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Homemade Gyros
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Bring the Greek restaurant to your own kitchen with my homemade Gyros Recipe! Ground lamb and beef combined with onions, garlic, spices, and feta cheese are wrapped in a warmed pita with my homemade Tzatziki sauce! Enjoy with a Greek Salad for a perfect summer meal.
What are Gyros Anyway?
Gyros (pronounced YEE-ROHS) are a Greek food made with lamb, a combination of lamb and beef (or sometimes chicken or pork), combined with onions, garlic, spices and wrapped in a warm pita. The meat is roasted and either thinly sliced or ground up. Gyros are topped with a Greek sauce called Tzatziki. This awesome condiment is a creamy sauce made with Greek yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint and spices.
How to Make Gyros at Home
We’ve all seen gyros spinning on a rotisserie at Greek restaurants. I don’t have one at home, and I’m guessing you don’t either. Good news: you can get that same flavor and texture using your oven and a flat top grill. No fancy equipment required. The three main hacks that make this recipe work are:
- Texture: using a food processor to create the perfect meat texture – we’re looking for a paste here
- Cooking Method: using a water bath for an even, slow heat
- Finishing Touch: sear meat at the end to achieve a rotisserie style crust
Tzatziki Sauce Ingredients Needed
For full recipe details including ingredients needed and measurements, see the printable recipe card down below. Here is step by step what you can expect when making these gyros:
First, Make the Tzatziki Sauce
Pro Tip: When I first made this 20 years ago, Greek yogurt wasn’t available, only watery plain yogurt. I used to strain it overnight in the fridge with cheesecloth to thicken it up. So if that’s what you have, it still works. Just plan ahead and drain it first.
Gyro Meat Ingredients Needed
Next, Make the Gyros
Pro Tip: For the water bath, think ahead and have your tea kettle boiling and ready to go so you’re not waiting for a pot of water to boil.
Gyro Topping Ideas
Make these gyros your own by adding toppings! Here are a few ideas.
- shredded lettuce or red cabbage
- diced tomatoes
- diced onions or sliced red onion
- feta cheese
- cucumbers
- fresh mint or dill
- squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- Tzatziki sauce (obviously)
What to Serve With Gyros
- Air Fryer French Fries
- Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
- Pomme Frites
- Fried Zucchini
- Potato Pancakes
- Cucumber Tomato Salad
- Kettle Chips (or just store-bought Potato Chips!)
Storing Leftover Gyros
Store leftover Pita bread, gyro fixings and any leftover gyro meat separately, each in its own airtight container or zip top bag, and in the fridge. The meat is good for 2-3 days. The tzatziki sauce will be good for 3-4 days before you start to notice a texture change.
To Freeze Gyro Meat: Allow gyro meat to cool completely to room temperature. Place in an airtight, freezer safe container or sealable bag. Gyro meat will stay fresh in the freezer for 2-3 months. To thaw, let meat sit in the fridge overnight.
More Greek Recipes to Try!
I hope you love these as much as I do! If you make this Gyro Recipe. The printable recipe card is below. Have a great day, friends! 🙂
If you make this recipe, I would really appreciate it if you would give it a star rating and leave your review in the comments! If you have a picture of your finished dish, post it on Instagram using the hashtag #laurenslatest and tagging me @laurens_latest.
Gyros Recipe
Bring the Greek restaurant to your own kitchen with my homemade Gyro Recipe! Ground lamb and beef combined with onions, garlic, spices, and feta cheese are wrapped in a warmed pita with my homemade Tzatziki sauce!
Equipment
- 1 flour sack towel (tea towel)
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 medium onion chopped into 4 pieces
- 2 cloves garlic fresh, grated
- 1 tablespoon ground marjoram
- 1 tablespoon ground rosemary
- 2 teaspoons salt course
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 4 cups boiling water for water bath (I used my tea kettle to boil and pour in easily)
tzatziki sauce-
- 8 oz Greek style plain yogurt whole milk
- 1/2 medium cucumber
- 1 clove garlic fresh, grated
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- pinch salt
- 6 med mint leaves finely diced
for pita bread and optional toppings-
- 8 pitas
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- onion diced (optional)
- lettuce shredded (optional)
- tomato petite diced (optional)
- feta cheese crumbled (optional)
Instructions
for tzatziki sauce-
- Peel cucumber and slice in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scrape to remove seeds. Finely dice cucumber and place into a tea towel and squeeze to remove any excess liquid.
