This authentic Greek gyro chicken recipe is the proper way of how to make gyro chicken. This recipe covers making it on the grill (indoors kitchen grill or outdoors BBQ grill) or in the oven. This is a part of our Grilling on Charcoal collection and is listed in our Sandwiches, Main Dishes, Chicken, Grilling, Game Day, and Stove Top Recipes categories.
About This Gyro Chicken Recipe
The entire process (indoors or outdoors) is identical except for the actual cooking of the chicken. The recipe describes this.
Making your own chicken gyro is not hard. It just takes the knowledge provided here. It’s also one of the few recipes we have that do have a small amount of unique items. Fortunately, they’re all still commonly found in grocery stores.
1. Preparation Steps of This Gyro Chicken Recipe
Once you have the ingredients, you’re easily ready to pull this recipe off. Most of the work is actually in these preparation steps. So, look them over and you’ll see how easy you can make it happen.
- Prepare the chicken.
- Create the gyro chicken marinade.
- Make the Tzatziki Sauce.
- Prepare the toppings.
Prepare the Chicken
As a chicken breast gyros recipe, the easy part is to prep the boneless chicken breasts. So, using a mallet or tenderizer, flatten it out to about 1/4 to 1/2-inch in thickness. I usually place it in a food storage bag (unsealed) and smash away. However, other times, I’ll use plastic wrap. Either way, it’s less to cleanup afterwards. This forces it to be tender and coincidentally, it also cooks easier and much faster. Another added benefit is that it has more surface area to absorb the gyro chicken marinade.
Make the Chicken Marinade
The gyro chicken marinade is the easiest marinade to make. Overall, it’s just 3 ingredients: olive oil, lime juice, and garlic. You can use garlic powder but if you choose to use granulated garlic, you’ll need to double the amount. It only needs about 30 minutes or so to marinate. However, if you want some extra flavor, cut a couple of deep slits and open them up to let the marinade coat inside those as well.
After making the marinade, add the flattened chicken pieces into the marinade and place in the fridge until ready to cook.
Marinating chicken pulled from fridge, ready to cook
I tested this and so, the minimum marinating time is 1/2 hour. Also, overnight marinating is fine too. Usually, I let the chicken marinate for 1-3 hours.
Make the Tzatziki Sauce (aka Ziki Sauce)
This gyro recipe also includes the cucumber sauce recipe, aka “Tzatziki Sauce”. It’s the absolute key to the natural flavors for this gyro chicken recipe. It’s extremely easy as you merely combine all the right Ziki sauce ingredients together. Just make this and put into the fridge until ready to use.
This is the correct amount of Ziki Sauce to make for about 4 Chicken Gyros.
- 1 cup Yogurt, whole plain or Greek
- 2 tsp dried dill weed
- ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- ½ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1½ tsp chicken bouillon granules
- ½ cup Feta Cheese (about 4-5 ounces)
Prepare the Toppings
Dice the onion and slice the cucumber and bell pepper into thin strips. Rinse 1 lettuce leaf per sandwich. However, you tear it in half to fit later. These are all set aside in the fridge until ready for making the sandwiches.
2. Cook The Chicken Indoors or Outdoors
Cook the gyro chicken meat outdoors on a grill or indoors via skillet or broiler. On an outdoor grill, it takes about 10-15 minutes on direct heat or about 20-25 minutes on indirect heat. Indoors cooking, whether broiling or in a pan on medium heat, takes about 5-7 minutes each side. For oven broiling, lower the shelf to the center rack. For stovetop, have the skillet or pan on medium heat (preheated).
3. How To Make the Gyro Chicken Sandwiches
After following all the preparations and cooking the meat, you’re ready to make the gyro chicken sandwich. Following the suggested steps in the recipe, you should lay out the items in sequence to make it with the best flavors and handling.
- You’ll place the Pita bread on a plate and spread across some Tzatziki Sauce.
- Then, add your chicken strips and toppings, finishing with the lettuce.
- An easy way is to serve it open faced and let the guest fold it. Or, you can prepare the gyro, fold it over, and press it down somewhat firmly to assist in confirming the fold.
- Spread the Ziki Sauce across the Pita bread.
2. Place the chicken and then toppings on next.
3. Fold the sandwich and optionally cut in half to serve.
If the Pita bread has been warmed enough (and is moist enough), the fold will hold better. Some restaurants will use long toothpicks to hold the fold but I don’t recommend this at home as the toothpicks are shorter. It’s also okay to cut the gyro chicken sandwich in half to make it easier to handle, as they’re pretty large. Enjoy making and sharing your authentic gyro chicken recipe!
Also, try the Chicken Fajitas recipe. Or, if you like the grill, try this Recipe for Grilled Chicken.
And, there is a good article that explains there is a slight difference between Pita bread and Flatbread. Read about it.
Chicken Gyro Calories
Chicken Gyro calories will vary depending on your options used. However, this full recipe shows about 458 Chicken Gyro calories. Also, more estimated nutritional values for a full chicken gyro are about 45g carbs and 11g protein. For more details of nutritional metrics, see the <Print> recipe option.
