Chicken Gyros on Pita Bread

       When I was a young child there used to be a place in the mall that sold these delicious gyros. I used to walk by and see the meat on the spit and watch the workers slice off pieces and it always fascinated me. One day, I finally tried one and my love for gyros was born. Nowadays, I get my gyros from this little Greek café by my house and they are so good. I have always wanted to try and make my own but I just do not see myself roasting a lamb mixture on a spit in my house any time soon. Instead of lamb I thought chicken would be a great alternative to make. The marinade for the chicken makes all of the difference. Seriously, I will be making this chicken more often. I have already mentioned chicken is not my favorite protein but this marinade made it juicy and tender and oh so flavorful.

        I adapted a recipe I found on pinterest for Greek chicken and let it marinate for a few hours. The recipe was from Cooking Classy. It involves a few ingredients but it was very easy to make. The most time consuming part of this is the marinating. The chicken smelled amazing as it was cooking and Tzatziki sauce was so good. I think I will use if for other things besides this recipe. I added feta cheese to my gyros but my husband who hates feta had pepper jack cheese on his. This dish was hubby approved and will definitely be added to our week night rotation. I served our gyros with homemade fries since I love fries and am convinced they go with everything. I recommend wrapping your pita in foil to keep it together and all of your toppings inside. I think it gives it an authentic restaurant feel so you can imagine it came from your favorite Greek place. Next time I might be adventurous and make my own pitas instead of purchasing them from the store.

Chicken Gyros

 

adapted from Cooking Classy

http://www.cookingclassy.com/2013/09/gyros-chicken-souvlaki-tzatkiki-homemade-greek-flatbread/

 

 

 

Ingredients

1. 2 chicken breasts

For the Marinade

1. 3 T of plain greek yogurt
2. 3 cloves of garlic minced
3. 1/4 c of lemon juice
4. 1/4 c of olive oil
5. 1 T red wine vinegar
6. 2 tsp. oregano
7. 2 tsp. fresh dill
8. 1 tsp. of salt
9. 1/2 tsp. of pepper
10. 1/4 c diced red onion

 

For the Tzatziki Sauce

 

1. 1 cucumber peeled and diced
2. 1 c of plain greek yogart
3. 2 T of lemon juice
4. 1 clove of garlic
5. 1 T olive oil
6. 1 T fresh dill
7. 2 tsp. red wine vinegar
8. salt and pepper to taste

 

For the toppings

 

1. Lettuce
2. red onions
3. diced cucumbers
4. feta cheese

 

Pita Bread to serve on

Directions

 

• For the marinade mix all the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and add chicken to it. Let it marinate for at least 2 hours but longer would be better but not to exceed 24.
• For the tzatziki sauce - let the diced cucumber sit in a colander with a sprinkling of salt to draw out excess moisture. Rinse the salt off after 30 minutes and squeeze between either layers of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
• Place in blender with rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth and set aside.
• For the chicken - grill marinated chicken until cooked through and let rest. I cooked mine on the stove because we were out of propane for our grill. It was still delicious.

 

• Heat pita and then add your choice of toppings, chicken, sauce, and feta cheese.
• Wrap in foil and enjoy.