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!

Course Dinner

Cuisine greek

Keyword gyro, gyros, tzatziki

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 45

Servings

Calories 449kcal

Author Katie Cooksey

Equipment

1 food processor
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 9x13 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