Gyro meat is made of a juicy, flavorful lamb and beef mixture, seasoned with salt, herbs and spices, cooked on a rotisserie and sliced to order. At home, though, you can make restaurant-level gyro meat easily in a loaf pan! My easy gyro meat recipe is all about using lots of classic Greek seasonings and the traditional gyro meat combo of ground lamb and beef.
Perfect for meal prepping or freezing, you can serve that juicy homemade Gyro meat in so many ways! Pile it into pita with Greek Tzatziki or Muhammara, or, make healthy gyro bowls by serving it over Lemon Rice. For a lighter version, try Chicken Gyros next!
Easy Gyro Meat Ingredients
- Ground lamb and beef: Ground lamb is traditional, but if it’s too expensive or hard to find, just do all beef. It won't have the same flavor, but it’s still great!
- Onion: Grated onion is a key element of this recipe. More on this below!
- Gyro meat seasonings: Garlic, oregano, cumin, garlic powder, thyme, marjoram
How To Make Gyro Meat At Home
- Grate an onion. You can do this with a box grater, but it’s much easier in a food processor. Wrap the grated onion in a kitchen towel and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can.
- Mix the onion with the lamb, beef and all of the gyro meat seasonings.
- Blend the meat mixture in a food processor until it looks like a coarse paste. Processing it like this helps the meat to bind together into a sliceable loaf.
- Press the gyro meat into a loaf pan.
- Bake! It’ll take about an hour for it to reach 165° F on an instant-read thermometer.
- Cool, slice and enjoy! Serve with Za'atar Roasted Cauliflower, a Greek-inspired Cucumber Salad, Whipped Feta Dip and a hearty Antipasto Salad.
How To Freeze Gyro Meat
- Cool the baked loaf completely.
- Wrap it tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap.
- Label it with the date.
- Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To defrost and serve: Defrost the loaf of gyro meat in the fridge for 24 hours. When you’re ready to serve it, slice the meat and pan-fry it until crispy.
Tips For The Best Gyro Meat
- Let the gyro meat cool completely before you slice it.
- Leftover gyro meat is delicious! You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Gyro meat releases juice as it bakes. To make it extra delicious, pan-fry the sliced meat until crispy in those excess pan juices before serving. Yum!
- If you don't have a food processor, you can very finely mince everything and knead the gyro meat mixture by hand, but the texture of the finished meat won't be quite as authentic. It’ll be a little more like meatloaf rather than dense and juicy like gyro meat.
- If you don’t have a loaf pan: grill the meat in patties or shaped logs (similar to these Beef Kofta Kebabs). Slice and serve!
More Meaty Mediterranean Recipes
Zero to Gyro!
For more recipe inspiration, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest or order our cookbook. We love when you share your meals. Tag us on Instagram using #themodernproper. Happy cooking!
