cloves of garlic, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, coriander, cumin, sweet paprika, and a pinch of kosher salt and black pepper for an hour before grilling.

A tabbouleh basically means a parsley salad. It is made with finely chopped parsley, tomatoes, cucumber, bulgur grain, and green onions. Then, it is tossed with olive oil and lemon juice.

This salad is fresh and light but full of healthiness. The chicken breast makes it filling and boosts your protein level. Mix the salad, chicken, and salad dressing with salt and pepper in a bowl, and let the flavor marry for an hour before serving.

Another great Mediterranean diet meal recipe for weight loss is a traditional Greek salad. It consists of sliced seedless cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, green bell pepper, red onion, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese. 

You can dress your salad in a traditional Greek salad dressing made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and dried oregano. For added flavor, sprinkle your salad with oregano and black pepper.

Seared scallops don’t take that long to cook. They are handy for a fast meal and still delectable.

For this recipe, the scallops are seasoned with salt and fresh black pepper. They’re pan-seared until deep golden brown, at which point the farro is cooked. 

When the farro is cooked, dress it with an orange zest French dressing (sparkling orange juice, purple wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, fennel, shallot, and jalapeño) and serve alongside the scallops.

A Greek pizza is like no other. The color, smell, and flavor of this pizza are outstanding. It is baked with all varieties of traditional toppings, cherry tomatoes, pink onion, kalamata olives, and feta cheese.

Richness from the olives and the cheese blend harmoniously with candy-roasted purple onions and cherry tomatoes, a perfect marriage of sweet and salty. You’ll want keep-bought pizza dough for this pizza and it comes together in minutes.

They are succulent, full of protein, and scant in calories; perfect for dinner or lunch. Sprinkle the shrimp with dried oregano, ground cumin, coriander, sweet paprika, cook and set aside.

Then sauté in the zucchini, bell peppers, and chickpeas with garlic and onion. Season with kosher salt, black pepper, oregano, coriander, cumin, and sweet paprika.

When the veggies are done, add shrimp and toss briefly. Finish with fresh lemon juice and basil, then serve this delicious Mediterranean diet recipe with shrimp.

There are so many ways you can cook chicken. You could douse them in barbecue sauce and grill them, or deep-fry them, but not healthier than baked chicken.

Marinate Boneless chicken thighs in a lemon-garlic sauce with chicken broth, topped with potato wedges, onions, and lemons, baking in the oven until cooked. If desired for crispy and golden skin, broil them at the end for a few minutes.

Whether fresh, canned, roasted, or stewed, tomatoes play a big role in cooking and diet. 

Roasting the tomatoes just really enhances the natural flavors and makes for one tasty option. The best part is in the health benefits. Heating the tomatoes ramps up the antioxidants in the tomatoes.

These tomatoes are seasoned with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper, minced garlic cloves, and fresh thyme, then roasted in the oven for 30 minutes.

Watermelon is not the first thing that comes to mind when making a salad, but you will be surprised at how delicious they are with crunchy veggies and dressing. It is life-changing.

The natural sweetness of the watermelon pairs with all the salad ingredients, like salty feta, crunchy cucumbers, mint, and basil leaves. Drizzle everything with a honey-lime dressing made with Greek honey, lime juice, extra virgin olive oil, and kosher salt.

A chicken shawarma is equivalent to an American burger in the Middle East. Meat and veggies are stuffed between bread and doused in sauce. 

Unlike American burgers, shawarma requires pita bread, a leavened flatbread made from yeast, water, and flour. The meat is also marinated in a shawarma spice mixture of cumin, turmeric, coriander, garlic powder, paprika, cloves and cayenne pepper: 

The chicken is baked in the oven and served with fresh veggies and a generous drizzle of tahini sauce in a pita pocket.

Falafels are a great option for those looking for Mediterranean diet recipes for lunch. They are packed with protein, which keeps you full longer and provides energy. 

A mixture of chickpeas (or fava beans), fresh herbs, and spices is formed into small patties or balls. These patties or balls are then deep-fried or baked in the oven.

You can have it as is or as a sandwich stuffed in pita pockets with fresh greens, diced tomatoes, cucumbers, pickles, and tahini.

Nothing is as comforting as a bowl of Greek black-eyed peas stew. It is loaded with veggies and bold Greek flavors, perfect for meat lovers, vegetarians, and vegans in your life.

You can soak your peas overnight or use canned ones to save time. Cook chopped onions, garlic, bell peppers, and carrots until fragrant. Add canned tomatoes, water, and black-eyed peas. Season with bay leaf, ground cumin, oregano, paprika, Kosher salt, and black pepper.

Simmer for 25 to 40 minutes. Add lemon juice and fresh parsley, and serve with rice.