We're incorporating all of those delicious Greek-inspired flavours in this Easy Gyros recipe. I'll show you my hack to get loads of flavour, without the need to marinate, using rotisserie chicken.
It's a meal to give you those holiday feels - all ready in 15 minutes.
Of course this isn't authentic chicken gyros. Usually authentic gyros is made from skewering heavily seasoned meat (often chicken or lamb, sometimes pork) and cooking it slowly on a rotisserie (gyro actually translates to rotation).
This is my ultra easy version - to get that juicy, crispy, spiced meat in super quick time. A way to get those beautiful Greek-inspired flavours to give you all of those holiday feels, without having to buy a rotisserie machine.
📋 What do we need?
This is everything you need to flavour the chicken (the toppings come later).
I use a whole cooked rotisserie chicken that I shred into pieces.
🔪 How to make Chicken Gyros
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
The chicken is tossed together with oil , garlic, oregano, paprika, salt, pepper, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and a little honey. The honey may seem like a slightly unusual addition, but it's there to help create that glaze and slight sticky-sweetness you would get if you were slow-roasting the meat (as you would for traditional gyros).
We then grill (broil if you're in the US) the chicken on a tray to get some lovely crispy bits. After a few minutes, we add some stock (so we're keeping the meat juicy), toss together and grill again, and then we repeat a final time.
Altogether you'll be grilling for about 9 or 10 minutes and will turn the chicken a couple of times during that period.
The result is golden, juicy chicken that looks like this:
👩🍳PRO TIP Use a small, shallow roasting tin (<-- affiliate link) for grilling. Mine is a 19.5cm x 26.5cm x 2cm Prestige tin. If you're in the UK the link will take you to the tin I use. If you're outside of the UK, it should take you to a similar sized tin.
Using a smaller tin keeps the stock/juices together with the chicken, rather than letting them run out all over a larger tray - where they'd evaporate (meaning dry chicken!).
🍽️ How to serve
I really like to serve that delicious crispy Chicken Gyro meat with:
- Homemade Tzatziki
- Flatbreads
- A pinch of dried oregano
- Chopped cucumber
- Vine-ripened cherry tomatoes
- Finely sliced red onion
- Some crunchy lettuce - Romaine or Sweet Gem are great.
I've also been know to serve them with some homemade oven chips too 🙂
Slather that tzatziki on, then roll up and serve. You can secure the ends with some foil or wrap them in baking parchment if you like.
🍲 More fantastic Wrap-Style recipes
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Easy Chicken Gyros Recipe
Ingredients
Crispy Chicken:
- Meat from 1 whole rotisserie chicken - roughly shredded
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice - about the juice from half a lemon
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 60 ml (¼ cup) chicken stock
To serve:
- 4 Warmed Greek flatbreads
- 2 Romaine or little gem lettuce - shredded
- ¼ cucumber - chopped into small chunks
- 8 cherry tomatoes - quartered
- ½ red onion - sliced into thin slices
- 4 tbsp tzatziki - try my homemade version
- ¼ tsp dried oregano
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the grill (or broiler if you’re in the USA) to high
- Place the shredded chicken in a bowl and add the oil, garlic, oregano, paprika, salt, pepper, lemon juice, red wine vinegar and honey.
- Toss it all together until the chicken is thoroughly coated.
- Transfer to a baking tray spread it out to an even layer.
- Place under the grill (or broiler) and grill for 3-4 minutes, until the edges start to get crispy.
- Now ladle over half of the chicken stock, toss everything together and place back under the grill again for another 3-4 minutes, until the edges start to get crispy.
- Repeat for a final time, adding the remaining stock over the chicken, tossing the chicken and placing back under the grill for a final 1-2 minutes, until the chicken is juicy but with crispy bits in there too.
- Turn off the grill and put the chicken to one side.
- Place warmed Greek flatbreads on plates. Top with shredded lettuce, cucumber pieces, chopped tomatoes and sliced red onion. Then spoon the chicken on top of the lettuce, in a line,down the centre of the flatbreads.
- Spoon over tzatziki and sprinkle on dried oregano, then roll up the flatbreads (you can secure with some foil or baking parchment) and serve.
Video
✎ Notes
- Swap out the shredded chicken and chicken stock for quorn pieces (or other meat substitute) and vegetable stock if for a vegetarian version.
- Swap out the tzatziki for sweet chilli sauce for a spicy version
- Serve the chicken cold and add coleslaw instead of tzatziki for a crunchy addition that's great for lunch.
- Add your favourite veggies and herbs - sliced radish, peppers, jalapeños, fresh coriander (cilantro), spring onions (scallions) and dill make great additions!
- Double the recipe to serve 8 by doubling all of the ingredients
- Halve the recipe by halving the ingredients (you can replace the whole cooked rotisserie chicken with half a rottiserie chicken 4-5 cooked chicken thighs).
Nutrition
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Paula says
Thank you so much xx
Erin Copeland says
Made this for the first time tonight and was not disappointed! So many great flavors, the crispy chicken was on point, and the tzatziki recipe was an outstanding compliment. So very happy to add this new dinner to my rotation -- even the kiddos ate dinner!
Side note: I am impressed with so many of your recipes and have been making several of them for the past year! Will have to go comment on them -- but the Korean fried chicken, honey garlic chicken, crispy beef with broccoli, crispy sesame chicken, and the beef satay with peanut sauce are all HUGE favorites in our home and have graced our table multiple times. So very happy I found your site -- can't wait to see what else you come up with!
Nicky Corbishley says
Thank you so much Erin! Really happy to hear you're enjoying the recipes 🙂
Richard Greb says
I especially liked the way to "crispy" the chicken. I did it in my toaster oven because the roaster pan that came with it was the perfect size pan.
I used regular paprika , but I like my stuff fairly spicy, so next time I will double up the paprika and use Hungarian hot paprika instead of just regular mild paprika. As well, I use a bit of Maggi hot and sweet sauce with my gyros and may do that instead.
Overall this was good, quick and easy. It's a keeper for me.
Steve Harbinson says
To say this was tasty is an understatement, cooked on the bank fishing, my new fave
Fiona C says
What an easy flavoursome dish, fantastic. Thank you 💖