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When you think of Greek food you probably think of the delicious Greek Chicken Gyros. Vendors line the streets in all the Greek cities with their vertical rotisserie of meat (either pork or chicken) ready to make you the most life-changing wrap you’ll ever find. You’ll usually find these served with fresh tomatoes, onions, fries, and tzatziki. It’s seriously so good and it’s making my mouth water thinking about it.
Why You’ll Love Greek Chicken Gyros
- Healthy: The best part about these delicious chicken gyros is that they are healthy for you but taste next level, amazing!
- Authentic: Make your own authentic Greek Chicken Gyros right in your kitchen. The whole family will love it
- Simple: This authentic way of cooking takes some time, but it takes easy ingredients and is super simple to make
Ingredients
Greek Yogurt – Greek yogurt is such a versatile ingredient in our kitchen. You can use it in your tzatziki or other dips, and you can marinate your meat in it like this Greek Chicken Gyros recipe. The best part is that it’s healthy and protein-packed
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Tzatziki – One of the most common dips you’ll find in Greek cuisine is tzatziki! It is a cucumber yogurt dip and it’s so easy to make on your own with a few healthy ingredients. You can check out my recipe here
How to Make Greek Chicken Gyros
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium-sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well, and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing/carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki, and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
Tips and Tricks
- Marinade: You want to marinate your chicken for 24 hours. You can always marinade for less time but you won’t get as much of the flavors absorbed into the meat. I promise you, it’s worth the wait
- Cooking Time: What makes authentic gyros is the slow cooking time to make it so flavorful and juicy
- Gyro Pan Skewer: Pick one of these up from Amazon. It will make the baking and serving so much easier for you
Variations
Chicken Gyros Bowl
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 cup halved baby tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/2 cup black olives
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- 1/2 cup tzatziki (make our easy tzatziki recipe)
- 2 pitas (make our fluffy Greek pita bread recipe)
Use the cooked chicken to make chicken gyros bowls by dividing the cooked chicken, rice, baby tomatoes, chopped cucumber, olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced romaine lettuce, tzatziki, and pita between 4 bowls.
Best served with
How to Store Leftovers
This chicken is so good leftover. Store it in the fridge for up to 3 days and use it on literally anything – wraps, salads, bowls.
Common Questions
Souvlaki is marinated meat such as pork, chicken, beef, or lamb grilled on a skewer. Gyro is made with stacked meat that has been cooked on a vertical rotisserie.
Absolutely! You don’t need a giant spit rotisserie to make gyros at home. You can easily replicate it with some skewers and an onion.
We got our’s on Amazon.
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Ingredients
For the marinade
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Variation: chicken gyros bowl
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1 cup halved baby tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- ½ cup black olives
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- 2 cups thinly sliced romaine lettuce
- ½ cup tzatziki, (make our easy tzatziki recipe)
- 2 pitas, (make our fluffy Greek pita bread recipe)
Variation: Gyro chicken with vegetables
- 2-2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12-16 thighs)
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- ½ lemon, juiced
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ large white onion, grated
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp all spice
- ⅛ tsp cloves
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- ½ red onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 cup baby potatoes
Variation: Chicken shawarma
- 2-2.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 12-16 thighs)
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 tsp ground chili powder
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp ground all spice
- 1 tbsp ground pepper
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Start Cooking- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
Variation: chicken gyros bowl
- Use the cooked chicken to make chicken gyros bowls by dividing the cooked chicken, rice, baby tomatoes, chopped cucumber, olives, crumbled feta cheese, sliced romaine lettuce, tzatziki and pita between 4 bowls.
Variation: Gyro chicken with vegetables
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together (salt, pepper, garlic, dried oregano, lemon juice, ground cumin, Greek yogurt, olive oil, grated onion, cinnamon, all spice, cloves and dried parsley).
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together. Add the chopped red onion, chopped red pepper and potatoes to the base of the vertical spit (or sheet pan if you’re using).
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C), baste the vegetables with any pan juices at the half hour mark. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see above for ideas).
Variation: Chicken shawarma
- Make the marinade: add all of the marinade ingredients to a medium sized mixing bowl or baking dish and whisk together.
- Marinate the chicken: add the chicken thighs to the marinade, toss to combine well and put in the fridge to marinate for at least one hour and up to 24 hours.
- Once the chicken has marinated for at least 1 hour, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 400F.
- Use a vertical spit (meant for oven use) OR use an onion half as a base and position a skewer or two vertically into the onion like a spit on a sheet pan lined with foil. Thread the chicken thighs onto the skewer, making sure to rotate each thigh a bit as you go and the thighs are layered tightly together.
- Bake for 1- 1 ½ hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F (75°C). Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing / carving off slices of the chicken. Serve with pita, tzatziki and vegetables or in a bowl (see below for ideas).
Notes
- Serving suggestions:
- Serve the Chicken Shawarma as a bowl with french fries, garlic sauce or Greek Tzatziki Sauce, pickled turnips or pickled onions and our Simple Homemade Greek Salad
Loved it? Let me know in the comments below! Find more recipes like this in my healthy Greek dinners guide.
182 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
A gyro cooks from the outside in as the crispy bits of meat are shaved off. although this may appear to look like a gyro, this method would require to continually put this back into the oven to cook the outside of the meat after cutting some off. you’d be better to actually grill the chicken individually and chop into bite sized bits for wrapping in pita. although you won’t have the theater experience of a table top gyro the end result will be better
I disagree but to each their own!
The chicken is so delicious! I bought the pan and super easy to make in the oven. I have found it to take closer to 2hrs though. Is that normal?
It can vary for everyone depending on the oven and how cold the ingredients were before going into the oven!
Maria, Would this recipe work if I alternated chicken and beef on the same skewer? I purchased the gyro pan from Amazon and it’s great! Vera
It should work! the beef might just be a bit less tender depending on the type but it will have great taste!!!
So
Easy and versatile! I actually used the marinade on chicken breast! INCREDIBLE! will def be getting this rotisserie thing and trying it this way too! Chicken is so good warm but also great cold on a salad!
yesssss its so good and if you need it its linked in my bio on IG
I’m making it now for the first time but Baking for 1 and 1/2 hours at 400 seems too long.. any insight
Just follow the process!
So I bought 3 pounds of chicken thighs and it was only 8. Not 12-16. Is this okay?
Should be fine!!
Hi, Maria. We periodically get lamb from a local farmer. Would you use the same recipe/process to make these with lamb? Thanks!
Yes but stay tuned in a few weeks for something like that! I also just posted a Gyro Meat recipe with ground beef and lamb!
Hi Maria!
I cook chicken frequently in many different recipes.
I made your original chicken gyro recipe last night along with your pita and a Greek salad, after purchasing the vertical roaster.
Literally the best chicken we’ve ever tasted, and the pita was perfect!
Thanks, I can’t wait to make again with the spanakopita stuffed pita!!!
Jamie Williams
Thank you so much, Jamie! you are truly the sweetest!!!
Where can one get that pan? (Asking for a friend. 🤣)
If you go to my IG you will find it linked in my bio!!!!
Can you use breasts vs thighs?
yes but we didn’t test the recipe that way but I do not see any issues! Just don’t expect it to be quite as juicy but the flavour with my fab!