TheWildWaynes
a family of four cooking & creating our way through tiny living
Gyros in the Air Fryer
I was in my late 30’s by the time I tried my first Gyro sandwich. I know, right?! Gyros are amazing!
What are Gyros?
That is a great question and throughout history, gyros have been made with all types of meats. It depended on what type of animal was in abundance in any particular area of the world where gyro, or doner kebab was made.
You can find authentic recipes for gyro or doner kebab using lamb, pork, chicken, and beef. Slice the meat thin and slide onto a vertical spit to form an upside down cone shape. Take advantage of slices of fat by placing them throughout the stack of meat. Some recipes use slices of meat from different types of animals together. Different seasonings are then rubbed on the outside
The vertical spit turns over heat cooking the meat and melting the layers of fat. The shape of the cone of meat allows for self basting creating incredible juicy flavorful meat.
Once the meat is done, the meat is thin slice from the outside and then stacked on a piece of grilled pita bread with green lettuce, tomato, and onion slices. Tzatziki sauce is served over the top and the pita bread folds around all of the goodness.
Gyros in the United States
in the 1970’s Gyros found their way to big cities like New York at street carts and were commonly made with beef and lamb. Today, there are Greek, Mediterranean, and Turkish restaurants that serve a form of gyro sandwich on their menu across the nation.
Gyros in the Air Fryer
You can make gyros at home the traditional way, with sliced meat, or an easier way is to use ground meat.
The gyro I have eaten in the past has been crispy on the outside and tender on the inside by being cooked on the spinning vertical spit. We can most definitely replicate that by using an air fryer instead of the vertical spit. Hot air blows quickly around the loaf of meat allowing the outside to crisp keeping the inside moist and tender.
I make a flavorful loaf of meat using seasoned beef and lamb roasted in our air fryer. The outside is perfectly crispy while the inside is incredibly flavorful, juicy, and tender.
Cut the ground gyro meatloaf into thin slices and make yourself a gyro sandwich. Do not forget the Tzatziki sauce. It’s not a gyro with out it.
How to Air Fry Gyro
Spray a large piece of aluminum foil with olive oil (I highly recommend the EVO olive oil sprayer). Form a loaf with the gyro meat mixture an inch or two smaller than your air fryer basket.
Wrap the aluminum foil up around the loaf and fold edges to form around the loaf with enough to grab as a handle.
You can then pick the gyro loaf up and slide it down into the air fryer basket. Remember the loaf is formed small enough to allow the hot air to blow around the sides.
We air fry our gyro for 1 hour at 300°F. I like to flip the gyro loaf after 45 minutes and take the loaf out of the aluminum foil pan we made. This allows the entire outside of the gyro to develop a nice roasted crust.
Tzatziki Sauce for your Gyros
TheWildWaynes’ Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Tzatziki sauce is the traditional sauce to top a gyro sandwich but do not limit yourself. Using Greek yogurt, cucumber, dill and other flavors, you have yourself a sauce that can be dipped into with raw vegetables or poured over the top of any sandwich or meat.
Tzatziki sauce is a cool and refreshing sauce. It is almost destined to be a summer time recipe given its cucumber, lemon, and dill flavors.
Looking for the perfect Tzatziki flavor, we have been through a few different versions to find what we now only make. The recipe we now use is one that I pieced together by reading tens of tzatziki sauce recipes and made even better by cutting the Greek yogurt in half, using dried dill weed instead of fresh and also doubling the dill weed used. Talk about an incredible flavor to put on amazing tasty gyro meat. Click here to open our incredible Tzatziki Sauce Recipe.
Gyros and French Fries
When I look at pictures of gyros online, I see some gyros with crispy French fries piled on top. What?! Of course that needs to be a part of our family gyro recipe.
French fries are one of our kids’ favorite things to have on the side of anything. Adding fries to anything will get an eyebrow raise from both kids. They also add a nice crunch and a bit of salt to the mix.
We use thin sliced frozen French fries cooked in our air fryer while the gyro meat rests under aluminum foil. As soon as they are golden brown on the ends, we salt them, slice our gyro meat and make ourselves an amazing sandwich.
Gyro Sandwich with Pita Bread
Gyro Toppings
Tear 4 or 5 washed and dried green lettuce leaves into small pieces. I think the green lettuce has the best flavor.
Use a sharp knife to slice a sweet onion, or red onion to add a crisp bite to the gyro sandwich. Use a nice end grain wood cutting board with a nice sharp knife for safety purposes.
Add plenty of medium sliced Roma tomatoes. Any tomato will work as long as they are ripe and flavorful. You can add a little salt and pepper to the tomatoes if they need a little help.
Those tasty sandwiches get a good amount of deliciousness from the pita bread as well. Pita bread is thin, flat, and has the option of being cut in half, opened, and stuffed or you can leave it whole and fold it around the ingredients. We spray our pita bread with olive oil and then toast them in the air fryer until they just start to brown.
