Turn Leftover Chicken Into A Greek-Inspired Meal With 3 Extra Ingredients

After making a chicken dish for dinner, you very well might find yourself with leftovers. However, instead of simply heating the dish back up and eating it as is the next day, you can always choose to turn it into a new dish. The recipe developer of Tasting Table's one-pan lemon basil chicken, Michelle McGlinn, has the perfect suggestion for such a meal — and it only takes three more ingredients.

McGlinn says, "Mix orzo, artichokes, and white beans into a pan and turn the lemon chicken into a Greek-inspired skillet." This four-ingredient mix (or similar variations of the combination) is plenty popular, and for good reason — it's packed full of flavor and protein. It also comes together quite easily, with the orzo being the only component that requires any kind of preparation. After you've cooked the orzo, you can simply add the other ingredients directly into the pot, giving a good stir to mix it all together, then serve.

Additionally, don't feel as if this dish can only be made with lemon basil chicken. This combination will work with just about any leftover chicken that you have around, such as simple pan-fried chicken thighs or even pecan-crusted chicken breasts.

If you want to accentuate the lemon flavor — or if you didn't start with lemon chicken — then you can squeeze fresh lemon juice directly over your serving in the bowl. Or you can even drizzle a homemade lemon vinaigrette over the chicken dish. If you don't already have a recipe on hand, you can steal the vinaigrette from our recipe for an everyday salad with herby lemon vinaigrette.

If you feel like the dish is missing something and don't mind adding in another ingredient, then feta or goat cheese would add a delicious, rich element to the bowl. Or maybe you think it's missing some freshness; in this case, perhaps add some arugula or mixed greens to the bowl.

As for customizations, as much as we love the four ingredient combo of chicken, orzo, white beans, and artichokes, you can certainly leave one of them out if it's not your favorite ingredient. Or if you want to make it slightly less filling, maybe choose between the orzo and the white beans.