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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.
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Any advice on using chicken breast instead of thighs?
I haven’t tested it this way but I would cut it into smaller and thinner pieces, I would also watch the cook time, you don’t want it to get too dry!
I am not one to leave any comments it this deserves one. Everything from the marinade to ur directions was perfection!the chicken was so delicious. I never used a vertical spit before but I will be using it all the time now! Thank you!!
thank you so much, Michelle!!
For the shawarma recipe, do you use that ingredient list instead of the one listed in the marinade or do you add those ingredients to the marinade?
Hey Kailin, I am a bit confused. In the recipe card we’ve clearly stated VARIATION: Shawarma. That is the recipe you would use.
But do you add the variation ingredients to the ingredients for the marinade or do you JUST use the ingredients for the variation
NO NO NO ! Just use the variation ingredients… those would be additional ingredients otherwise.
I tasted the marinade and decided I want to marry Maria there and then.
hahahahah this is awesome!
I cannot believe how amazing this was. Again so easy. We put this on the weekly rotation and still love it so much.
thank you so much hun!!!
Absolutely delicious! Such a great recipe!
Should you pound flat the thighs?
If you find they are a bit thicker you can!! but we did not!
Best recipe I’ve ever made. Not joking. I made the shawarma variation, as chicken shawarma is one of my favourite takeout foods. Takeout food, no longer! This was even better than some of the best authentic restaurant shawarmas I’ve had, and it was so incredibly easy to make.
One thing I added to the marinade that wasn’t already included was some lemon zest and the juice of half a lemon. I let it marinate for about 30 hours! Will make this time and time again. I used a vertical spit pan but still put half a cut onion on top.
You are such an angel, what a sweet review! Thank you so much hunnie!!!
I love all Maria’s recipes. I ordered the vertical spit right away. It’s become a family favourite. We’ve tried it in a pita and as a bowl. Chicken is so tender!!
Thank you so much hun!!!
What size split do you recommend?
honestly, any works! I did this one and then the length depends on how much meat you use! -https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Vertical-Brazilian-Removable-Shawarma/dp/B0C3TZ63RR?crid=3QHSNI6N5HBSO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.zKBCFMSwhrSOJYR-bj73Pvtarpaj8XbtRpzDwIQTgCfAzjyWNgmTK_yHo6dfRGVzovPaTavrqWLkflXQCoNqu3TdLcwRuk7aMrWuHbvUhx9_hP5gJY0LQCQWugB6LZWcmiYlEL6emXLCNdPGNrXUKPy8uVjET_qvBxsXn82vAKzQzL4hS8grDlCHqAC3OJRySID7CcsTKEcLVts1BbYqtcIUSxIq46eh9869DqU8vZ8.6Bx_5hfIXe-GMdXl3LAbahRXA_0ebZKPFt4Cpl2EVBQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=vertical+skewer+pan&qid=1726850507&sprefix=vertical+sk,aps,253&sr=8-3&linkCode=sl1&tag=foodbymaria-20&linkId=855102dd82b444db27380c7fea9704f0&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Sooooo good! I love your recipes!
Thank you so mcuh hunnie!!