Greek Chicken Gyros

I grew up in Houston and had a few chances to have some wonderful Greek food while living there - the greater Houston area, and Houston itself, is quite the melting pot and you can find food from just about every part of the world there.  Among my favorite Greek dishes are chicken gyros, they are so simple and incredibly delicious.  I've played around with a few recipes and have settled on this one, enjoy!

Greek Chicken Gyros

2 lbs. chicken breast tenders

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 C. olive oil

6 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

-Begin by combining all ingredients in a large bag and let the chicken marinate, in the refrigerator, 2-4 hours before grilling or cooking on the stovetop.  Be sure to include the remaining marinade while cooking, it helps keep the chicken juicy.  Also, you can slice your chicken when serving or leave the tenders whole, I use tenders simply because I can leave them whole so it's a slightly faster process to get the yummy goodness in my belly!

Now, to assemble a gyro you will need pita bread or even some good naan bread.  I prefer whole wheat pitas.  Toppings are typically diced tomatoes, onion and tzatziki sauce of course!  Here is my favorite sauce recipe:

Tzatziki Sauce:

8 oz. plain Greek yogurt

1/4 C. finely grated cucumber - peel first & squeeze the liquid out before adding 

2 tsp. garlic powder

Dash of salt

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1-2 tsp. white vinegar

-Simply mix all ingredients together until well blended.  You can keep this in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a few days.