- Add yogurt, cucumber, freshly grated garlic, salt, and mint to a bowl and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
for gyros-
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- Have your boiling water kettle ready to go.
- Place onion into a food processor and pulse a few times, then process until pureed, scraping down sides as needed.
- Add grated garlic, ground lamb, ground beef, and spices. Process until meat becomes a paste*, about 1 minute.
- Add meat mixture to a 9×13 baking dish, spreading and pressing down until even.
- Place baking dish into a larger dish (I used a roasting pan). Fill bottom of roasting pan with boiling water and carefully put in middle of oven.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until internal meat temperature reaches 160° F.
- Remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes.
- Transfer meat to a cutting board and slice into very thin slices, about 4 inches long. This is easier if you cut the loaf in half first.
- At this point, you can serve but I prefer to sear the meat on a flat top grill or cast iron pan to brown the meat for just a minute per side. This gives it more flavor. Just be careful not to cook too long or it will dry out.
- Brush a little olive oil on your pitas and place them in the same pan you seared your meat in, flipping to ensure both sides are warmed through.
- Assemble gyros by placing Tzatziki sauce, sliced meat and optional toppings into center of pita bread and serve warm.
Video
Notes
*I know this goes against everything you’ve been told about not over-mixing your meat, but trust me on this step. It’s absolutely needed to achieve the density we are looking for in this particular recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 449kcalCarbohydrates: 35gProtein: 30gFat: 20gSaturated Fat: 8gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.2gCholesterol: 78mgSodium: 966mgPotassium: 444mgFiber: 2gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 86IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 113mgIron: 3mg
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As a Greek, I take great pride with my knowledge on gyros sandwiches. I have to say this once and once only. LETTUCE OR RED CABBAGE DO NOT BELONG IN A GYROS SANDWICH!! Why do you American have to screw up a perfectly good sandwich with you bs yuppy add one!! A gyros is made with land or beef meat, onions, tomatoes, and tzatziki sauce made from Greek yogurt not sour cream!! That is it!! NOTHING ELSE!!! Take this so called recipe and flush it down the toilet!!
Looks great! Is there a way to do this without a food processor?
This is a great recipe-thank you!
Thank you for the lovely Gyro recipe.
I can’t get lamb in my town. Could I use all beef ? Or should I replace with lamb with pork ? Any thoughts ?
Pretty close to the original you’ll find in the big cities.
You are 100% correct about chopping the meat. It needs to be emulsified. You’ll know when it’s been mixed enough when you can grab a small handful, open your hand upside down, and it doesn’t fall out, sticking to your hand. This really is key.
Tried all different recipes and this was the best! Since I never been to Greece or Turkey but have been to several NY City restaurants, this was just as good as the restaurant gyros.
I’m so glad you liked them Denise! Thank you for your 5-star review! 🙂
First I got exited cause I thought that this time this will be an original gyro recipe but one more time this is not. Greek gyros is not made with lamb and beef or chicken or any kind ground meat, that’s the Americanized Greek gyros. Original gyros is made with pork or chicken meat. So it’s good before we say something to check our facts. Thank you.
Chris – I don’t think I ever called these original or traditional, I just know they taste exactly like the ones I get from the little old Greek man in the corner gyro food truck. Maybe just make them with your desired pork or chicken then and use the spices listed here? I appreciate your comment and good luck in your search for the recipe you are seeking. 🙂
This turned out great and reminds me of the gyro places I’ve been to in Chicago. Nice to be able to have it homemade.
Chris, your comment that Greek Gyros are not made with lamb is rather off the mark. A close friend is from Greece and his family owns and operates several restaurants in Greece. July 4, 2023, he made authentic Greek Gyros. As in. he procured a lamb that had just been “harvested” and roasted it on a spit for 10 hours before serving. There was no seasoning added to the lamb aside from salt and pepper. The magic was in the slow-grilled lamb, fire-roasted pitas and home made tzatziki sauce, Yes, what he did was entirely different than this recipe. However, to say that lamb is not used in Greek Gyros is like saying that beef is not used in American Hamburgers.
Looks awesome will absolutely try!!
Thank you Jacquie! Let me know how it turns out! 🙂