Sample Meal Plan for a Mediterranean Diet

Now that you’ve learned about what the Mediterranean diet eating pattern entails, let’s take action and create some tasty recipes. We’ve provided 3 sample recipes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

Breakfast‍

How to Make:

1. Take one slice of whole grain bread and toast it. 
2. Top toast with avocado, and make it a bit smashed. 
3. Add garbanzo beans, tomatoes, feta cheese, and fresh basil leaves (dried is fine if fresh isn’t an option). 
4. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
5. Salt and pepper to taste

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How to Make:

• Take ¾ cup of yogurt and assemble in a glass or bowl.
• Top with berries, nuts, chia seeds, and cinnamon.

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How to Make: 

1. Add ½ cup bone broth to ¼ cup lentils in a container, and put in the refrigerator overnight (you can do the same with the rolled oats OR you can skip this step if your time is limited!). 
2. Add lentil and bone broth mixture to a pot and boil until lentils are tender, then set aside (tip: you can also use an Instapot for quick cooking). 
3. Cook oats with 1 cup of bone broth in a separate pot, and set aside once cooked.
4. Next, in a non-stick skillet, heat avocado oil. Add mushroom, kale, and garlic to the skillet, and saute for 3-4 minutes or until mushrooms are browned and kale is wilted. 
5. Add oats, lentils, mushrooms, and kale, and toss in chili powder. 
6. Drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. 
7. Top with poached, hard-boiled, or pan-fried egg if desired for extra protein. 

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Lunch

How to Make: 

1. Place greens on top of whole wheat tortilla
2. Layer on sliced tomatoes, cheese, avocado, shrimp, and basil leaves. 
3. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. 
4. Salt and pepper to taste.

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How to Make

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Add rice and water to a rice cooker (or boil water on the stove in a medium pot and add rice once boiling). 
3. While rice is cooking, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 
4. Add sliced zucchini and bell pepper to one baking sheet, and top with garlic, olive oil, and red pepper. 
5. Add salmon to the 2nd baking sheet and drizzle salmon with olive oil, lemon juice, & some Italian seasoning. 
6. Bake veggies in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. 
7. Keep veggies in the oven and add salmon to the oven for 15 min. 
8. Transfer veggies and rice to a bowl and mix in pesto sauce. 
9. Place mixture in bowl and top with salmon.

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How to Make

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. 
2. In a bowl, toss all vegetables except for the greens with olive oil, salt, pepper, and oregano. 
3. Transfer vegetables to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. 
4. Roast veggies in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the tops of veggies are browned. 
5. Meanwhile, make the dressing by whisking together olive oil, vinegar, and honey, then set aside. 
6. Prepare a bowl with greens at the bottom, add veggies, feta cheese, and pepitas. 
7. Drizzle dressing on top as desired. 

Dinner

How to Make

1. Prepare chicken marinade. 
2. Cube chicken and combine with marinade. 
3. Put marinated chicken in a container in the refrigerator overnight. 
4. Preheat the outdoor grill to medium to high heat. 
5. Meanwhile, place the chicken on skewers. 
6. Add skewers to grill and cook for about 15 minutes, rotating during grilling. 
7. Separately, prepare bowls or bowl-like plates with spring mix, sliced cucumber, tomato, red onion, garbanzo beans, and olives and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar. 
8. Add 2 tablespoons of hummus to the plate. 
9. Separately, add all ingredients together for tzatziki sauce. 
10.  Add 2-3 tablespoons of tzatziki to the plate
11. Serve with whole wheat pita bread for dipping in hummus and tzatziki

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How to Make

1. Directions:
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
3. In a cast iron skillet, heat olive oil. 
4. First, add onions and peppers, and cook until soft and lightly browned. 
5. Next, add the garlic and saute for about 1-2 minutes. 
6. Add tomatoes, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt, and pepper. 
7. Cook on medium to low heat for about 10-15 minutes. 
8. Stir in feta cheese. 
9. Make 6 small openings in the tomato sauce, and carefully crack the eggs into each spot. 
10. Place the skillet in the oven for the final 8-10 minutes for the eggs. 
11. Garnish with fresh cilantro, and add additional feta cheese if desired.

Pro tip: you can also choose to eat this meal for breakfast!

How to Make

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Add olive oil to a pan and saute on medium to low heat sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, and walnuts. 
3. Once cooked, remove from heat and add feta cheese, salt, and pepper, then set aside filling. 
4. Cut salmon in half, but not all of the way through. Be sure to leave a small area for the salmon to remain bound (think of the binding of a book). 
5. Coat the outside of the salmon with olive oil, and transfer the salmon to the sheet pan. 
6. Add green beans to the same sheet pan, and drizzle with olive oil before placing the pan in the oven. 
7. Cook salmon and green beans for about 25-30 minutes. 
8. While the salmon is cooking, prepare the quinoa side. Cook quinoa in a pot or rice cooker with broth. 
9. Once cooked, transfer to a bowl and mix in diced cucumber, tomato, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste.