Greek Chicken Gyros With Creamy Tzatziki (Family Recipe)
The mixture of Greek spices used to marinate the chicken in this easy to make Greek Chicken Gyro recipe are the star of the show! Perfectly juicy and tasty chicken, wrapped in my soft pita bread with thick and creamy tzatziki made at home. Crispy tomato and cucumber, I mean… Hooked yet?
First of all it’s pronounced yiros (like ‘y’ellow).
Not gyro (dgiro). Typical English misspelling lol. In a greek gyros shop you’ll find the meat grilling as it turns on a giant skewer. Yiros literally translates to ‘turning’.
What makes my recipe so darn delicious is the way I char and cook the chicken. I don’t have a fancy giant turning sewer so I grill/broil it in my home oven! It comes out super juicy and its so easy to prepare.
If you’re looking for things to serve with your Chicken Gyros, give my Greek Feta Fries a go, or fill them with my Greek Salad for the full flavor experience!
How to take your gyros to the next level good!
The thing I love about these Chicken Gyro’s most is how simple they are but how much flavor they pack. Juicy chicken, crispy veggies and creamy tzatziki!
- Greek yogurt marinade – yogurt helps tenderise the chicken but keeps it moist while it grills.
- Grilling the chicken in the oven – you get that nice charing. It’s easy and it comes out juicy!
- Scoop the seeds – I scoop the seeds out of my tomato and cucumber to prevent the pita bread from going soggy as you eat it and it also gives you the delish veggie crunch!
- Pita Bread – you can use store bought pita bread, brush it with a little oil and cook on a hot skillet until little spots appear, but I would highly recommend making your own from scratch! Get it ready in the morning and it’ll be ready to roll and cook while the chicken is on.
- Tzatziki – I would advise against using watery, bland store-bought tzatziki and make your own the day before making these gyros! Mine is thick and creamy ok?
Marinading the chicken
Marinading the chicken is one of the most important steps in this recipe! If you have the time, marinade overnight. The flavors intensify and you’re left with tasty, juicy chicken! Otherwise 2 hours is a minimum!
- Add the marinade ingredients to a bowl and mix to combine.
- Add the chicken and mix to coat. Allow to rest in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
- Add the chicken to baking tray lined with foil and place under a very hot oven grill for 10 minutes or until slightly charged. Turn over and grill for another 10 minutes.
- Allow to rest for 10 minutes before chopping up.
Cooked chicken should reach an internal temperature of 75C / 165F to be safe to eat and should have clear juices. Use a thermometer to check the internal temperature if you want to be extra safe.
The best way to wrap a Gyro!
Perfectly wrapping a gyro or any wrap is a point of pride for me. I’m good at it and I want to share my technique with you! It all starts with how you fill your gyro. You want to create a strip of filling leaving the bottom and sides free to wrap over the filling.
I like filling it in this order: tzatziki, cucumber, tomato, onion and chicken to the pita bread
- Begin by folding the bottom of the wrap over the filling.
- Then use one hand to hold that fold while folding over one side of the wrap.
- Hold those two folds down and fold over the final side.
- Hold it all down while you repeat this process with the foil to help keep everything in place!
A Quick Baking Guide
If you’re new to baking or just want to brush up on the basics, these guides are a great place to start!
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Greek Chicken Gyros With Creamy Tzatziki (Family Recipe)
Chicken Gyros are made of Perfectly juicy and tasty chicken, wrapped in my soft pita bread with thick and creamy tzatziki made at home.
Serves 6 Gyros
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 1/2 cup / 125 g Greek yogurt (see notes)
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, see notes
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, optional
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- Pepper to taste
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 10 / 2 kg chicken thighs, boneless and skinless (see notes)
Learn How To Make it! [VIDEO]
Instructions
Chicken Marinade
- To make the marinade – To a large mixing bowl add the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, red wine vinegar, garlic, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, oregano, pepper, salt and olive oil and mix using a spoon to combine. Add the chicken thighs and mix to coat in the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinade for 2 hours. Overnight if you can!
- To cook – turn your oven broiler (grill function) on the highest setting and allow to heat for 10 minutes. Place the oven tray as far up as it will go. Line a baking tray with foil and place your marinaded chicken on top. Grill for 10 minutes or until slightly charged. Then take out of the oven and turn overusing tongs. Cook on the other side for another 10 minutes or until charged. The safe internal temperature of the chicken should be 75C / 165F. Allow to rest on a chopping board for 10 minutes before using a large knife to chop up into rough pieces.
