Greek style food has such a unique flavor and I have been loving it. The garlic, dill, olive oil, and feta are unique and bold flavors, but so delicious! Not only is this recipe delicious, it does not take long to make either. After you marinate the chicken for at least 1 hour, and the sauce has had time for the flavors to incorporate, it only takes a few minutes to cook the chicken and assemble the gyros.
This recipe is great as is in a whole wheat pita pocket high in fiber to keep you full, but you could also use this chicken to make a tasty greek salad topped with feta, cucumber, tomato, onion, olives and tzatziki sauce. Making gyros in pita pockets helps keep all of the ingredients inside the pocket as well as allows for you to stuff the pita full of delicious veggies and sauce!
For this recipe, you only need to make the chicken and sauce then assemble. This makes the actual cook time very short. I recommend starting by getting the chicken marinating in a bowl with the greek yogurt and all herbs and spices except the garlic. Allow enough time for the chicken to marinate for at least 1 hour. I mixed the chicken in the marinade in the morning so it had all day to marinate. I recommend mixing the tzatziki sauce now as well so it has plenty of time for the flavors to incorporate together.
After at least 1 hour of marinating, the chicken is ready to cook. To start cooking the chicken, first cook the garlic in the pan until fragrant and brown. Add the chicken to the pan and cook without a lid until chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165. You also want to make sure that most of the moisture from the marinade has evaporated. If there is too much liquid in the chicken it can make the pita mushy and fall apart.
To assemble the gyros I started with spinach and layered it along the bottom of the pita, topped the spinach with slices of onion, peppers and cucumber. You could also add olives, tomatoes or feta if you want. Everyone can choose their own toppings. Don’t forget to top with tzatziki sauce, it is so good!
Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 Large Chicken Breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- ½ tsp Dill weed dried
- ¼ tsp Rosemary dried
- ¼ tsp Basil dried
- ¼ tsp Oregano dried
- ¼ tsp Thyme dried
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- dash pepper
- dash salt
- 1 tsp Garlic minced
For the tzatziki sauce
- 1 cup Yogurt
- ½ tsp Olive oil
- 3 tsp Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Dill weed dried
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ Cucumber Shredded cucumber squeeze out excess liquid.
For the Pita Pocket
- 4 Whole Wheat Pita Pockets
- 1 cup Spinach
- 1 small Red Pepper thinly sliced
- 1 medium Cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 medium Tomato thinly sliced
- 1 medium Red Onion thinly sliced
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Combine cut chicken, plain greek yogurt, and all herbs and spices except the minced garlic into a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Recommend mixing the sauce together to chill both at the same time. See instructions for sauce below.
- Heat sauté pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant and golden brown in color.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook until internal temperature reaches 165 and most of the moisture is evaporated.
- Open pita pockets, smear a generous amount of tzatziki sauce in the pita. Layer with spinach, red peppers, onion, cucumber, tomato and other desired toppings such as feta or olives. Top with addition tzatziki sauce and serve.
For the Tzatziki sauce
- Combine all ingredient for sauce, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour to allow flavors to incorporate.
Notes
Make this on your next busy weeknight for a quick and easy meal that the whole family will love! I am a huge proponent of having family meals at the table, but if you are looking for an on-the-go meal for the family this is a great idea as the pita pockets work so well to keep all of the fillings inside to prevent messes!
Greek style food has such as unique flavor. The garlic, dill, olive oil, feta and olives are unique and bold flavors, but so delicious when combined!
Some of my favorite things about this recipe:
- Quick and easy- After the chicken has been in the marinade for at least 1 hour, and the sauce has had time for the flavors to incorporate, it only takes a few minutes to cook the chicken.
- Versatile- This chicken is not only fantastic in a whole wheat pita pocket, it is also tasty in a lettuce or spinach salad topped with feta, cucumber, tomato, onion, olives and tzatziki sauce!
- Pita Pockets- I love the high fiber content of the whole wheat pita pockets. They are so filling and keep the contents all nicely together inside.
- Full of vegetables- This is one of those recipes that can be loaded with vegetable. Consider this recipe as a great way to get those kiddos to enjoy some more vegetables. I think the tzatziki sauce makes an excellent dipping sauce for vegetables as well!
Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 Large Chicken Breasts cut into bite-sized pieces
- ½ cup Plain Greek Yogurt
- ½ tsp Dill weed dried
- ¼ tsp Rosemary dried
- ¼ tsp Basil dried
- ¼ tsp Oregano dried
- ¼ tsp Thyme dried
- 1 tsp Lemon Juice
- dash pepper
- dash salt
- 1 tsp Garlic minced
For the tzatziki sauce
- 1 cup Yogurt
- ½ tsp Olive oil
- 3 tsp Garlic minced
- 1 tsp Dill weed dried
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ Cucumber Shredded cucumber squeeze out excess liquid.
For the Pita Pocket
- 4 Whole Wheat Pita Pockets
- 1 cup Spinach
- 1 small Red Pepper thinly sliced
- 1 medium Cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 medium Tomato thinly sliced
- 1 medium Red Onion thinly sliced
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Combine cut chicken, plain greek yogurt, and all herbs and spices except the minced garlic into a bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. Recommend mixing the sauce together to chill both at the same time. See instructions for sauce below.
- Heat sauté pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant and golden brown in color.
- Add the chicken to the pan and cook until internal temperature reaches 165 and most of the moisture is evaporated.
- Open pita pockets, smear a generous amount of tzatziki sauce in the pita. Layer with spinach, red peppers, onion, cucumber, tomato and other desired toppings such as feta or olives. Top with addition tzatziki sauce and serve.
For the Tzatziki sauce
- Combine all ingredient for sauce, cover and place in the refrigerator for at least one hour to allow flavors to incorporate.
Notes
Incorporate this on your next busy weeknight for a quick and easy meal that the whole family will love!
I am a huge proponent of having family meals at the table, but if you are looking for an on-the-go meal for the family this is a great idea as the pita pockets work so well to keep all of the fillings inside to prevent an on-the-go mess!