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.
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 Black Peppercorns (black)
- ▢¾ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ▢2 tbsp Paprika
- ▢2.5 tbsp dried rosemary
- ▢2.5 tbsp whole coriander seeds
- ▢2.5 tbsp red chili flakes
- ▢Coarse sea salt to taste
For the Vertical home-made rotisserie
- ▢½ 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 ½″ 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.