Greek Lamb Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
Yesterday, I told you all about the amazing gyros that my husband and I used to get when he was living outside of D.C. Since he moved back two years ago, we have been in a serious gyro drought. Thank the gyro gods that the house we bought is located only about five minutes from a fabulous gyro joint here in Pittsburgh.
In the meantime, however, I’ve been dreaming about making gyros at home. Gyros are one of those things that just seem… impossible to make at home, right? Sort of like pop-tarts. As I’ve come to learn, however, nothing is impossible in the kitchen.
These gyros are proof in the pudding… they were not very difficult to make, and are every bit as good (better, even) than our favorites from Greek and Middle Eastern take out joints.
While traditional gyro meat is cooked on a vertical spit and then shaved off, that’s not exactly practical in a home kitchen. In order to get those thin strips of meat cooked to the correct consistency, it’s actually baked twice.
A combination of ground lamb, seasonings, onion, garlic and slab bacon are processed together to form a cohesive mass. The mixture is shaped into a meatloaf, for lack of a better word, and baked at a low temperature. Once given time to sit, very thin strips of meat are sliced off, then laid in a pan and broiled for a couple of minutes.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address, and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
I was seriously stunned at how similar this meat tasted to the gyro meat that I have been accustomed to. It has so much flavor and the texture is just perfect.
When serving gyros, you want to look for pocketless pita bread, which can also be referred to as “hand-pulled”. Naan or flatbread can also work in a pinch. Then, pile on the meat, tzatziki sauce, chopped tomatoes and thinly sliced onion. Wrap it all up and then dig in. Don’t forget some extra tzatziki sauce on the side; you can never have enough of that awesomeness.
I love being proven wrong when I think a certain type of food is beyond being made at home. Who am I kidding? Everything can be made at home, and it’s usually better than you can get elsewhere. These gyros are no exception.
Watch the Greek Gyro Recipe Video:
Two years ago: Salted Caramel Cashew Bark
Five years ago: Chicken Pot Pie
Six years ago: Chili-Rice Dinner
Lamb Gyros Recipe
Ingredients
For the Gyro Meat:
- 1 pound (453.59 g) ground lamb
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
- ½ (0.5) yellow onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 clove garlic, sliced
- 3 ounces (85.05 g) slab bacon, or 5 slices sliced bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
To Serve:
- Pocketless pita bread
- Tzatziki Sauce
- Tomato, coarsely chopped
- Yellow onion, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Make the Gyro Meat: In a medium bowl, combine the ground lamb, salt, pepper and oregano leaves with your hands, mixing until all of the seasonings have been evenly distributed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place the lamb mixture in the bowl of a food processor and add the onion, garlic and bacon. Process until a smooth puree is formed, 30 seconds to 1 minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. With moistened hands, shape the lamb mixture into a rectangle about 8 inches long and 5 inches wide. Bake until the center of the loaf reaches 155 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
- Adjust the oven rack to the highest position (1½ to 2 inches below broiler element) and preheat broiler. Slice the loaf of lamb meat crosswise into very thin pieces (they should be about ⅛-inch thick; no more than ¼-inch thick). Lay the strips on a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and broil until edges are browned and crispy, 2 to 4 minutes. (I did this in two batches, as I couldn’t fit all of the sliced meat on one baking sheet.) Be sure to keep an eye on it, as the broiler works quickly!
- Serve the Gyros: Warm up the bread either in the microwave (30 seconds), on the stovetop or in the oven. Top each with ¼ cup of tzatziki sauce, chopped tomatoes, sliced onions and gyro meat. Wrap with foil and serve.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This was so good! A keeper in my house, we even made dairy free tzatziki sauce with almond milk yogurt! It’s perfect!
I have made this at least four times since finding it on Pinterest a few months ago. We LOVE it!!! So much cheaper than eating gyros out and seriously just as good! I do use lamb and beef because the lamb is sold in 12oz packages and I then use 4oz ground beef to be more thrifty:) Thank you for such a great recipe for one of our favorite foods!
