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Chicken Gyro Recipe

Greek Chicken Gyros are easy, flavorful, make ahead and healthy – winning! The combination of juicy Greek lemon chicken, creamy cucumber dill tzatziki, fresh crisp veggies, and tangy feta wrapped in warm pita bread is out of this world. While the chicken marinates, you can prep the tzatziki and chop the veggies, so all you have to do is cook the chicken at dinner time. These chicken gyros are excellent for meal prep, make ahead lunch/dinners, entertaining and leftovers - instructions included.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mediterranean
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 32 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

GREEK CHICKEN

TO SERVE

  • 4-6 flatbreads/pitas
  • 3 Roma tomatoes sliced
  • 1/2 cucumber peeled, sliced, halved
  • 1/4 red onion thinly sliced
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • feta to taste
  • 1 recipe Tzatziki Sauce

Instructions

GREEK CHICKEN

  • Whisk together all of the Greek Marinade ingredients in a shallow bowl or large freezer bag and add chicken. Marinate 4-8 hours in the refrigerator.
  • Remove chicken from fridge and let sit at room temperature 20-30 minutes before cooking.

TZATZIKI SAUCE

  • Prepare Tzatziki Sauce according to recipe directions while the chicken marinates. Tzatziki is best made in advance and allowed to chill at least one hour in the refrigerator.

SKILLET DIRECTIONS:

  • Heat one tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Once very hot, drain chicken from marinade, pat dry and add to skillet (work in batches if needed).
  • Cook undisturbed for 3-4 minutes, or until nicely browned on one side. Turn chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 4-6 more minutes (depending on thickness of chicken), or until chicken is cooked through. Remove to cutting board and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

GRILL DIRECTIONS:

  • Grease and preheat the grill to medium heat, 375-450°F.
  • Grill chicken undisturbed for for 5-7 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through. (An inserted thermometer should read 165 degrees F.) Remove chicken from grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.

ASSEMBLE

  • Top pitas with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, chicken and tzatziki sauce.

Video

Notes

Don't miss the "how to make" recipe video at the top of the post!

Tips for Making Greek chicken Gyros 

  • Marinate chicken.  The longer you marinate the Greek chicken, the more flavorful it will become!
  • Don’t over-marinate chicken.  On the other hand, don’t marinate chicken for longer than 8 hours or it can become tough and chewy.
  • Freeze chicken in marinade.  You can add the Greek chicken to the marinade ingredients and freeze.  When you’re ready to use, the chicken will marinate as you defrost the chicken.
  • Freeze chicken.  You can also freeze cooked Greek Chicken for easy meal prep or use-as-you-go individual chicken gyros.   
  • Prep the Tzatziki with the chicken. The tzatziki is very best after being refrigerated for at least one hour so the flavors have time to meld; so make tzatziki right after you add the chicken to the marinade.
  • Don’t skip the tzatziki!  Tzatziki is a key component in Greek chicken gyros and adds TONS of flavor!  Its creamy consistency is also needed to marry all of the ingredients together.  If you don’t want to make your own tzatziki you can use store-bought.
  • Drain cucumbers.  Don’t skip seeding and draining the cucumbers for lusciously creamy tzatziki.
  • Customize chicken gyro ingredients.  The vegetable ingredients and measurements are simply suggestions- you can use add/swap any ingredients for your favs such as bell peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, avocado, sun-dried tomatoes, etc.
  • Warm pitas.  Use pita flatbread and not pita pockets. Warm pitas are softer and roll easier without tearing.
  • You don’t have to make a gyro!  Turn these gyros into a deconstructed chicken gyro salad, grain bowl, flatbread, or pizza.

Storage

The marinated, cooked chicken can stay fresh in the fridge for 3-5 days and is ready to use when needed.  The fresh components should be stored separately so the tomatoes don’t make the rest soggy and stay as fresh as possible. 

Make Ahead Chicken Gyros

Chicken gyros make excellent meal prep if you want to prep them ahead of time and serve later. If you are meal prepping for at home, then you can easily keep all of the ingredients and store in separate containers in the refrigerator.  If you are meal prepping for-on-the-go lunches, I consolidate the ingredients. I prefer warm Greek chicken, so I divide the chicken from the fresh ingredients. Here’s how: 
  1. Divide chicken between desired number of containers. Don’t close containers until chicken has cooled.
  2. Combine lettuce, red onions and feta together in bag and combine tomatoes, and cucumbers in their own separate plastic bags (so they don’t make other ingredients soggy) and place bags on top of chicken.  Store tzatziki in a bag or small container.
  3. When ready to serve, warm chicken in the microwave and then assemble gyros.