Chicken Gryros - A Little Spoon

Get the Recipe: Chicken Gryros

These homemade Greek Chicken Gyros feature juicy, marinated chicken, creamy tzatziki, and all the swaps and shortcuts you could want! Choose from grilled, baked, or stovetop cooking methods, with instructions for both vertical and horizontal skewers.

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Yield6 gyros

Prep45

Cook30

Marinate3

Total4 15

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)

Print Recipe

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