Greek · Main · Medium
Gyro
Spiced, crispy-edged meat piled into warm pita with garlicky tzatziki, tomatoes, red onion, and fries. The ultimate street food, built to be eaten with both hands.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Gyro, in 5 ideas
- Thin slices are essential: they crisp at the edges and cook fast, mimicking the rotisserie finish.
- A screaming hot pan gives the char; do not crowd it or the meat will steam.
- Chips inside the wrap is the authentic Greek move, not an optional extra.
- Make the tzatziki ahead: an hour in the fridge lets the garlic mellow into the yoghurt.
- Wrapping in paper keeps everything together and is how the street vendors do it.
What you need
Ingredients
- 800g boneless pork shoulder, sliced very thin
- Marinade: 60ml olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, 3 garlic cloves (crushed), 2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp sweet paprika, 1 tsp salt
- 4 large pita breads
- 2 tomatoes, sliced
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 250g frozen chips, cooked
- Tzatziki: 200g Greek yoghurt, 1/2 cucumber (grated and squeezed dry), 1 garlic clove (minced), 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice
How to make it
Directions
- Mix the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, oregano, cumin, paprika, and salt, then toss the pork through it and marinate 2 hours in the fridge.
- Make the tzatziki: stir the yoghurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt together, then chill.
- Heat a large heavy skillet or griddle over high heat and sear the pork in batches, 3 to 4 minutes per side, until charred at the edges and cooked through.
- Keep the pork warm in a low oven while you warm the pitas directly over a gas flame or in a dry pan until puffed and pliable.
- Lay each pita flat, add a row of pork down the middle, then tomatoes, onion, and a handful of chips.
- Spoon tzatziki generously over the filling, roll the pita up around it, and wrap the bottom half in paper for easy eating.
Pork shoulder is the cheapest cut that works here; leaner cuts dry out under high heat, while shoulder stays juicy.