chicken gyros recipe

Homemade Greek chicken gyros recipe

If you like meat you probably tried gyros at least once in your lifetime. Those who have traveled to Greece know how tasty Greek gyros  is. Luckily for us who don’t live in Greece, there are many gyros restaurants worldwide so we don’t need to wait to go to Greece to eat it. Moreover, you can make gyros at home and with a good gyros recipe the flavor will be almost authentic. Whether pork or chicken gyros, if you follow my method you will not be disappointed with the flavors of Greece. 

How do you make a gyros from scratch 

In a nutshell, there are two ways to make homemade gyros:

– to use a wooden skewer and place the whole pieces of meat on it, bake it like that in the oven and then cut the meat in small chunks. 

– to cut the meat into small pieces and fry it in a pan or bake it in the oven. Frying is a better option because meat won’t be dry. Plus, it will take less time to prepare it.

The first choice takes more time and you should use it when making bigger portions of meat. Of course, you can prepare smaller portions of meat the same way but you will still need to wait for almost an hour. If you bake just a few pieces of meat, you can use a toothpick instead of skewer. It does the trick!

If you want to make gyros just for yourself or maybe for one more person the second choice is more practical and definitely quicker. With a good piece of meat and a frying pan or skillet, you will get pretty much the same taste as the oven-baked version of gyros. 

Gyros meat – pork, chicken or lamb

Pork and chicken gyros are the most common types of gyros but there’s also lamb gyros. The combination of pork and chicken is also very good because pork is more juicy than chicken. Pork neck is the best meat for gyros. As for the part of chicken for gyros, you can either use chicken breasts or boneless chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are a better option because they are juicier.  

Chicken gyros recipe – Greek flavors in your home

This is an easy recipe for chicken gyros but you can use the same recipe for pork as well.

If you have bought a seasoning mix for gyros when you were in Greece, you can use it and just add salt and oil.

In case you don’t have that mix for gyros, these are the spices you need to use when seasoning pork or chicken for gyros:

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, dry onion flakes or onion powder, oregano, dill (or thyme or fennel seeds), olive oil

I read a lot of threads on various online groups of Greek people that exchange recipes. The combination of spices may differ from region to region or simply it is a matter of personal taste. But the mix of spices I listed above are the most commonly used spices among all those people sharing their tips for making gyros.

Whatever method you choose baking whole pieces of chicken or frying small pieces in the pan, the preparation steps are the same:

  1. Beat the meat first. 
  2. Rub every piece of meat with salt and pepper. 
  3. Sprinkle other spices and herbs over each piece of meat. 
  4. Add some oil and rub meat pieces again. 
  5. Cut the chicken in small chunks to fry it in the pan or put the whole pieces of chicken in the baking tray, one above the other. The baking time is around 45 minutes for chicken and one hour for pork. It also depends on the amount of meat you use. 

Preparing other ingredients for chicken gyros

Apart from gyros meat, every pork or chicken gyros should include: fries, tzatziki, pita bread, plus fresh vegetables like tomatoes and onions, and mustard. Of course, you can put other condiments like mayo or ketchup or other vegetables but these ingredients I listed above are a must.

As for tzatziki and pita bread, don’t buy tzatziki when you can easily make it and it will be better than a store bought one. When it comes to pita bread you can find decent wraps in almost any store. Of course homemade pita bread is tastier but if you don’t have time or you don’t like to knead bread, store bought tortillas and wraps will be OK for this recipe.

How to make tzatziki at home

 I won’t give you exact amounts of each ingredient for tzatziki because it depends on your personal taste. Some people like more or less garlicky tzatziki or with less herbs.

Shred one unpeeled but thoroughly washed cucumber. Squeeze it with your hands so all the water comes out. Alternatively, you can chop the unpeeled cucumber instead of shredding it.

Season the shredded or chopped cucumber with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill. Add Greek yogurt and stir well. Taste tzatziki and add more salt, pepper or other spice depending on your personal taste. Usually for one medium sized cucumber, you will need 250g of Greek yogurt.

There are different brands of Greek yogurt, some of them are more solid and other are not. If you don’t like the texture of your tzatziki, you can add sour cream or cream cheese, to tweak the yogurt texture of tzatziki.

chicken gyros recipe

Assembling the gyros

In the center of pita bread, spread tzatziki then gyros meat. Pour some mustard over the meat, add chopped onions and tomatoes. Add some French fries and roll the pita bread the same way you roll tortilla for burrito.

You can also serve gyros on a plate and eat it with a fork and knife. In that case, put meat and fries on one side of the plate and tzatziki and vegetables on the other. You can serve pita bread aside. 

Chicken gyros recipe – Greek flavors in your home

This is an easy recipe for chicken gyros but you can use the same recipe for pork as well. Plus, here are the tips for making tzatziki at home.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time24 mins
Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: Greek
Keyword: chicken, gyros, meat
Servings: 3 people
Calories: 519kcal

Ingredients

Ingredients for Gyros meat

  • 500 g boneless chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp dry onion flakes
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp dill
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Other Ingredients for Gyros

  • 3 pita breads
  • 300 to 350 g French fries (frozen fries or made with fresh potatoes)
  • tomatoes
  • red or yellow onions
  • lettuce
  • mustard

Ingredients for tzatziki

  • 1 unpeeled cucumber
  • 250 g Greek yogurt
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • garlic powder to taste
  • dill to taste

Instructions

  • Beat the meat first. Rub every piece of meat with salt and pepper.
  • Sprinkle other spices and herbs over each piece of meat.
  • Add some oil and rub meat pieces again.
  • Cut the chicken in small chunks to fry it in the pan or put the whole pieces of chicken in the baking tray, one above the other. The baking time is around 45 minutes for chicken and one hour for pork. It also depends on the amount of meat you use.
  • Shred one unpeeled but thoroughly washed cucumber. Squeeze it with your hands so all the water comes out. Alternatively, you can chop the unpeeled cucumber instead of shredding it.
  • Season the shredded or chopped cucumber with salt, pepper, garlic powder and dill. Add Greek yogurt and stir well. Taste tzatziki and add more salt, pepper or other spice depending on your personal taste.
  • Prepare other ingredients for gyros and fry French fries. Assemble the gyros.

Notes

Read the article for further notes on preparing gyros meat and assembling the gyros.

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