My friends working the 9 to 5 know, that the last thing you want to do after work, after a commute, after picking up the kids…is cook dinner. You’re hungry, even hangry, the kids are tired. And all you want to do is put your feet up and check out. But we can’t! So, we need to make life easy where we can and this easy chicken gyro recipe is going to have you looking like a genius with dinner on the table in under 30 minutes (prep ahead, of course).
Thinking about the prep, we can prep ahead the marinade, let the chicken hang out in the seasoning, prep our veggies and make the tzatziki sauce all the night or morning before. Assembly is easy making this an interactive meal and giving you takeout vibes with some oven french fries or a side of quick rice.
I haven’t tried to make a homemade spit for sake of time, I think dicing up the thigh and making the chicken pan fried does this meal justice when thinking family-friendly and time crunch. When time allows, I’ll make an indepth recipe showing a homemade spit for more authentic feel. For now, we’re capturing all those amazing Greek flavors in a quick family meal.
Easy Chicken Gyros
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 2 lbs chicken I used thigh
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp lemon juice zest too if you have it
- t tsp garlic powder
Tzatziki Sauce
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt I used the 5oz container
- 1 tbsp garlic minced
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp dill if you have it
- 1/2 english cucumber shredded
Veggies for Assembly
- 1/2 english cucumber
- 1/4 thinly chopped red onion
- 1 roma tomato I used grape tomatoes, slivered.
Instructions
Chicken Marinade
- Dice chicken into 1-inch pieces, removing excess fat/skin.
- Put chicken in a bowl
- Add remaining seasonings above and mix into the chicken well to evenly coat
- Cover and set aside to marinade for up to 12 hours in the fridge.
Tzatziki Sauce
- Shred cucumber and strain it, removing excess cuke water.
- Mix all items in a bowl
- Set in fridge
Veggies
- Slice cucumbers into bite friendly pieces (1-inch large, and relatively thin)
- Slice or dice tomatoes, again bite friendly pieces
- Slice red onion into slivers or diced, as you see fit. I was too lazy to grab my mandolin so some were sliced, others were diced. You do you.
Let's Cook
- On a hot pan with about 1 tbsp olive oil, add chicken.
- Brown chicken until cooked through
- In a separate pan, heat up pita bread to toast it.
- When pita is toasted and chicken is ready, assemble sandwiches
- I assembled pita, smear of sauce, chicken, veggies, and topped with more sauce
- Enjoy warm for best impact!
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