These chicken gyros are a fun, freakin’ delicious twist on the classic Greek dish. Juicy, tender chicken, fresh soft pita bread, homemade creamy tzatziki sauce, fresh veggies and feta? Sign me up for this dinner immediately.
The best part about this grilled chicken gyro recipe, beyond its flavor bomb status: it’s incredibly easy. You’ll want to make this crowd pleaser for weeknight dinners, parties, game day and everything in between.
Why You’ll Love Chicken Gyros
This recipe has all the components of traditional Greek gyros, thanks to the tzatziki, fresh tomatoes and red onions, feta cheese and pita. Greek food is basically tops for simple ingredients done well! But where we go in a different direction here is that you’ll typically find ground beef, ground lamb, pork shoulder or pork belly in a Greek gyro. For this grilled chicken gyro, I’m flavoring the boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a spice-forward mixture and adding yogurt marinade for extra browning on the grill. We get all the textures here: crispy, smoky and creamy. Perfect for busy weeknights with the whole family or to prep ahead for your tailgate!
Looking for more Greek recipes? Check out my Crispy Chicken Shawarma, Beef Shawarma and Grilled Lamb Chops!
Chicken Gyros Ingredients
- Chicken: For the star of this Greek chicken gyros recipe, we’ll use boneless, skinless chicken thighs, Greek yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, paprika, ground cumin, dried oregano, coriander, onion powder and kosher salt. If you don’t have a vertical spit, you’ll also want an onion to serve as your base during the cooking process.
- Tzatziki: This easy homemade tzatziki sauce uses more creamy yogurt, cucumber, more garlic, fresh dill, more lemon juice, more olive oil (I’m sensing a theme here!) and salt and pepper to taste.
- Gyro: To pull this entire chicken gyros recipe together, grab some fresh pita bread, red onion, cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, fresh dill, fresh parsley and lemon wedges.
Why Marinate in Greek Yogurt?
You get two benefits from marinating the chicken in Greek yogurt. First, it keeps the chicken nice and moist through the grilling process. And second, yogurt’s lactose and amino acids give us the Maillard reaction! That’s the chemical process that happens between amino acids and reducing sugars when you apply heat to your food. You’ll see it a lot when you’re grilling steaks. The lactose and amino acids in the yogurt will transform under the heat of the grill to speed up browning on the chicken and create a savory crust that’s so freakin’ delicious in a grilled chicken gyro.
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How to Make Chicken Gyros
First, pound your 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs thin (about ¼”). Then, add the chicken to a large bowl along with marinade ingredients: 1.5 cups Greek yogurt, juice from one lemon, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 4 minced garlic cloves, 2 teaspoons paprika, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Mix everything together thoroughly until the chicken is well coated. Then, place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Once you’re chicken finishes marinating, remove it from the fridge and add it a trompo. If you don’t have this type of vertical rotisserie, skewer the chicken on an onion.
Stack the slices of chicken on top of each other and add some sliced onions to the base. Set the chicken to the side.
Now it’s time to grill! Preheat your grill medium-high heat (around 375 degrees Fahrenheit) for indirect cooking. Add the gyro to the grill to cook for 1.5-2 hours until the chicken is deep brown and cooked through. You’ll want an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
While the chicken is cooking, you have time to make this easy tzatziki sauce. Mix together 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 cucumber that you’ve grated and squeezed dry, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
When your chicken hits temp, pull of the grill and let it rest. To serve, slice the chicken off the trompo and put over warm pita bread with your yogurt sauce, thin slices of red onion, diced cherry tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, fresh dill, fresh parsley and lemon wedges. Serve and enjoy your chicken gyros!
What to Serve with Chicken Gyros
You’ve got a full meal with this sandwich, but if you’re looking to shake things up a bit, you could serve with French fries. Many vendors on the streets of Greece will tuck French fries directly into the sandwich! You could also serve this with a Greek salad or cucumber salad (and a cold beer, of course) for a meal that would rival what you find in a lot of Greek restaurants.
Leftovers and Reheating
If you’ve got leftover chicken gyros, store the different components separately until you’re ready to make this freakin’ delicious meal again. The chicken will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to three days; the tzatziki will last you a little longer, about five days. No need to reheat the yogurt sauce, obviously. You can heat up your flavorful chicken wrapped in aluminum foil on the grill over medium heat until it’s warm, or on the stovetop with a little bit of broth to keep it from drying out.
More Chicken Dinners
FAQs
Sure! Chicken breasts are leaner, though, so make sure you marinate them and keep an eye on the cooking time. You don’t want this chicken to dry out!
Definitely. Put that whole spit setup on a baking sheet and cook away! Same temperatures and cooking times apply.
It’s a fancy name for a vertical rotisserie spit. You’ll see these at shawarma and gyro restaurants where the meat slowly spins next to the heat source. You can find them online or at specialty stores. Still, stacking the chicken on a skewer with the onion as your base totally works!
Get those grip strength muscles going and squeeze the grated cucumber dry before mixing it in. I like to use a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and really wring all that excess moisture out.
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Chicken Gyros
Ingredients
Chicken
- 2 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1.5 cups Greek Yogurt
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 2 tsp Ground Cumin
- 2 tsp Dried Oregano
- 1 tsp Coriander
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tsp Black Pepper
- 1 Onion for base
Tzatziki
- 1 cup Greek Yogurt
- ½ Cucumber grated and squeezed dry
- 2 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 tbsp Fresh Dill chopped
- ½ Lemon Juiced
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Gyro
- Fresh Pita Bread
- ½ Red Onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes diced
- ½ cup Crumbled Feta
- Fresh Dill
- Fresh Parsley
- Lemon Wedges
Instructions
- Pound your chicken thighs thin (about ¼”)
- Add the chicken to a bowl along with marinade ingredients. Mix together thoroughly until well coated. Place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
- Pull out the chicken and add to a trompo or skewer on an onion. Stack on top of each chicken until good. Add to the base some sliced onions and then set to the side.
- Preheat your grill or oven to medium high heat (around 375F) for indirect cooking.
- Add the gyro to the grill or oven to cook for 1.5-2 hours until the chicken is deep brown and cooked through (about 165F internal). Pull off once done and let rest.
- For serving, Slice the chicken off the trompo and put over fresh pita bread along with tzatziki and the rest of the toppings. Serve and enjoy!
