Greek food turned DIY...and healthy!
Love Greek takeout, but hate how greasy it can be? Homemade meat for gyros is surprisingly easy to make! You can prepare it in the slow cooker in just 15 minutes, and have hot slices of seasoned meat ready to pile onto pita bread by dinnertime!
Sometimes ground chicken is hard to find. Ask your local grocery store butcher to grind a package of chicken breast just as they would with ground beef. Most are more than happy to oblige. If ground chicken is not an option, use grassfed beef or lamb instead. Alternatively, you can use half of each, grassfed beef and lamb, and omit the chicken.
Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros
Ingredients
- 1/2 onion small
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 pounds ground chicken
- 2 eggs whisked
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat breadcrumbs plain
- 1 lemon juiced and zested
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 12 whole-wheat naan bread or pita bread rounds, 6 inch
Toppings
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 cucumber sliced
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt low-fat, plain
- 1 lemon cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a food processor, pulse onion and garlic until pureed.
- In a large bowl, stir together onion puree, ground chicken, eggs, breadcrumbs, lemon (juice and zest), thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix together until well combined.
- Form into a large ball and place in a 4-quart crockpot which has been drizzled with olive oil. Cover and cook for 4-6 hours on high, or 6-8 hours on low.
- Unplug crockpot and remove lid 30 minutes before serving. This will allow the gyros to set and cut into nice slices.
- When ready to serve, remove meat from the slow cooker. Slice and serve on warmed pita bread topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, yogurt, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information
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Hi,
Has anyone attempted this with chicken breasts? What changes if any would you have to make to cater for the breasts instead of the minced chicken?
Thank you.
Hi there! When you say a serving size is 1-1/2 gyros, does that mean 1.5 slices of the meat or do you meal 1.5 of the actual fully constructed sandwich. I am asking this from work as it cooks away in my slow cooker so if you can’t respond in time I am just going to assume slices of meat.
Hi Jolene,
The serving size, 1-1/2 gyros, refers to the entire finished product.
I was wondering the same thing as Maree. What would you need to do for chicken breast. Could you just slice them thinly before cooking in the slow cooker? What would you suggest?
You could substitute chicken breast as you suggested. Slice thin and dice small. The final product my not hold together as well, but will still taste delicious!
Yum! Just had this for lunch, will definitely making this again.
Jamie, Here’s our other Gyro recipe and it’s so yummy. https://skinnyms.com/instant-pot-chicken-gyros-recipe/
You can also use the slow cooker if you don’t have an Instant Pot. We like the Instant Pot for this recipe.
Can you use ground turkey?
Yes, ground turkey would be delicious!
Could you not slice chicken breasts, use the seasoning and such as a marinade overnight, then cook it all in the crockpot the next day? I would think it would have a similar result?
Great question, Steven! You could definitely marinade the chicken overnight and then cook it in the crock pot the next day! Your chicken would have great flavor.
This is yummy, liked it! After finding it cumbersome the first time around to stuff the little pita breads, I changed the serving method just a little bit: For one serving, I mixed diced cucumber, halved cherry tomatoes, finely diced garlic, the liquid ingredients and spices in a soup plate, topping them with the torn-up gyro meat and pita. Basically, saladifying it. Good way to get all of the ingredients in every bite!
That’s awesome, Linn! Such a great idea! Thanks for sharing 🙂
it’s great!