Authentic Greek Chicken Gyros Recipe with Tzatziki Sauce

This Authentic Greek chicken gyros recipe beats any gyros joints flavors with it’s extremely tender, juicy chicken strips & delicious marinade. It’s easy to make in the oven with readily available ingredients, and a fantastic vertical home-made rotisserie & tastes awesome when served with Tzatziki sauce.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 5 people
Calories: 570kcal

Ingredients

1.32 pounds Boneless Chicken Thighs (or 600 gms)

For the Chicken Gyro Marinade

2 tbsp Finely Chopped Garlic.
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Whole pepper corns (black)
3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp Paprika Powder
2.5 tbsp dried rosemary
2.5 tbsp whole coriander seeds
2.5 tbsp dried red chili flakes
Coarse sea salt to taste

For the Vertical home-made rotisserie

1/2 large Onion
1 Bamboo Skewer

Instructions

How to Tenderize the meat & marinate it:

Begin by pounding each chicken thigh with the help of a meat mallet until 1/2″ or 1 cm thick. You can put each chicken thigh inside a ziplock and pound it with the mallet. Repeat this step with all the chicken thighs. Set aside.

How to prepare the Marinade & marinate the gyro meat

Add the paprika, coriander seeds, peppercorns, dried rosemary, dried red chili flakes & the coarse sea salt in a mortar & pestle. Grind it to a semi-coarse powder.
Next add the chopped garlic to the semi-coarse powder & grind it until the garlic blends well with the rest of the spice blend.
Now add the extra virgin olive oil & the lemon juice to the spice mix and mix everything with the help of a spoon. The marinade for the chicken gyro meat is ready.
Add the marinade to the tenderized chicken thighs and mix very well until all the chicken thighs are well coated with the marinade.
Wrap the container with a cling film and allow the chicken to sit in the marinade in the fridge for overnight or 1 day for best results. And if you are pressed for time leave the marinade for at least 2 hrs.

How to make the home-made vertical rotisserie

Take a large stump of an onion ( half onion) & stick a bamboo skewer in the middle of the stump to form a vertical pole. The vertical home-made rotisserie is ready. The base of the onion will act as the support & the bamboo skewer as the pole.

How to skewer the meat & bake the chicken gyro

Take each marinated chicken thigh and skewer them individually in the home-made vertical rotisserie. Repeat this step until all the chicken thighs are skewered and stacked on top of each other to form a small mound of meat.
Pre-heat the oven at 375 F and bake the chicken gyro meat by placing the vertical rotisserie over a cookie tray for 1 hour. The baking time hugely depends on the oven used. So it’s wise to check the internal temperature of the meat. When it reaches 165 F turn off the oven.
Allow it to cool for 15 mins. Than, shave the chicken gyro meat & serve it with loads of Tzatziki sauce.

Notes

Using a thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat is vital. Because every oven is different and the 1 hour baking time that worked for me but it might not work for you.
When the internal temperature reaches 165 F turn off the oven.
Shave the chicken gyro meat only when it cools down. It’s very hot when out from the oven.
For best flavors leave the chicken to marinate in the fridge for at least overnight or 24 hrs.