Michelle, your recipe is for DONER, not GYRO.
Doner is ground meat and spices, an Arab recipe. Picture it as a Middle Eastern meatloaf. Gyro is a Greek recipe with meat (pork and/or lamb), cooked with spices (on a vertical grill) and sliced.
Doner is the Arab word for spinning round. Gyro is the Greek word for spinning round. Doner…ground meat. Gyro…regular meat.
I don’t know of any Greeks who prepare it your way and serve it as gyro, because it is doner. The Greeks would take a boneless leg of lamb and add spices to that, slice and serve.
Often people will mention that it does not matter what it is called but indeed it does. Doner is a Middle Eastern invention that made its way to Greece under four hundred years of Ottoman oppression, but the Greeks used pork (which Muslims will not eat) in their recipe, and stacked their meat to make it their own instead of grounding the meat. This is a Classic Gyro, perfected in Athens at many gyro restaurants. Unfortunately in the United States, everything gets “misrepresented” because the public accepts it as such. Many pizzerias are now reheating frozen meatloaf strips and serving it in what they call a “gyro” because if it’s pita with tzatziki, then it’s a gyro. The same way putting feta on a lettuce salad makes it a Greek salad. No it does not. A Greek salad NEVER has lettuce. Here in the U.S. apparently it does.
I can say that your recipe is delicious and very tasty. I do recommend it to anyone who wishes to make doner. If they wish to make gyro, use pork shoulder and/or boneless leg of lamb, and marinate it before slowly cooking it to enjoy.
I have made these several times and each time I make them they get better and better. There is no need to make a special stop at the Greek restaurant anymore. I have now ventured out and mixed the lamb with veal and WOW – so good and a taste of the Balkans here in the USA.
Made this tonight. AMAZING!!!
Changes:
1. Did not refrigerate meat 1 hour before pureeing.
2. Used dry dill weed in place of fresh dill.
3. Shredded the cucumber for sauce.
Served with diced tomato, cucumber, klamata olive and red onion…like a relish for the gyro. So good!!
This dish was delicious!!
I made these once before for a big extended family meal and they were wonderful. One trick I did to save time the meal day was that I cooked the “loafs” ahead of time and then froze it. That morning I thawed them and when it was time for lunch I just sliced them thin and broiled. Was super quick to get on the table for the 20 plus people. I’m making it again this year since everyone loved them so much!
I love Gyros, one change: try using pickled thinly sliced red onions. Add more complexity to the Gyro.
I also make my own pocketless pita. Very easy to make with a cast iron skillet and so much better that the dry store bought ones.
These are DELICIOUS 🤤. Thank you for an amazing recipe…from one Pittsburgher to another!
These were very delicious, the consistency of the meat was perfect, just like any you can buy in a restaurant. My kids loved them. Husband said maybe a bit less bacon.
My husband and I just finished eating our gyros, and our bellies are so happy! Incredible recipe, and so full of authentic flavor! Thank you for sharing!
Could you cook this meat in a skillet like ground beef instead of baking and slicing?
Hi Jessica, You could, but then you wouldn’t have gyro meat; it would just be ground meat. Gyros are made specifically with thinly sliced meat.
We have lamb in the freezer for the first time (4H project). I had Googled a lot of lamb recipes and considered making these gyros for a month or so before finally making them today. My family enjoyed them, with one picky 18 yr-old exception. We have ZERO comparison as we live in the middle of Kansas and have little access to Greek food.
The meat is very good. It is not at all easy as indicated! I doubled the recipe and would highly recommend doing that because it is a lot of work and you can then have some good leftovers for your freezer. I used dried oregano – a third dried to recipe’s fresh amount. I would probably reduce that a smidge as it has a strong oregano flavor. My meat held together just fine. Our lamb is rather fatty and that may help bind it. Definitely use the food processor to get the right consistency and let it rest as directed before slicing. I used a large serrated knife to slice and had NO problems.
