Chicken Gyros
This recipe for Chicken Gyros is all about options. It includes a super flavorful chicken gyro marinade recipe, a recipe for tzatziki dip, and full assembly instructions. If you want take make pita from-scratch as well, check out my All-Purpose Flatbread (with Yeast) recipe. Fair warning, making pita adds 8+ hours to the meal, as it has a cold proof rest in the fridge.
Kari, where do the options come in?
Okay, okay! Here’s where the options come in. So, gyro means “turn” but let’s face it, who has a vertical or even horizontal rotisserie in their home. Not a lot of us. So, I explored a bunch of different ways to cook the chicken, based on preference for white or dark meat, and on what kitchen appliances and tools you have access to. You’ll find instructions for grilling, pan frying, baking on a vertical skewer (traditional gyro style), and grilling or baking on kebab skewers (souvlaki style) either in the instructions or in the FAQs. Furthermore, I have some delicious, time-saving substitutes detailed, after the recipe card, in the sponsored section. And, the best news, you can get the from-scratch ingredients and the time savers all from the same place! 😉
This post was written in partnership with Hungryroot.
Get the Recipe: Chicken Gryros
Ingredients
Chicken Gyro Marinade
- 2-2½ lbs bonless skinless chicken breast or thighs
- Zest of 2 lemons, (about 5-6g)
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh squeezed, (1-2 lemons)
- 1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 6 cloves garlic, (about 16-18g)
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano
- 1 tablespoon-sized chunk of onion
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
Tzatziki Ingredients
- 16 oz whole milk greek yogurt, (10% milkfat)
- 1 english cucumber, grated
- zest of ½ a lemon, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1 clove of garlic, freshly grated, (about 3g)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Chicken Gyro Assembly
- 1 english cucumber
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 small red or white onion
- 2-2½ lbs marinated and cooked chicken
- 2 cups tzatziki sauce
- 4-6 pita flatbreads
Equipment
- 1 kitchen scale
- Measuring spoons
- measuring Cups
- chef knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 stand or stick blender
- 1 box grater
- 1 fine mesh strainer or mesh colander
- 1 microplane or fine grater
- 2 medium bowls
- 1 large sauté pan or grill
- vertical skewer or grilling skewers optional (recommended for chicken thighs only, see FAQs)
Instructions
Chicken Gyro Marinade
- First, make the marinade by putting all of the ingredients, except for the chicken of course, into a blender. Do not worry about chopping or mincing anything, as it’s all going to get blended together. Turn on the blender and blend until it turns into a light green fully uniform mixture. That’s it! Set the marinade aside and take the chicken out of the refrigerator.
- Next, prepare the chicken tenderloin or breast meat. Start by trimming the excess fat off of the chicken breasts and remove the tenderloin by cutting diagonally along the tendon between the breast and tenderloin. You should be able to see where it connects to the breast, as there is a small line of fat and noticible deliniation between the two. Once you have cut off the tenderloin, butterfly the chicken breasts. To do this, place your knife halfway up the thickest part of the breast, place your palm on top of the chicken, and then slide the knife through the breast making sure to keep your knife horizontal and level. At this point you can either leave the pieces intact or cut them down further into bite-sized pieces or strips.
- When you are happy with your chicken prep, place the meat into a bowl or bag and then add in the marinade. Let the chicken marinate in the refrigerator for 3-6 hours.
Tzatziki
- While the chicken is marinating, make the tzatziki. Start by grating the cucumber and placing the pieces into a strainer in your sink. (see notes for a bonus tip!) Sprinkle salt over the cucumbers, toss to coat and then let everything sit for roughly 20 minutes.
- While the salt is working it’s magic on the cucumbers, add the yogurt to a medium sized bowl. Grate the lemon zest and garlic into the bowl. Then, measure and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Set the yogurt base aside to wait for the cucumbers.
- Once the 20 minutes are up on the salted cucumber, squeeze out as much juice as possible using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and dump the remaining pulp into the yogurt mixture. Mix to finish your Tzatziki and put it in the fridge to thicken and let the flavors meld together.
Assembling Chicken Gyros
- (These instructions detail cooking the chicken on a stovetop. But the FAQs also have instructions for grilling – whole pieces or small pieces on skewers – as well as baking – on vertical or horizontal skewers)
- About 20 minutes before it’s time to cook the chicken get your assembly ingredients and station ready. Remove the chicken and tzatziki from the refrigerator and set them aside. Prep the veggies first, while the chicken warms up a bit for more even cooking. Small dice the cucumber by taking a spoon and carving out the seeded center into the trash. Then, set the cucumber down on a cutting board and slice it into 4-5 long strips. Collect the strips and chop perpendicular to the strips to make small pieces. Set the diced cucuber aside.
