Greek Recipes
Greek Chicken Gyros (Authentic Cooking Method)
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Prep
5 minutes
Cook
1 hour
Yield
4
Make authentic Greek Chicken Gyros 🌯 at home in your kitchen. Transport yourself to Greece with this easy, delicious recipe.
When you think of Greek food you probably think of the delicious Greek Chicken Gyros. Vendors line the streets in all the Greek cities with their vertical rotisserie of meat (either pork or chicken) ready to make you the most life-changing wrap you’ll ever find. You’ll usually find these served with fresh tomatoes, onions, fries, and tzatziki. It’s seriously so good and it’s making my mouth water thinking about it.
❤️ Why You’ll Love Greek Chicken Gyros
- Healthy: The best part about these delicious chicken gyros is that they are healthy for you but taste next level, amazing!
- Authentic: Make your own authentic Greek Chicken Gyros right in your kitchen. The whole family will love it
- Simple: This authentic way of cooking takes some time, but it takes easy ingredients and is super simple to make
🍲 Ingredients
Greek Yogurt – Greek yogurt is such a versatile ingredient in our kitchen. You can use it in your tzatziki or other dips, and you can marinate your meat in it like this Greek Chicken Gyros recipe. The best part is that it’s healthy and protein-packed
Tzatziki – One of the most common dips you’ll find in Greek cuisine is tzatziki! It is a cucumber yogurt dip and it’s so easy to make on your own with a few healthy ingredients. You can check out my recipe here
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👩🍳 How to Make Greek Chicken Gyros
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium-sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well, and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing/carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki, and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Marinade: You want to marinate your chicken for 24 hours. You can always marinade for less time but you won’t get as much of the flavors absorbed into the meat. I promise you, it’s worth the wait
- Cooking Time: What makes authentic gyros is the slow cooking time to make it so flavorful and juicy
- Gyro Pan Skewer: Pick one of these up from Amazon. It will make the baking and serving so much easier for you
🗒 Variations
Chicken Gyros Bowl
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 cup halved baby tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/2 cup black olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup tzatziki (make our easy tzatziki recipe)
- 2 pitas (make our fluffy Greek pita bread recipe)
Use the cooked chicken to make chicken gyros bowls by dividing the cooked chicken, rice, baby tomatoes, chopped cucumber, olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced romaine lettuce, tzatziki, and pita between 4 bowls.
🗒 Best served with
👝 How to Store Leftovers
This chicken is so good leftover. Store it in the fridge for up to 3 days and use it on literally anything – wraps, salads, bowls.
🤔 Common Questions
What’s the difference between chicken gyros and souvlaki?
Souvlaki is marinated meat such as pork, chicken, beef, or lamb grilled on a skewer. Gyro is made with stacked meat that has been cooked on a vertical rotisserie.
Can you cook authentic gyros at home?
Absolutely! You don’t need a giant spit rotisserie to make gyros at home. You can easily replicate it with some skewers and an onion.
Where can I buy the Gyro Pan Skewer?
We got our’s on Amazon.
Greek Chicken Gyros (Authentic Cooking Method)
Make authentic Greek Chicken Gyros 🌯 at home in your kitchen. Transport yourself to Greece with this easy, delicious recipe.
I’m Your Mommy Now
Your Greek mommy that is. 😍 Step into my kitchen to learn how to make yummy Greek food. 🍽️💃
Ingredients
For the marinade
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Variation: chicken gyros bowl
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 cup halved baby tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/2 cup black olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup tzatziki (make our easy tzatziki recipe)
- 2 pitas (make our fluffy Greek pita bread recipe)
Variation: Gyro chicken with vegetables
- 2-2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12-16 thighs)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 large white onion, grated
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp all spice
- 1/8 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 red onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup baby potatoes
Variation: Chicken shawarma
- 2-2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12-16 thighs)
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground chili powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp ground all spice
- 1 tbsp ground pepper
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
Variation: chicken gyros bowl
- Use the cooked chicken to make chicken gyros bowls by dividing the cooked chicken, rice, baby tomatoes, chopped cucumber, olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced romaine lettuce, tzatziki and pita between 4 bowls.
Variation: Gyro chicken with vegetables
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together (salt, pepper, garlic, dried oregano, lemon juice, ground cumin, Greek yogurt, olive oil, grated onion, cinnamon, all spice, cloves and dried parsley).
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together. Add the chopped red onion, chopped red pepper and potatoes to the base of the vertical spit (or sheet pan if you're using).
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C), baste the vegetables with any pan juices at the half hour mark. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see above for ideas).
Variation: Chicken shawarma
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
Video
Notes
- Serving suggestions:
- Serve the Chicken Shawarma as a bowl with french fries, garlic sauce or Greek Tzatziki Sauce, pickled turnips or pickled onions and our Simple Homemade Greek Salad
Nutrition
Calories: 395kcal | Carbohydrates: 4.8g | Protein: 50.2g | Fat: 18.7g | Saturated Fat: 4.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9.4g | Cholesterol: 227.9mg | Sodium: 820.7mg | Fiber: 0.5g | Sugar: 2.2g
Review This Recipe Let us know how it was!
This was delicious! Will be ordering the dish to make it regularly. Love your recipes.
Thank you so much, Maureen!!! More recipes to come using the dish too!
made these last night and totally loved them . looking forward to using leftovers on salad
YES!!! That will taste sooo good!!!
the pan looks small, not deep enough to catch dripping. what size is best?
The size I used what perfect for what I used and recommend. There are several sizes available, just click the link and choose what works best for you and your family.
This was SO good and the chicken was juicy. I didn’t have a vertical skewer so I did it in on a baking sheet with parchment paper and it turned out perfect. It was a big hit with the family!
YAY!! I love this hack!!!
Where can I find that pan you used? Or can you tell me the brand? I am going to try this recipe as soon as possible.
I have linked it in my stories on foodbymaria.com I will add it to the recipe card now though
Made it! So good. I did not have as much marinade to baste it with. Any suggestions???
FYI: Use a BIG onion :)!
That might be why! I think the pan helped gather more drippings!! Also, did you use Chicken Thighs, mine had a decent amount of fat! So glad you enjoyed this!!!!
I GOT THE PAN! the second time was the charm! Pan drippings put it over the top! And SO EASY to make and delicious! THANK YOU!
Thank you so much for the love, Lauren!!!!!
Wondering if this would work with chicken breast. I just cannot get myself to care for chicken thighs, thank you!
yes! Just make sure you butterfly the breasts – it might be slightly dryer than the thighs but still FANTASTIC!
Chicken breasts instead of thighs?
i don’t see why not! Just might not be as juicy!! I would butterfly the breast
Can I use regular whole milk plain yogurt or does it have to be Greek yogurt? ❤️ (it’s what I have in my fridge currently).
yes, youll be fine!
wow! this looks good! Going to see if I can find this skewer to cook it on and make it.
It’s linked in my bio on IG!