I baked it for an hour at 300 F. I started checking the temp of the meat at 35 minutes and it just wasn’t hot enough.
I am glad I made these. We got our Greek on today!
I want to add that I DO NOT have a high end food processor. I doubled the recipe, but processed half (a regular recipe) amount at a time. I had no trouble with my food processor. The bacon I used was “ends and pieces” from a hog we had butchered. It was not as “stringy” as sliced bacon, maybe that helped?
Forgot to give 5 atars so here it is !
I will never buy gyros out again ! Everytime Ai have made these everyone raves about them! Such a good recipe that I will always use ! Thank you!
Followed the recipe exactly on one batch and made another batch with lamb & ground beef instead of pork (for those that couldn’t eat pork). Delicious either way! I did alter the Tzatziki Sauce, adding 5 more cloves of garlic after the fact, because I like to TASTE the garlic , if you catch my meaning! Thank you for a great recipe!!!
I love these where do you get that bread or do you make your own?
Hi Cheryl, I just bought them at the grocery store!
Made this tonight and my husband & I loved it! Lots of yumms and OMG’s. We love gyros and are always on the hunt for them at our local farmers markets & food fairs. This is so wonderful. Thank you for a great recipe! We’ll be making this again for sure!
We made these a couple of nights ago and they were a HUGE hit! The tzatziki was also delicious. My husband and I could not believe how authentic this tasted. I can’t wait to make it again! Thank you so much!
Just made the Lamb Gyro’s today. WOW! These are great. My husband said it is the best he has ever had! Thank you so much for the recipe. I will be making it again….and again……..
Since I couldn’t find lamb meat at my grocery stores, I used ground turkey. Everything was going fine until I had to cut the loaf of meat to make the slices because when I tried to cut it, the meat just crumbles down. Is there a solution to fix this issue or was it because turkey meat was used? Thanks in advance!
Hi Kai, That could definitely be the problem, lamb has a much higher fat content than turkey does.
How can people rate this recipe 5 stars without having tried the recipe?
It looks like the only people who left reviews actually DID try the recipe (only the posts with stars below the comment are actual reviews).
Thank you for sharing , This I have long wished that I could make Gyros at home! I’ll be trying this over the weekend.
Possible to freeze leftovers? Or make a double batch – one for the freeze?
Hi Cee Cee, Yes, you could do that!
These came together quite easily and were very flavorful!! The leftovers were fantastic also!
Thank you very much for the recipe! We will certainly make these again and again.
This is actually the exact same recipe from serious eats… not adapted. Give credit where credit is due. Great recipe from Kenji López Alt.
This was absolutly amazing! Just got done eating and I had to write a review. This tastes just like real gyros. We made a different tzatziki sauce, so I can’t comment on that. We will definitely be making this again! Thanks for this recipe!!!
Thank you soo much for this recipe! Just got done eating and HOLY cow, these taste like the real thing! Followed recipe to a “T” and came out wonderful! Was nervous about slicing, but sliced perfectly. Next time I’ll double it, this was enough for 2 big pitas.
Thank you again! We’ll be having these alot!
This was delicious! My fiance and I absolutely love it and will keep it in rotation!
At our big family Christmas we all pick different styles of food to bring and mine is Greek. I would love to make this and bring but is it something I can make completely before hand and just heat up when it comes time to eat? Or would it be best to make the morning of and try to keep it warm?
Hi Jessica, I think you could make it ahead and reheat it, covered. Enjoy!
Tried this as written and you nailed it! I used bacon instead of salt pork and I wouldn’t change a thing next time I make it. I lived in Greece while in the military for 4 years and this recipe is the closest to shaved off the spit I have ever tried. Thanks so much for my now favorite recipe!
Making these right now. Question: When you cook the loaf at 300 degrees, do you cook it covered or uncovered? Thank you.
Uncovered.