- Move on to the tomatoes. first, quarter the tomatoes. Then, carve out the seeded center by slicing between the seeds and the curve of the tomato’s flesh with your knife. Slice the remaining tomato into long strips and cut them horizontally in the same manner as the cucumber. When done, set the diced tomatoes aside as well. Lastly, cut the onion in half and then remove the top and the bottom. Place the onion flat-side down on the cuttingboard and cut thin slices from left to right or right to left. (I prefer thin strips, but you can also make thicker strips and chop against them for a dice the same size as the cucumbers and tomatoes. See notes on soaking onions). Set all of the veggies aside.
- To cook the chicken, heat a large sauté pan to medium high heat and wait until it is fully heated. Then, add in a bit of oil and let it come back to temperature. Place some of the pieces of chicken into the pan and let them begin to sear. Work in batches. Do not over crowd the pan. The chicken will stick to the pan until a crust builds up enough of a crust for the pieces to release. Once they release, turn the heat down to medium and let the pieces cook until they turn opaque ⅔ -¾ of the way up (unilaterally from bottom to top).
- At this point, you can flip the chicken pieces over and let them begin to cook on the other side. They will stick again, be patient and wait for them to release. Depending on the size of your chicken pieces, the second side may be between 3-5 more minutes. Use a thermometer to check that the internal temperature of the chicken has hit 165°F (73.9°C). Once ready, remove the cooked chicken and start the process all over again with the next batch. Repeat until all of the chicken has cooked.
- Just before assembly, heat and soften the pita. The simplest way is to lay each piece flat in a pan, on the stovetop, over medium heat. Let the pita cook through for 10-15 seconds on each side before stacking them under a folded kitchen towel to retain heat and moisture.
- Now it’s time for assembly. Scoop and spread a good amount of tzatziki onto a pita and then add tomatoes, cucumber, and onion to the flatbread. Finally, top with the chicken and maybe a tad more tzatziki. Roll or fold the pita up and repeat until you have up to 8 chicken gyros.
Notes
- Totally random, but if you have some extra time place the colander/strainer with grated cucumber over a plate and let it sit for 20 minutes before salting it. The grated cucumber will naturally release liquid as it warms from fridge temperature to room temperature. After the 20 minutes give it a squeeze and you should have about 2oz (60ml) of cucumber juice to play with for cocktails. Then, salt and continue the recipe as written.
- I prefer a strainer to cheesecloth, for the cucumbers, because cloth is harder to clean.
- If you don’t have white wine vinegar for the marinade or the tzatziki, use distilled vinegar, champagne vinegar, or sub lemon juice for the vinegar. The lemon juice won’t be as tangy, but it can still work in a pinch. (I would not recommend red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar as they can be very fruity and take away from the clean taste of the dish)
- I like to slice the onions thinly, because they can be quite astringent in chunks or thick pieces. If onions are too potent for you in any size, soak them in ice water for 30 minutes. It will dilute some of the pungency and mellow them out.
- If you cook the chicken in full pieces and intend to cut or slice it after cooking, let it rest for 10 minutes to help with moisture retention.
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions
Absolutely! If you do not like white meat from breast or tenderloin pieces, use boneless skinless chicken thighs. They cook the same way as white meat, and are far more forgiving when it comes to overcooking. Something that might be good for you if you are worried about texture. It’s also the best choice of meat if you want to stear towards more traditional cooking styles, like roasting the Greek marinaded chicken in the oven on a vertical skewer.
OF NOTE: I will say, I prefer the breast or tenderloin meat to the thighs, for one reason only. White meat allows the marinade to really shine. Thighs dampen down the marinade’s taste with the touch of gaminess. It’s the main reason I decided to write the instructions detailing stovetop-use with breast meat.
There are two options to cook gyros in your oven. Both involve skewers. The most traditional chicken gryos (in terms of cooking technique) are with a vertical skewer. The next best option is actually cooking them souvlaki (kebab) style on a horizontal skewer.
Horizontal Roasting: Start preheating your oven to 400°F (204°C) with or without convection (fan). Then, get a metal cake or lasagna pan (baking trays are too shallow) and cover it in aluminum foil. Divot the skewers into the foil to make sure they won’t roll and then thred the chicken onto the skewers. Place them onto the aluminum lined pan (if you want to place the pan on a lined baking tray to be safe, go ahead. Bake for 10 minutes and then flip, checking with a thermometer for doneness.
