Greek-style quick and easy chicken gyros are a cinch to whip up on busy nights with herb-marinated chicken, lemony cucumber salad, and creamy tzatziki sauce all wrapped in soft pita bread. Your family will love having this simple recipe on the weekly rotation!
If you love Greek food, then you’ll also want to try my Greek Beef Meatballs, Greek Chicken Power Bowls, and Baked Greek Chicken and Veggies Sheet Pan Dinner.
When my husband and I first got married we spent a couple of weeks in Washington, DC for his work. We walked through all of the museums and saw all of the monuments and at the end of a long touristy day, we were famished. When we made it to the metro stop, we decided to get dinner before riding back to our hotel and we found this little Mediterranean restaurant right around the corner called Roti.
I immediately fell in love with it (and the chicken gyro with red pepper sauce I had), it was SO GOOD! But, because I can’t go to DC all the time, I did my best to recreate that wonderful Greek gyro for when I am in the mood for Roti but can’t get there.
Why This Recipe Works
Easy – These gyros come together so quickly and they are completely family-friendly. If you’re not an onion fan, leave them out, if you love feta cheese (bless your heart friend) load it on.
Great intro to Mediterranean cuisine – If you love Mediterranean food then you’ll go nuts over this healthy gyro. If you’re new to the cuisine, wow is this perfect place to start. One bite and you’ll be a convert for life!
Meal planning – This chicken easily doubles. Keep all the ingredients separate and pull them out throughout the week when you need an easy, tasty, healthy meal. These healthy gyros are perfect for dinner, but they also make a great on-the-go option for work lunch!
Healthy – When you’re in the mood for something tasty yet healthy, these easy gyros can’t be beat. Chicken is high in protein and low in saturated fat, the Mediterranean seasoning adds tons of flavor without any calories, and the red pepper and onions offer antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals to boot. Top with lettuce, tomato, and some tzatziki sauce and devour!
Here’s How You Make It
Making these Greek chicken gyros is easy – only three steps and 20 minutes till dinner is served!
- Stir together all of the ingredients for the marinade. (photo 1)
- Add chicken to the marinade, cover tightly, and chill for 30 minutes (or longer for even more flavorful results!). (photo 2)
- While chicken is marinating, combine all ingredients for the cucumber salad, give it a good stir, and set aside. (photo 3)
- Use tongs to transfer marinated chicken to a preheated cooking surface (grill or skillet) and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side over medium heat until cooked through. (photo 4)
- Lay the pitas on a plate or clean surface. Assemble the pitas by filling pita bread with lettuce, chicken, cucumber salad, feta cheese, and tzatziki sauce. (not pictured)
- Fold the pita over like a sandwich or roll it up. Enjoy! (see below)
Ideas for Customizing This Recipe
- I like to treat these chicken gyros like a Greek taco, which means pile on ALL the toppings. If you want more topping ideas, may I suggest adding halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced cucumbers, Tzatziki sauce, red pepper sauce, feta, red onions (or pickled red onions), chopped kalamata olives, shredded lettuce, and even chickpeas if you’re feeling it.
- If you want to skip the pita, consider making these into Greek gyro bowls. Simply add prepared rice (or another grain) to the bottom of a bowl, then top with chicken and all the other toppings as you see fit. Save the sauces for last. Delish!
- For a low-carb option, skip the pita and the rice and make a healthy gyro salad. Swap the rice and pita for lettuce in the bottom of the bowl, then top with all your favorite ingredients, plus tzatziki dressing to finish it all off.
Expert Tips
- If you are someone who loves all the dressings and sauces, are you in for a treat. My tzatziki sauce is so good on these healthy gyros. In addition, if you love red pepper but prefer it in a sauce, try this version.
- If you want to make the chicken ahead of time, I suggest you refrigerate the breasts whole and slice them when you’re ready to eat them (after reheating) to keep them as moist as possible.
- For juicier chicken, consider marinating it for 2-3 hours (or overnight). Try this easy chicken marinade. Skip the vinegar and the mustard and swap Italian seasoning for Mediterranean if you have it.
- If you prefer the taste of grilled chicken, grill the chicken breasts over medium heat for about 6-10 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your chicken.
- The chicken will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days, or you can freeze it in an airtight container/Ziplock bag for up to 3 months. Thaw and/or reheat the chicken in the microwave for a minute at a time until just heated through.
More Delicious Mediterranean Recipes
- Mediterranean Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
- Greek Lemon Chicken and Rice Gyros
- Lemon Couscous
- Creamy Parmesan Spinach Orzo
- Greek Avocado Chicken Salad
Did you make these super delicious and easy chicken gyros? FANTASTIC! Please rate the recipe below!
Easy Chicken Gyros & Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds chicken tenderloins - cut thick ones in half lengthwise
- white or whole wheat pita bread
- crumbled feta cheese
- 5-Minute Tzatziki Sauce
- green-leaf lettuce
Marinade
- ½ cup olive oil
- juice of one lemon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence - or Italian seasoning (see note)
Cucumber Salad
- ½ cucumber - sliced or chopped, see note
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes - halved
- ¼ red onion - thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- salt and pepper - to taste
- pinch of fresh dill - optional
Instructions
- Stir together all of the ingredients for the marinade.
- Add chicken to the marinade, toss to coat, cover tightly, and chill for at least 30 minutes (or up to two hours for more added flavor).
- While chicken is marinating, stir together all ingredients for the cucumber salad. Set aside.
- Use tongs to transfer marinated chicken to a preheated cooking surface (grill or skillet) and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side over medium heat until cooked through.
- Arrange the pitas on a plate or clean surface. Assemble the pitas by filling pita bread with lettuce, chicken, cucumber salad, feta cheese, and tzatziki sauce.
- Fold the pita over like a sandwich or roll it up. Enjoy!
Yum! One of my favorite meals to order from the Greek place in town. This looks pretty easy, I’ll try to make it on my own. Thanks for the recipe!
Hey I just made the sauce and it is SO watery! I thought I did something wrong but I looked on the original sauce site you posted and saw to just mix it yourself. I puréed it and that’s why it came out so watery for me. If I would have just mixed it all together myself it would have had a more chunkier consistency! Hope this helps future readers.
For the sauce, some recipes suggest after dicing the cucumbers, sprinkle with salt and let set 30 min in a colander, {or if in bowl, then drain) to get extra liquid out of cucumbers before adding to other ingredients. That sould make it thicker.
It Would be helpful to list what spices & amounts to combine for the Mediterranean (at least for a larger amount to take 1 Tbs out of) spice mixture. guessing oregano, garlic & salt and more?
I have tried other gyro recipe’s but I LOVE yours! Definitely a keeper!
Loved the flavor. I couldn’t find Mediterranean seasoning so I made my own. The sauce…well, it was extremely watery. I cubed, placed in a processor, and it was like water and never thickened. Not sure what went wrong. I was looking forward to the nice creamy sauce that was pictures. Otherwise, it was a good fresh, light meal. Thanks!
I had the same watery problem. Then I clicked on the link under the recipe where she got the recipe from and saw, it says Natashas kitchen. She squeezed the water out of the cucumber before she pureed it all. 🙁 I just don’t know how to thicken it at this point.
Hi Denise! So this sauce, it’s not supposed to be as thick as say, Ranch dressing, it’s definitely a thinner consistency. That being said, if you want to thicken it up you can always add a little greek yogurt or sour cream!
Don’t grind the cucumber ,of course it will become watery if we grind the cucumber instead of grinding just put the cucumber cubes in it
I absolutely love gyros!! Can’t wait to try this at home!
They are so easy – we love them!