Easy Chicken Gyros
This post is olllllld. From February 2012. So it got a makeover in August 2017. Updated photos, some new recipe notes and links to relevant things, but the same basic, totally tasty recipe. Enjoy!
This week marked the beginning of spring soccer for my little guy. My professional mama opinion is that he is in for a whole new ball game. His last experience with team sports was with a local church sponsored league. The way they championed good sportsmanship and teamwork was commendable. The way they made up rules and fell a little short on teaching skills... not so much. So this season I actually managed to make the deadline (a total miracle--I've missed it two years in a row #bestmomever) to sign him up for spring soccer with a "real" league.
Watching him at his first practice was an hour long roller coaster of emotions. Chad and I huddled in the freezing cold wind on the sidelines watching Evan's every move. He ran a lap no problem. Stopped the ball like a champ and passed it to a friend without missing a beat. We were feeling good, man. Piece of soccer cake. But then my dude went to dribble the ball around the cones... and fell down. I'm talking full on face plant. No!!!!
If that were me I would have crawled under a rock and died.
My kid got up and kept right on going.
His perseverance made me proud. And if we are keeping it real, my guy is gonna need that kinda heart this season cause these kids he is playing with are good.
Our last soccer team was an adorable bunch of misfits. We had one little girl that was determined she would never ever get her uniform dirty. This meant that running was out of the question. She had a pony-tailed friend that really liked picking flowers. There was the little boy that always managed to run in the wrong direction, and another that spent a fair amount of time picking his nose.
This season we are gonna see how it goes. I am sure he will learn a lot, and as long as he keeps getting up, I think he'll do just fine. I was definitely more worried than him.
So anyway, spring sports introduces a whole new level of OMG-CAN-WE-GET-SOME-MORE-HOURS-PLEASE into our lives. On practice days dinner has to be light, filling, and fast. And sometimes portable. So Easy Chicken Gyros are happening here.
Some Tips:
- marinate the chicken the night before. It's super fast to brown the chicken and throw these together
- definitely make the tzatziki the night before so you get all the flavor
- you can easily swap the chicken out for very thinly sliced lamb
- store bought pitas are the fast way to go, but making your own pita bread is super tasty
Tzatziki sauce is one of my favorite things everrrrr. The longer this sits the better it tastes, so if you have time make this ahead. If you're not into cooking, just make the sauce, find a stack of pita, and GO TO TOWN.
Easy Chicken Gyros
Easy Chicken Gyros are a fast and fresh weeknight meal! Marinate the chicken and make the Tzatziki the night before to have dinner on the table lightning-quick!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips about an inch wide
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced and divided (2 for the chicken marinade, 1 for the tzatziki sauce)
- the juice of 1 lemon (save a squeeze for the tzatziki sauce)
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt, divided (1 cup for the tzatziki sauce, 2 tablespoons for the marinade)
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, then grated and squeezed dry
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- salt and black pepper to taste
- about 8 pitas, diced tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, and shredded lettuce
Instructions
- In a medium sized bowl stir together ⅔ of the minced garlic, the lemon juice, 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, 2 tablespoons of the Greek yogurt, and 1 tablespoon of oregano.
- Add salt and pepper to your taste and saturate the chicken pieces in the marinade. Cover and let it marinate for at least an hour or overnight.
- In another bowl stir together the cucumber, the last ⅓ of the minced garlic, 1 cup of the Greek yogurt, 1 teaspoon of the white wine vinegar, a squeeze of the fresh lemon juice, a drizzle of the extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
- Cover tightly and refrigerate the sauce for at least an hour or overnight.
- When you are ready to eat, cook the chicken pieces in a hot skillet in a little olive oil on the stove, broil in the oven, or cook on the grill.
- Layer the pita with the tzatziki sauce, cooked chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.
Other Easy Weeknight Meals...
wow these look soo yummy .. but were do you find such fluffy pita...
are they homemade.. i need to seek these out...
thanks for sharing such a great recipe...
yum
ter
It IS homemade! And it's really easy to make. I used this recipe from Annie's Eats: http://www.annies-eats.com/2008/08/10/pita-bread/
Thanks so much for the compliment! Hope you'll try the gyros! 🙂
So proud of Evan. Hope to see him play sometime. What a delicious sounding recipe and you make everything look so special in the picture. If you could only find me a pita with no carbs...... aw, this doggone diet!!!
gluten free might help? I dunno... lemme think on it 🙂 Thanks, Pam!
Fabulous - healthy and totally delicious!
Thank you!
Heather, I wish we lived closer so you could drive over and drop off one of these gyros! Like you said it's just like take-out, only you've made it so much better!! 🙂
Three cheers for Evan! I hope he has great season and a ton of fun. I am totally familiar with the running around to different fields for practice/games and trying to fit dinner in there somewhere. Takes a little pre-planning, but it keeps us out of the drive-thru each week!
I just saw our game schedule... Saturdays are about to get hardcore, ya'll. I wish you lived close, too so I could trade gyros for french toast muffins and smothered pork chops. Yup.
Good luck to your little guy! I was that little kid picking flowers during soccer... needless to say, my mom only enrolled me for one season.
I have a daily fleeting craving for gyros. Most days I can ignore it, but after seeing your photos my stomach is in full blown FEED ME GYROS mode.
Aw thanks! Fortunately my kid seems to have inherited the athleticism that totally missed me. I was the kid that didn't play sports... my mom knew I'd fall down more than anything I think.
As for craving gyros: I am with ya. Fortunately they aren't too bad for you, so you might could gratify your stomachs requests just this once I think 🙂
Great looking meal and I miss those days of cold and wet soccer practices and games!
Thanks! Hopefully we will luck out with the weather. We will enjoy it either way, though. Cold rainy weather is a good excuse to make soup!
Good for Evan. He'll get better and better with each practice session. I hope his fire doesn't die.
Those gyros are so delicious looking Heather - send me some.
I totally would if I thought I could, Tia! The gyros were totally tasty- I was so glad I found that recipe! And I was pretty proud of my little guy. I think he will have fun.
This sounds delish! Thanks for the recipe!
Wish I could take the credit, but I sure am glad I found this recipe, too! Thank you 🙂
This looks really good.
Thank you! It was really great to grab and run with. I always worry about tummy aches when we have to eat and then be someplace the boys are running around.