Greek gyros: step-by-step recipes with photos for easy cooking

Gyros is a traditional Greek fast food dish. Despite the fact that the gyros consists of a large number of ingredients, cooking it at home is very simple.

Pick your recipe

Gyros is a fairly close relative of the more familiar shawarma. However, he has his own characteristics. Firstly, a special cake called pita is used for gyros. Secondly, this dish requires a light zaziki sauce, it is prepared on the basis of natural yogurt and olive oil. Thirdly, one of the components of the filling is french fries.

Gyros consists of pita, filling (meat, french fries, fresh vegetables) and sauce. Of course, some ingredients for this simple dish can be easily purchased at the store. For example, pita or sauce. But it’s better to cook everything yourself, because only in this way will you be completely sure of the great taste of the finished gyros.

Pita Cooking

It is better to start cooking gyros with baking pitas. Pita is a sweet tortilla hollow inside. That is, if you cut it on one side, you get a kind of pocket in which you can fold the entire filling. Classic pita should be soft inside and a little crispy outside.

Preparing pita is incredibly simple. In addition, it does not require any special ingredients.

What you need to take:

• baking flour, premium - 0.5 kg;

• water - 300 ml;

• dry yeast - 1.5 tsp;

• oil (sunflower or olive) - 2 tbsp;

• salt - 1 tsp;

• sugar - 2 tsp

Step by step recipe:

1. Gently sift the flour through a fine sieve, add room temperature water, vegetable oil, salt and sugar. Mix everything until a homogeneous mass is formed.

2. Then add yeast to the dough, mix again. As a result, you should get an elastic and tender dough with a thick consistency, as for pies.

   Tip: If the dough sticks to your hands, add a little more flour to it.

3. Put the dough in an enameled bowl. Try to find such dishes, the volume of which will be several times larger than the volume of the resulting test. Cover the dishes with a towel. Leave it in a warm and dry place (for example, close to the battery, if it works) for 1-1.5 hours.

4. After the indicated time, check the dough. It should rise well. If the dough has not risen during this time, it is either a poor-quality yeast or a too low room temperature.

   A little trick: if you have a bread machine, you can make a pita dough in it. The bread machine not only mixes the dough well, it also maintains the optimum temperature for proofing.

5. Put the dough on a flat surface, sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough a little and divide it into small, identical pieces. From this volume of the test you should get about 10 pits.

6. Roll the pieces into balls, cover them with a towel, napkin or cling film and leave alone for 15-20 minutes.

7. Then roll each piece into a cake of at least 5 mm thickness.

8. Take a baking sheet or baking stone, cover it with high-quality baking paper, place cakes on it.

9. Preheat the oven to a temperature of 220-230 degrees. Bake pitas for 7-8 minutes. Pit should rise and turn white. You should not wait for a dark crust, otherwise the cakes may be too dry.

10. Cool the pitas. To do this, put them on the table and cover with a towel.

Making zaziki sauce

The special taste called zaziki (or tzatziki) gives a special taste to gyros. This is a light yogurt sauce with garlic, vegetables and olive oil. This sauce can be used not only for gyros, it is good in many other dishes. Here is a classic zaziki sauce recipe.

What is needed:

• natural or homemade yogurt, without additives - 300 g;

• medium-sized cucumber - 1 pc.;

• garlic - a few cloves;

• olive oil - 80 ml;

• wine vinegar - 10 ml;

• salt to taste.

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash and dry the cucumber. If it is too thick and dense peel, remove it. Wipe the cucumber in a blender or grater. Well squeeze the resulting mass from the juice. If there is too much juice in the sauce, the sauce will turn out to be too thin and watery.

2. Finely chop the garlic, and then chop it in a mortar with a little olive oil and salt until gruel.

3. In a separate bowl, put yogurt, vinegar, olive oil, cucumber and chopped garlic. Mix everything. The sauce is ready!

There is another version of gyros sauce, based on the classic recipe. This sauce is a little more dense and a little more piquant in taste.

What is needed:

• natural yogurt, without additives - 200 ml;

• sour cream - 100 ml;

• medium-sized cucumber - 1 pc.;

• juice of fresh lemon - 5 ml;

• olive oil - 2 tbsp;

• garlic - a few small cloves;

• salt, black pepper and peas to taste.

Step by step recipe:

1. Grind the prepared cucumber in a blender or on a coarse grater. Carefully squeeze all the juice from the resulting cucumber mass. It is most convenient to do this through a fine sieve.

2. Grind the pre-chopped garlic in a mortar with a quarter teaspoon of olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, sour cream, cucumbers, grated garlic and lemon juice. Serve chilled sauce!

Meat preparation

The meat in gyros is given special attention. Without it, this dish will not be so tasty and satisfying. You need to prepare the meat correctly.

1. First, decide which meat you will use. The best solution is chicken breast or lean pork. However, you can use beef.

2. The meat must be cut into small pieces and be sure to marinate.

3. The meat marinade in gyros is somewhat similar to zaziki sauce, only without yogurt and cucumber. For marinade, you need to take olive oil, wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, sugar with salt and spices. Select proportions, focusing on the volume of meat.

4. Transfer prepared meat to glass or enamel dishes and thoroughly soak it on all sides with marinade. Cover the dishes and put them in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, or even better for a few hours. The longer the meat is pickled, the more tender and aromatic it will subsequently turn out.

5. Fried pickled meat is better on the grill or electric grill. If you don’t have a grill, use a pan with a good non-stick coating. Fry the meat until tender and a beautiful golden crust.

Preparing the rest of the filling

When preparing cakes, meat and sauce, do not forget about the rest of the filling.

What is needed:

• potatoes - 0.5 kg;

• bell pepper - 1-2 pcs.;

• leaf lettuce - 200-300 g;

• red salad onion - 1 pc.;

• tomatoes - 2-3 pcs. medium size.

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash the potatoes, peel, cut into thin long slices. Deep-fried potatoes until golden brown. If you don’t have a deep fryer, just fry the potatoes in a pan or bake them on a baking sheet with enough oil. Of course, it will not be exactly what you need, but for a home gyros it will do.

2. Cut the pepper into long slices of medium thickness, cut the tomatoes in half circles.

3. Free the onion from the husk and divide into half rings.

4. Wash the salad and dry it well.