Fillings
- To prepare the fillings – you want to clean and pat dry your cucumber and tomato. Cut the ends off the cucumber and tomato and then slice in half. Do the same with the tomato. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds from both vegetables as shown in the video. Cut into small cubes and place in a bowl. You want to thinly slice the red onion as well.
Assembly
- To assemble – Place your pita onto a large piece of aluminum foil. Add a good scoop of Greek tzatziki or Greek yogurt onto each pita. Spread around leaving a gap at the bottom and sides. Add the tomato, cucumber, red onion and chopped chicken. Then add the chicken and wrap.
- To wrap your gyro – fold the bottom of the wrap over the filling. Then use one hand to hold that fold while folding over one side of the wrap. Hold those two folds down and fold over the final side. Hold it all down while you repeat this process with the foil to help keep everything in place. Serve fresh!
Notes
Greek yogurt – the Greek yogurt in this recipe helps tenderize the chicken and give it flavor. It also acts as a fat to help cook the chicken and stop it from drying using the cooking method in this recipe. It’s like magic!
Red Wine Vinegar – the vinegar used in this recipe can be substituted with more lemon juice or red vinegar. It helps give the chicken added tang and tenderizes it.
Chicken thighs – I use chicken thighs in this recipe because it helps add loads of flavor. If you can’t get chicken thighs or don’t like them, you can use chicken breast.
Lebanese cucumbers – You can use pretty much any cucumber here. As long as it’s fresh. You want to slice them in half long ways then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds. They hold all the water, and you don’t want that in your gyro, it’ll make them soggy. Slice into batons then cut into cubes.
Tomatoes – same deal here. Any ripe tomato will work here. I used truss tomatoes. Cut the ends off using a sharp knife and then slice in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds so you’re left with just tomato. Minus all the watery parts. Slice into batons then cut into cubes. Scooping all the seeds out is optional on both the tomato and cucumber but recommended.
Storage – Chicken Gyro can be stored in an airtight container, in the fridge for a day bust is best eaten when fresh.
Nutrition – is based on per gyro
A note on measurements – all ingredients in this recipe are offered in Australian cup measurements and weight measurements. Weight measurements are created by me, in my kitchen here in Melbourne Australia. The best way to get recipe success is to measure ingredients by weight, using kitchen scales. To access weight measurements, click on the ‘metric’ button in the recipe card located under the list of ingredients.
Nutrition
Calories : 654kcal
Carbonhydrates: 42g
Protein: 38g
Fat: 37g
Saturated Fat: 9g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 7g
Monounsaturated Fat : 17g
Trans Fat : 0.2g
Cholesterol: 185mg
Sodium: 842mg
Potassium : 836mg
Fiber: 3g
Sugar : 4g
Vitamin A: 725IU
Vitamin C: 18mg
Calcium: 124mg
Iron: 4mg
Nutrition Disclosure
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11 comments
I make these about every two weeks because honestly, l theres nothing I love more than a home made Chicken Gyro! Let me know what you think! N x
I’m a Food Technology teacher and have made these with my students in our Coffee Shop class a couple times. They have been fantastic and all the staff have said this was their favourite recipe we’ve cooked!
Wow! Thanks so much for letting me know Estelle! I’m glad you loved them! Food tech was one of my fave subjects in high school 🙂
I cooked these tonight on our outdoor griddle and it was fantastic! The marinade had the exact flavor I was looking for. Can’t wait to enjoy the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Awesome! N x
I think this recipe is a little heavy on the cumin. It can easily overpower a dish. Other than that, pretty solid.
Welcome to greek cooking! haha
Love this!
Thanks Tyler! N x
I work in a school kitchen (3rd – 5th grade) and we recently tested this recipe to serve 250. Everyone raved about it. Winning glowing praise from that age group is like winning the lottery. 10/10 we will use this recipe again. And I will use it at home, too
h my goodness! That’s mind blowing to read. I never thought when I was developing the recipe that someone would use the recipe this way! Thanks so much for letting me know how much you guys loved the recipe Kelly! N x