This Copycat Cava Mediterranean Grain Bowl is one of my all-time favorite things to eat! I remember the first time I had this grain bowl in the DC airport before catching a flight home. It was so good it took everything in me not to turn around and catch the next flight back to DC for another bowl. I knew right away that I HAD to create my own copycat version of that Cava bowl.
Cava Mediterranean Grain Bowl
Have you been to Cava? Cava is a fast-casual restaurant that serves delicious, healthy, and authentic-inspired Mediterranean food. If you’ve never been there before, just think of it as the Chipotle of Mediterranean food. You go through the line and pick a grain bowl, a salad, or a pita. Then you top your grain bowl or salad (or fill your pita) with a variety of fresh and delicious ingredients.
I love stacking my brown rice grain bowl with arugula, marinated chicken, hummus, tzatziki, Greek salsa, and pickled onion and cabbage. Then I top it off with feta, lemon, and mint. So much flavor in one bowl, so good!
Cava Bowl Ingredients
This bowl is a perfect way to use up leftovers or meal prep. I’ve included links to my recipes for several items on this list. You can make the chicken and Greek salsa at the beginning of the week and use it for this bowl and other Mediterranean meals throughout the week.
Here are the ingredients you need to make a Cava Mediterranean Grain Bowl:
How to Make a Mediterranean Grain Bowl
Here are the steps to make delicious Cava bowls:
- Combine the brown rice and arugula. If you’re using the Trader Joe’s frozen brown rice, warm it in the microwave according to the package directions. Then toss it with the arugula in a large bowl.
- Add the bowl ingredients. Top the rice and arugula with leftover grilled Greek chicken, Greek salsa, tzatziki sauce, hummus, pickled onion, and pickled cabbage.
- Top with remaining ingredients. Add extra feta, mint, and a squeeze of lemon.
- Enjoy! Once your bowl is assembled, take a bite, close your eyes, and imagine that you’re at Cava.
Subscribe for the Latest Recipes!
Subscribe to my email list to get the most delicious healthy recipes, macro-friendly tips and tricks, and so much more!
Is This Cava Bowl Recipe Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free?
This bowl is naturally gluten-free, but you’ll want to make a few swaps to make it dairy-free.
For the Greek yogurt in the tzatziki, you can use this So Delicious dairy-free yogurt and replace the milk with your favorite type of dairy-free milk. For the feta cheese, I like swapping out my regular feta for this Follow Your Heart brand of dairy-free feta.
Other Mediterranean and Greek Inspired Recipes
Like I said, I’m a big fan of Mediterranean cuisine and I love cooking with these flavors. Here are a few of my FAV related recipes:
- 1/2 cup brown rice 70 g- (I always use the frozen brown rice from Trader Joe’s)
- 75 g arugula favorite bagged arugula is Trader Joe’s
- 100 g grilled Greek Chicken
- 100 Greek Salsa
- 30 g tzatziki or use Trader Joe’s tzatziki or avocado tzatziki!
- 40 g hummus I used Hope brand jalapeno cilantro- only 2.5 fat for 2 tbs so if you want the macros to match, try and find one similar! The Trader Joe’s eggplant hummus is great for only 2 fat.
- 25 g easy pickled red onion
- 25 g quick pickled cabbage After referencing the pickled onion recipe, just pour some of the same pickling juice over sliced purple cabbage for about an hour. Or however minutes you have! Even a litle helps.
- 14 g of fat-free feta Trader Joe’s sells one!
- Extra mint
- Squeeze of lemon
-
Toss brown rice and arugula in a large bowl.
-
Top with leftover grilled Greek Chicken, Greek Salsa, tzatziki, hummus, pickled onion and cabbage.
-
Add extra feta, mint, and a squeeze of lemon and close your eyes and dream that you’re at Cava.
- This is the perfect meal to make with your Greek leftovers. I love to make a big batch of the chicken, greek salsa, and tzatziki… and use it for pitas one night, and a bowl a night or two later. I’ve usually got pickled onions already in my fridge so it’s easy to pour some of the liquid over my cabbage and let it sit while I prep anything else.
- If you track your macros, and you want to simplify your life and log this as is, just follow the recipe and search My Fitness Pal for “Lillie Eats and Tells Copycat Cava Bowl”
Serving: 1bowl as describedCalories: 478kcalCarbohydrates: 45.7gProtein: 46.7gFat: 13.3gSaturated Fat: 1.8g