Gyros are a Mediterranean dish where meat is cooked on a vertical rotisserie (similar to Doner kebab), sliced and served in pitas, along with other ingredients such as tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and tzatziki. Local restaurants generally have a few different rotisseries, often including: chicken, lamb, pork, etc. with the lamb one either being whole pieces of lamb or ground lamb. This is a super easy (lazy) homemade ground lamb version where the lamb is mixed with spices and baked, meatloaf style, before being sliced thinly. Normally meatloaf is pretty crumbly and what makes this version capable of being thinly sliced is processing it in a food processor first. When ordering gyros, they generally thinly slice the moist and tender meat off of the rotisserie and fry it unit it gets crispy on the edge before throwing it into the pita. Speaking of the gyros, I like to fill them with cool and creamy tzatziki, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, fets, olives, and onions. If I’m in the mood I also like to throw in some fires or even better, lemon roasted potatoes.
Lamb Gyros
Gyros filled with moist, tender, and crispy lamb that are so easy to make at home!
ingredients
- 2 pounds ground lamb (or beef)
- 1 onion, cut into 8 pieces
- 4 cloves garlic, grated/minced
- 4 teaspoons salt (or to taste)*
- 2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
- 8 pitas (gluten-free for gluten-free)
- 2 cups lettuce, sliced
- 1 cup tomatoes, sliced
- 1 cup cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 cup tzatziki
- 1/4 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup feta, crumbled
For the lamb:
For the gyros:
directions
- Place everything into a food processor and process until mixed, the meat will be sticky.
- Place the meat into a loaf pan (or form a loaf shape on a baking sheet) and bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until it reaches 160F, about 50-60 minutes, before letting the loaf rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Slice the meat thinly, optionally frying the slices until crispy, before enjoying in gyros!
- Assemble the gyros and enjoy!
For the lamb:
For the gyros:
Option: Add 1/2 cup pork rinds.
Option: Assemble and roast in a vertical spit and roast in the oven.
Option: Form the meat into small, hot dog sized logs, skewer and grill.
Note: I like to save any fat left in the loaf pan after baking to use to fry the slices in!
Option: Use your favourite gyro fillings!
Note: * This recipe calls for a decent amount of salt, and the salt helps with the texture of the meat and with rendering the fat as it cooks. You can use less salt if you prefer!
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Looks amazing! I’m very low carb though, are the 33 grams of carbs from the pita? I truly hope so, because I can’t wait to make this. Any suggestions on where to buy it the best?
Thanks so much! Cristina
Sounds really good. I presume that the instruction “letting the loaf rest for 10-154 minutes.” should read “10 – 15 minutes”.
Yes! That should be 15 minutes not 154!
thanks for sharing this recipe…I can’t tell ya how many years I looked in grocery stores for “gyro” meat before I realized it was that way because it came off a rotisserie haha.
thank you, wouldn’t have known how to even start making this dish at home, even though it’s a favorite, I’m don’t know where to begin since I’m intimidated by the huge gyro spit I see in restaurants, so good to see this alternative method, thank you!
Which attachment to you use for this recipe to process using your food processor? The dicing disc, dough blade?
Can you provide details on using food processor as far as which attachment to use for processing?
Use the regular food processor blade. You can see the final consistency in the photo of the raw meat in the pan.
This was an awesome recipe. I had no idea I could make gyros this way. We made it from beef, since lamb mince is not available.
5 stars! It’s easy and delicious. Instead of sandwiches, I made a salad using lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, and red onion and topped it with tzatziki and thin slices of the gyro meat. Pita chips on the side. Thanks for another great recipe.