Do you have garden cucumbers coming out of your ears? Tired of same-old cucumber salad and pickles? Try making these GENIUS Greek Chicken Gyros with a creamy (and healthy) tzatziki sauce. You’ll be glad you did!!
We first had Greek Chicken Gyros this style on the Island of Santorini several years back, and I fell in love with the tenderness of the chicken, the rich flavor of the tzatiki, and OMG, the fries!
These are so good and really fun to assemble for a casual dinner with guests or just a weeknight with the kiddos! They are melt-in-your-mouth good! It is a household favorite around here. The secret to the succulent chicken is all in the marinade.
If you haven’t read my post on marinades, you can read that here. We talk a bit about why marinades work, which ingredients you can swap, timing to keep the marinade on the meat, etc.
This Greek gyro marinade is so good because it has that secret ingredient which really tenderizes chicken so well – Greek yogurt. You can use this marinade even if you aren’t making gyros, it is THAT good.
Notes for Greek Chicken Gyros
Marinade: We like to cut the chicken in strips before putting it in the marinade which adds more surface area to the marinade. Because of this, you can definitely get away with a shorter marinade time. But if possible, I recommend getting your chicken in the marinade the day prior, or at least 12 hours ahead of time to really get the juices to soak into the chicken. Remember, depending upon how small your chicken strips are, you could get away with as few as a couple of hours in the marinade. But the longer the chicken is in there, the more flavorful and tender it will be.
I use chicken breasts pretty consistently, because I know exactly what meat I’m getting. I know it will be lean white meat. However, if you use chicken tenders, you wouldn’t even need to cut the breast meat. That part is already done for you. Also to note; this recipe is pretty filling with the bread, fries, tzatziki sauce and veggies. You can plan on 2 large chicken breasts feeding 3-4 people.
For the pitas, we usually get authentic Greek pita pockets, but you could opt to make this recipe with traditional pita bread or go thinner with flatbread or even flour tortillas if you like.
One last word about the ingredients before we get to the recipe – the french fries. After having THE. MOST. AWESOME. Gyros on the PLANET on Santorini Island on our last day before heading to Athens, we often make Greek chicken gyros with fries. I mean, YUM. Takes me right back to that little cafe on Santorini Island. The fries add an extra flavor factor!
You can decide to skip out the fries if you wish. But if you have an air fryer, they are healthier and pretty easy to whip up. You could even make your own fries from scratch while the tzatziki is resting. Or, opt for freezer fries to put them in the oven while the chicken is on the grill.
Marinade Ingredients for Greek chicken gyros
Place the following together in a resealable plastic bag.
- 3 large minced garlic cloves
- 1 Tablespoon wine vinegar
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 Tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 2 Tablespoons Oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Dash pepper
Seal the bag with as little air as possible, and massage to mix everything together. Now add the 2-3 chicken breasts, cut into strips. Marinade in the refrigerator.
Make sure to cut up your chicken into strips prior to marinading for better marinade penetration.
Tzatziki Ingredients:
About 60 minutes before dinner, make the Tzatziki. These measurements are relative; you can add more or less cuke and yogurt to taste.
- 2 garden cucumbers, peeled. One of them – scoop out the seeds &,grate the flesh. Then wrap the gratings twice in a paper towel and squeeze out most of the liquid. There will be a lot of liquid. Without this step you would have runny tzatziki. (I save the cucumber paper towels and give my eyes a spa treatment later that night. Ahhh… 🙂
- Cup of Greek yogurt
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for smoother tzatziki, add an extra Tablespoon of EVOO)
- A garlic clove or two, minced
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Mix all ingredients – except the second whole cucumber – and set aside to rest and let the flavors mingle prior to dinner.
Greek chicken gyros:
Grill the marinaded chicken strips.
Make the French Fries. If you have an air fryer, slice your garden potatoes into strips and put them into the tray for about 20 minutes. If you are using freezer fries, make them according to package directions. The fries are totally optional, and these gyros are pretty awesome even without the fries.
Dice the second cucumber and some topping veggies. The cucumber could be in strips or diced. I’ve done it both ways. In the summer I almost always add a diced tomato. You can also add any other vegetables you like – we sometimes use a few red cabbage slivers from the garden for extra crunch.
I usually like to throw the pitas on the grill for a few seconds to warm them up prior to loading in the filling. This gives it a professional flavor.
Now the fun part: allow everyone to make their own gyros! Arrange the tzatziki, fries, grilled chicken strips and the veggies inside the pitas. Use parchment paper (or wax paper) to help hold the gyro together when eating.