Vertical Roasting: For this method, similarly preheat your oven to 400°F (204°C) with or without convection (fan). Then, get a metal cake or brownie pan and place down the vertical skewer. Thread the marinaded chicken through the spike gently. Don’t squish the chicken pieces against each other or it will make the center harder to cook all of the way through. Fold a piece of aluminum foil into a square and thread it to cover the top of the chicken gyro meat pile. Lastly, pour about 1/2cup (120ml) of water into the pan to make sure the drippings don’t burn as it cooks. Cook the meat for between 60-75 minutes. Do final checks with a quick read thermometer to make sure the center has come to temperature.
OF NOTE: I will say oven-roasted chicken gyros fell flat for me, even the traditional vertical skewer method. With a truly traditonal gyro turning roaster, the meat chars and gets sliced as it cooks until you’ve shaved down the whole pile from the outside-in, but with a stationary skewer the outside badly overcooks before the inside is up to temperature. And event then, only the outside gets nicely browned because anywhere chicken is stacked on itself stays too moist to brown. With the souvlaki style (horizontal) skewers, the chicken isn’t in the oven long enough to get nice and roasted. It cooks well-enough. And you can get a much better, moist texture in the chicken, but you might as well just grill the chicken or pan roast it as the recipe is written.
If on skewers over coals is what you are aiming for, cook this chicken gyros recipe on a charcoal grill. If you want something a little cleaner tasting, go for a propane or natural gas grill. Want a little more instruction than that? I got you!
Prep Tip: If you are using metal skewers, there’s nothing to prep. But wooden skewers require a good soak before cooking over a flame or they will burn. For ¼in (.6cm) skewers, soak for 30 minutes to 1 hour and for ½ in (1.3cm), soak for 1-2 hours. I don’t recommend going longer, because the wood can get way too soft and warp.
Gas Grill: Oil your grates before you turn it on, so the marinade-coated chicken doesn’t stick too badly. Turn on the burners and close the lid to let the heat build. Adjust the dials until the temperature reachs about 400°F (204°C). While the grill is preheating, slide the chicken pieces onto the skewers. Do not squish them up against each other or they will cook uneavenly. When ready, place the skewers on the grill and close the lid for a few minutes. How fast your chicken cooks will depend on the size of the chucnks you cut. Follow the visual cues and thermometer temperatures from the recipe instructions
Charcoal grill: Again, oil your grates before you turn it on, so the marinade-coated chicken doesn’t stick too badly. Stack your charcoal or briquettes in a pyramid shape with room to add starter fuild into the center of the pile. Light the coals and let them sit for 10-15 minutes. Once you see a gray layer of ask covering the coals, spread them in an even layer across the bottom of the grill with tongs or another long handled grilling tool. Cover until the temperature gets up to 400°F (204°C) and then the rest of the instructions are the same as the gas grill.
A LOT of recipes use Greek yogurt in the gyro marinade. I totally get it. Yogurt is naturally acidic and helps with moisture retention and better, bolder taste. But, I found it diluted the flavor of the ingredients I wanted to stand out: lemon, oregano, garlic. I also found that when I did marinade it enough to get to the flavor I wanted, the texture was all off for me. So, I left it out! And now you know why. Is yogurt in the marinade a deal breaker? Absolutely not! In fact, I use it in my Chicken Tikka Masala recipe. But for this recipe, it just wasn’t a fit.
Hungryroot
This Chicken Gyros recipe post was made possible through a partnership with Hungryroot. They are a healthy online grocer with a solid collection of organic and minimally processed foods. To shop, select one of their 15,000 recipes and pre-populate your cart with the ingredients and/or add from your grocery list a-la-carte
I was asked to put Hungryroot to the test; to see just how flexible their service is. I was curious to see whether they can fit into the life of someone who typically cooks from-scratch, without a recipe. Hungryroot passed with flying colors!
I created the marinated chicken and tzatziki completely from-scratch with their grocery options and a few of my pantry basics (olive oil, salt, pepper… you get it). And to top if off, I was able to make a second version of the dish with Hungryroot’s pre-seasoned, ready-to-go ingredients in 10 minutes.
This way, you can make Greek marinated chicken and tzatziki from-scratch, whip up something quick, or pick and choose what you want to make homemade, and what you don’t want to spend time on. It’s like a choose your own adventure meal!
Right now, when you enter promo-code “ALITTLESPOON” during checkout, you get 40% off your first delivery + a free gift! If you’d prefer not to manually enter a code, click on my Hungryroot grocery link to have the promotional offer auto applied.
P.S. Their (psuedo-tzatziki) cucumber with feta dip is incredible.
This post is sponsored; meaning I was compensated to research, develop and photograph a custom recipe. All opinions here are my own.