About Tzatziki Sauce for Gyro Chicken Recipe
Yes, it’s Greek and it’s one of several popular sauces or dips they enjoy across the Mediterranean. It is a diluted cucumber yogurt dip. It’s also known as “Tarator”. It’s sometimes confused with “Taratur”, which is a very different sauce based on using Tahini, which is also used in making hummus. Wikipedia explains it best: Tzatziki.
Ingredients of Tzatziki Sauce (Ziki Sauce)
There are certain minimally required ingredients for Tzatziki Sauce. If you miss these, it might still taste okay but it won’t have the rich melded flavors typically recognized. You must have these ingredients:
- Yogurt: It must be plain (no flavors). It will taste creamier if you avoid the low or nonfat ones but that’s your call. The regular yogurt will be identified usually as “whole”. Often, it will be a larger container instead of smaller ones as the plain, non-flavored yogurts don’t sell well in grocery stores. To avoid waste, you can use any leftover yogurt in adding to dip recipes to replace parts of sour cream or mayonnaise.
- Dill: The dill spice is a must. If you were to use dill pickle juice, this Tzatziki Sauce would be too runny; I’ve tried it.
- Feta Cheese: This is the last absolute required ingredient. This is a Greek chicken gyro recipe with Tzatziki Sauce. It will add that wonderful Greek flavor and texture for your gyro chicken sandwich. You can get it already crumbled or whole (then you crumble it).
How Long Does Tzatziki Sauce Last?
Does Tzatziki Sauce go bad? As in all refrigerated items, yes it can, especially when you’ve combined several of these ingredients together. This gyro cucumber sauce can last anywhere from 3 to 5 days. While it might show some signs of separation of the ingredients, if it’s still good, its just a matter of mixing it up again.
Sides for Gyro Chicken Recipe
Some good sides for chicken gyro sandwiches are shown here.
- Potato chips
- Pickle spear
- French Fries
- Green olives
- Greek salad (goes well if you have just 1/2 sandwich)
Conclusion of Gyro Chicken Recipe
Now you know how to make this Greek Gyro Chicken Recipe. Also, you’ve seen it’s mostly small prepping steps for the toppings. And you’ve seen how to flatten the chicken and marinate it, even if just for 30 minutes! Finally, you now have a super Greek Ziki sauce recipe.
Other International Favorite Recipes
Here are some other related world recipes you might like:
Gyro Chicken
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Ingredients
- 2 breasts boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
- 4 servings Pita bread or Flatbread
Gyro Chicken Marinade Ingredients
- â…“ cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- 1 tsp minced garlic or ½ amount garlic powder
Ingredients of Tzatziki Sauce (Ziki Sauce)
- 1 Cup Yogurt, whole plain or Greek
- 2 tsp dried dill weed
- ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp minced garlic or ½ amount garlic powder
- 1½ tsp chicken bouillon granules
- ½ cup Feta Cheese
Toppings
- 1 medium red bell pepper strips
- 1 Tbsp olive oil Only for coating the bell pepper strips when roasting
- ½ medium cucumber peeled and cut into small strips
- 3 Tbsp red onion diced fine
- 4 leaves Romaine Lettuce
Instructions
- Flatten the chicken breast with a mallet or tenderizing tool (flip over, as needed) to make about ¼ to ½-inch thick overall. Put into a bowl.2 breasts boneless, skinless Chicken Breasts
- Add the "Gyro Chicken Marinade" Ingredients into the same chicken bowl and mix everything thoroughly together. Set aside in fridge.â…“ cup olive oil, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 tsp minced garlic
- Mix "Ingredients for Tzatziki Sauce" together into a separate small bowl and set aside in fridge.1 Cup Yogurt, whole plain, 2 tsp dried dill weed, ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1½ tsp chicken bouillon granules, ½ cup Feta Cheese
- Prepare the toppings and set aside in fridge. Regarding the bell pepper, cut it into strips, remove membrane and seed, and lightly coat in olive oil. The cucumber should be peeled and cut into small strips. The red onion should be diced. Rinse lettuce leaves.1 medium red bell pepper, 1 Tbsp olive oil, ½ medium cucumber, 3 Tbsp red onion, 4 leaves Romaine Lettuce
- COOKING (Oven Broiler, Outdoor Grill, or Electric Grill): Remove the chicken from its marinade and broil in oven (middle shelf) or grill each side about 5-7 minutes. Then, broil, grill, or pan fry the oil-coated bell pepper strips for about 3-5 minutes, until softened a bit.
- Wrap the Pita Bread completely in paper towels and heat up in a microwave (about 30 seconds). Cut up the cooked chicken into strips about as wide as it is thick.4 servings Pita bread
- Place the warmed Pita Bread onto individual plates. Spread the Ziki Sauce over the bread center leaving about a ½ to 1-inch border. Place the chicken strips and Toppings next (ensure lettuce goes on last). Fold bread over and enjoy!