My Easy Chicken Gyro recipe is as close as you will get to authentic Greek Chicken Gyro. A simple marinade tenderizes the chicken which is then slow cooked for maximum flavor! Serve with pita bread and homemade tzatziki sauce and picture yourself at a Greek seaside Taverna...
2tbspChopped fresh parsleymixed with the sliced onion
pinchSweet paprika
Instructions
Marinate the chicken
Mix all the ingredients for the marinade in a lidded container. Add the chicken and use tongs to coat each piece with the marinade. Cover and chill for a minimum of six hours or, ideally, overnight for maximum flavour.
Stack the chicken
Take your marinated chicken pieces and stack them on a roasting tray (you can create two small stacks). Cover them with the streaky bacon, or with a chicken thigh that has skin on. This little bit of fat at the top of the pile will slowly baste your meat as it cooks.
Get cooking
Preheat the oven to 130C / 260F and cook the chicken for three hours or until the internal temperature is 75C / 167 F when checked with a digital thermometer. The long slow cooking will keep the meat tender and softer so don’t rush it!
Make the Tzatziki Sauce
Meanwhile make the tzatziki sauce. Coarsely grate the cucumber in a bowl and use a cheesecloth (or your hands) to squeeze most of the moisture out.
Mix well with the remaining ingredients and drizzle with olive oil. Have a taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. Cover and put in the fridge until needed to allow the flavours to develop.
Slice the Gyros
Discard the onion and bacon strips. Use a sharp knife (or even more authentically an electric knife) to slice the chicken stack downwards to create fine thin strips.
If you want to crisp these up a bit you can pan fry them with a little oil – gyros meat is generally much fattier than this healthy homemade version!
Serve your Chicken Gyros
You can serve your sliced gyro meat as a “merida” (=portion) with Greek salad, tzatziki sauce, crispy fries and grilled pita bread.
To serve in a wrap, pan fry the pita bread with a tiny bit of olive oil until just warmed through.
Layer your flatbread with the tzatziki sauce, plenty of chicken gyros, thinly sliced tomatoes and onions. You can also add fried halloumi and/or some fries if you want the full experience!
Video
Notes
Can I use chicken breasts? Chicken breasts can definitely benefit from the wonderful Greek marinade, but they will dry out if cooked in the oven. I like to use chicken tenders (mini chicken breasts) which can be quickly pan fried in a non stick pan for about five minutes per side. Serve these as you would the chicken gyro, in a wrap or with salad.
Can I use pork instead of chicken? Indeed you can! Pork shoulder steaks can be marinated and cooked in the same way for four hours or until the internal temperature is 65C / 145F when checked with a digital thermometer.
Reheating Chicken Gyros Leftovers can be kept for a couple of days in the fridge (not that we have EVER had leftovers) and pan fried until heated through before serving.