Air Fryer Recipes by TheWildWaynes
CRISPY BUTTER CHEDDAR CHICKEN CUTLETS IN THE AIR FRYER
CHICKEN SHAWARMA IN YOUR INSTANT POT OR AIR FRYER
ONION DILL CHICKEN TENDERS IN THE AIR FRYER
CHEX MIX IN THE AIR FRYER – EASY AND DELICIOUS
AMAZING & FLAVORFUL AIR FRYER ORANGE CHICKEN
AIR FRYER BREADED CAULIFLOWER – KID APPROVED!
Instant Pot Recipes by TheWildWaynes
EASY INSTANT POT HAMBURGER STROGANOFF
SOUTHWEST PORK CHOPS AND GRAVY
ASIAN GREEN BEANS INSTANT POT (STEAMED AND DELICIOUS)
YUMMY SALT & PEPPER CHICKEN WINGS
Tools and Appliances We Use in the Kitchen
Cookie Spatula that works the Best in the Air Fryer
Wooden Spatula I use for Scraping and Stirring
Boo’s Mystery Oil for the Wood Cutting Board
Boo’s Board Cream for Wood Cutting Boards
Hard Boiled Egg Holder for the Instant Pot
Egg Bite Mold for the Instant Pot
Steamer Basket for the Instant Pot
Basket Replacement for Cosori 5.7 quart Air Fryer
Gyros in the Air Fryer
Equipment
- Air Fryer
- Large mixing bowl or food processor
Ingredients
Gyro Meat
- 1 lb Ground Lamb
- 1 lb Ground Lean Hamburger
- 2 pieces Bread (Russian Rye, Potato, White, Wheat) chopped
- 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 egg
- 2 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 Sweet or Red Onion Diced
- 4 Large Garlic Cloves diced, minced or pressed
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil (Robust Preferred)
Seasoning
- 1 Tbsp Salt
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 1 tsp Marjoram
- 1 tsp Rosemary
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 tsp Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Peppers
- 1/4 tsp Black Pepper
Gyro Sandwich
- 6 Pita Bread or Flatbread
- Green Lettuce torn into medium pieces
- 3 – 4 Roma Tomatoes 1 Roma tomato per gyro sandwich
- 1/2 Sweet Onion sliced thin
- 1-2 cups Tzatziki Sauce
- ~2 cups Frozen Thin Cut Fries Air fried
- ~1/4 tsp Salt for fries
- ~1/4 tsp Black Pepper for fries
- ~1/2 tsp Granulated Garlic or Garlic powder for fries
- Feta Cheese (optional)
Instructions
- If making Tzatziki sauce, mix all ingredients together, cover and let sit in the fridge
- Add chopped bread, cream, and egg to a large mixing bowl and mix ingredients (bread will soak up the cream and egg)
- Add salt, black pepper, oregano, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, cumin, crushed red peppers, and mix ingredients
- Add ground hamburger and lamb, mixing all ingredients very well (you can use a food processor, hand mixer, or by hand)
- Oil a piece of aluminum foil and move the meat mixture to the aluminum foil
- Mold the meat mixture into a shape that will fit into your air fryer basket
- Wrap the oiled aluminum foil up around the sides of the meat folding the corner to one side
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes
- Carefully drop the gyro loaf wrapped in aluminum foil into the air fryer basket
- Cook for 45 minutes at 300°F
- Remove the air fryer basket and using tongs and a spatula (I use a cookie spatula) carefully lift the gyro loaf out of the aluminum foil and set on a plate
- Fold the aluminum foil around the juices and discard
- Spray the basket with olive oil and return the gyro loaf to the air fryer
- Cook for 15 minutes at 300°F (60 minutes total at 300°F)
- Make sure the center of the meat is at 165°F or higher
- Using tongs to hold the hot gyro meat and move the gyro meat to a plate or cutting board
- Cover the gyro meat with aluminum foil and let sit for 10 minutes
- Oil air fryer basket, add frozen fries, oil fries, liberally salt, pepper, and garlic powder or granulated garlic the fries
- Cook fries at 400°F for 10 – 15 minutes shaking every ~5 minutes making sure they do not burn
- Slice Tomatoes, Rip lettuce into medium pieces, and thin slice 1/2 sweet onion
- Remove the aluminum foil from the gyro and slice as thin as you can with a sharp knife or serrated knife
- Warm pita bread in air fryer for a few minutes (optional)
- Assemble gyros: pita bread, lettuce, 3-4 tomato slices, sweet onion slices, ~3 Tbsp tzatziki sauce, 2-3 slices of gyro meat, a small handful of fries, and if using feta, sprinkle some on top
- Fold your gyro masterpiece and dive in!
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Looks awesome! Can’t wait to try it. Been wanting to make gyros for awhile now.
How much bread crumbs are you using?
Thanks!
Hi Robin. Sorry for the crazy long response time. I add 2 pieces of chopped bread (rye, white, potato, wheat) but you can use bread crumbs instead of chopped bread if you want to. Maybe 1/3 cup of plain or Italian bread crumbs, they’d both do great. Thank you very much for asking. I’ll add the two pieces of chopped bread to the recipe. Thank you! You Rock!
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At what point are the onions added?