Loaded vegetarian Greek pita nachos are a twist on classic nachos, shining light on delicious Greek flavors. Warm pita slices topped with homemade tzatziki, spicy roasted chickpeas, juicy tomatoes, salty feta, cool cucumbers, red onion, and a perfect amount of fresh dill.
INGREDIENT NOTES:
- Pita bread: I just use store bought white pita bread. If you know how to make homemade, all the power to ya! Whole wheat is fine too.
- Spicy roasted chickpeas: These roasted chickpeas are so delicious you should basically make a double batch because you'll want to snack on them all day long. Spicy, salty, yum.
- Tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion: These bring a really nice fresh element to the table. You can use any kind of tomato or cucumber. I used roma tomatoes and quartered them, so whatever you use just try to cut to around that size!
- Feta: Love love love feta. Salty, cheesy, crumbly, amazing.
- Tzatziki: I made a homemade tzatziki which I promise is super easy. You can also use store bought though, no hard feelings.
- Fresh dill: While there's fresh dill in the tzatziki, adding a little bit additional on top of the nachos is definitely recommended.
HOW TO MAKE THESE LOADED VEGETARIAN GREEK PITA NACHOS:
Let's start off with the homemade tzatziki because you'll want this to sit in the fridge for a little bit for the flavors to meld together. But you do want to preheat your oven to 400℉ at this time to prep for the spicy roasted chickpeas.
First, grate the unpeeled cucumber into a fine mesh strainer (over the sink). This will allow some of the liquid to drip out while you prep the rest. So while that sits, in a bowl combine the Greek yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, chopped fresh dill, lemon juice, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine. Then, using a dish towel try to ring out any additional excess liquid from the cucumbers. Add them to the bowl with the yogurt mixture and stir to combine. Set aside in the fridge.
Next up, let's make the spicy roasted chickpeas. Drain, rinse, and pat them dry. Rub them between a dish towel to remove that outer layer of "skin" to help them get extra perfectly crisp in the oven. This is optional, but recommended. Transfer them to a baking sheet and drizzle with 1 ½ teaspoon olive oil, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing about half way. When the time is up and they're nice and golden brown and toasty, remove from the oven and toss with the ½ teaspoon cayenne. Set aside to cool.
Now for the pita, drop the oven to 325℉ and cut them into little triangles. I got 8 triangles per pita. Then lay them out on the same baking sheet as the chickpeas. Put them in the oven for about 10 minutes just to warm up.
While that's in the oven, dice up the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, crumble the feta, and chop up about 1 tablespoon of dill.
Lastly, we assemble! Keep the pita on the same baking sheet (going to use this to serve), and add on the toppings. You can really do this in any order, just make sure to save the tzatziki for last as a drizzle all around. Will be delicious no matter what. I started with tomatoes, cucumber, onion, then feta and dill, then chickpeas, then tzatziki.
SOME OTHER DELICIOUS SNACKS:
- Lemony Whipped Feta Dip
- Everything Chicks in a Blanket
- Cheesy Garlic Knot Pizza Dip
- Tomato Confit and Whipped Ricotta Toasts
Loaded Vegetarian Greek Pita Nachos
INGREDIENTS
For the tzatziki:
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 cup grated cucumber (unpeeled) about 1 medium cucumber
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill minced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice about ½ a juicy lemon
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
For the spicy roasted chickpeas:
- 15 oz can of chickpeas drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 1 ½ teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Additional ingredients:
- 2 packages pita bread each cut into 8 triangles
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 cup roma tomatoes quartered
- 1 cucumber chopped
- 1 block fresh feta cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill roughly chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat your oven to 400℉ to prep for the roasted chickpeas.
Tzatziki:
- Prep a fine mesh strainer over a bowl or your sink. Grate the cucumber with a coarse grater into the fine mesh strainer, allowing the excess water to drip out.
- In a small bowl, add the remaining ingredients - greek yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, dill, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Using a dish towel, squeeze out any remaining liquid from the cucumbers then add to the yogurt mixture. Set aside in the fridge.
Roasted chickpeas:
- Transfer the rinsed and towel-dried chickpeas to a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and toasty. When they come out, sprinkle with the cayenne.
Toast the pita:
- Reduce the oven temp to 325℉. Lay out the pita in an even layer on a baking sheet and put into the oven to toast for about 10 minutes.
Final assembly:
- Cut the tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion, crumble the feta cheese, and chop the dill.
- Take the pita out of the oven and assemble - first lay the pita in an even layer. Then sprinkle the tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion evenly all over. Then top with the roasted chickpeas, then drizzle with tzatziki and sprinkle fresh dill.
LOVED this dish! So easy to make and spot on for our gathering!!
Everyone raved!!
Wonderful! Thank you!
Loved this recipe!! Vegan friendly version: purchased Vegan Cauliflower Tzatziki sauce and Vegan Feta Crumbles. This was sooo good!
thank you!!