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Chicken Gyro Salad with Tzatziki Sauce

Chicken Gyro Salad with Tzatziki Sauce — Chicken gyros transformed into a HEALTHY salad with an EASY homemade tzatziki sauce that’s loaded with tangy dill FLAVOR!! Ready in 20 minutes!!



Greek Chicken Gyro Salad

Rather than making traditional chicken gyros, I deconstructed things by adding veggies and turned gyros into a salad. Healthy, easy, ready in 20 minutes, and packed with so much flavor!

Chunks of boneless skinless chicken breasts are quickly sautéed with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, and oregano. The chicken is moist, juicy, and has the classic gyro flavor you’re looking for.

It’s added over a bed of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, pita chips, feta, and topped with tangy, dill-infused tzatziki sauce that coats everything with its lovely cooling creaminess.

Chicken Gyro Salad Ingredients

This Greek gyro salad has three main components: the gyro-style chicken, the salad itself, and the homemade tzatziki sauce.

Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe: 

For the Greek chicken:

For the salad:

For the tzatziki dressing:

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

How to Make a Chicken Gyro Salad

This Greek tzatziki chicken salad couldn’t be simpler to prepare! Here are the basic steps:

  1. Season the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and oregano and cook in a skillet until no longer pink inside.
  2. Near the end of the cook time, add the vinegar and lemon juice to the skillet and let simmer to thicken up. 
  3. Then, whisk together the homemade tzatziki sauce (you’ll likely wind up with leftovers, but it keeps for a few days). 
  4. After that, it’s just a matter of assembling your Greek gyro salad and digging in. 

Make-Ahead Instructions

This gyro chicken salad is great for meal prepping. I recommend preparing all the individual components ahead of time and storing them separately so the salad stays fresh.

Cook the chicken ahead of time and dice it into bite-sized pieces. You’d do the same with the raw veggies. You can also make the tzatziki sauce ahead of time.

Store everything in separate containers, then assemble gyro salads throughout the week as needed. 

Tips for Making Chicken Gryo Salad

If you want a thicker tzatziki sauce, you may want to wring out the grated cucumber in a clean kitchen towel. This will remove the excess moisture and makes for a thicker sauce. 

Note that leftover gyro tzatziki sauce will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. It becomes more watery over time, so just give it a good stir before eating the leftovers. 

Be sure to dice the veggies quite small so they’re easy to grab with your fork and eat in one bite. 

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4.89 from 9 votes

Chicken Gyro Salad with Tzatziki Sauce

By Averie Sunshine
Chicken gyros transformed into a HEALTHY gyro salad with an EASY homemade tzatziki sauce that's loaded with tangy dill FLAVOR!! Ready in 20 minutes!!
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Total Time: 22 minutes
Servings: 4
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Ingredients  

Chicken

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 to 1.25 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 2 to 3 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
  • 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Salad

  • 6 cups lettuce, Romaine or Iceberg recommended
  • 1 cup tomatoes, diced or halved if using cherry/grape tomatoes
  • 1 cup English cucumber, diced small
  • 1 cup crushed pita chips
  • 1 cup diced or crumbled feta cheese
  • ½ cup red onions, diced small

Tzatziki Sauce

  • 8 ounces plain Greek yogurt, must be Greek yogurt, I used 0% fat
  • about 1/2 English cucumber, finely grated (about 2/3 to 3/4 cup grated cucumber; use coarsest blade of a box grater)
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
  • ¾ teaspoon Kosher salt, or to taste
  • ¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
  • pinch sugar, optional and to taste

Instructions 

For the Chicken:

  • To a large skillet, add the oil, chicken, evenly sprinkle with oregano, salt, pepper, and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, flipping intermittently so all sides cook evenly.
  • When chicken is about 90% cooked through, reduce the heat to medium-low, add the red wine vinegar, lemon juice (use caution because it will bubble up), and allow chicken to simmer another 1 to 2 minutes, or until done.
  • Cooking time will vary based on thickness of chicken breasts and sizes of pieces; set pan aside off the heat while you assemble the salad.

For the Salad:

  • To a large bowl, add the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, pita chips, onions, chicken and any cooking juices (loaded with flavor) from the pan; set aside.

For the Tzatziki Sauce:

  • To a medium bowl, add all ingredients, whisk to combine, taste, and check for flavor balance. Add additional salt, pepper, lemon juice, pinch sugar, etc. if necessary, to taste.
  • Evenly drizzle sauce over the salad, to taste. Salad is best fresh.

Notes

  • If you want a thicker tzatziki sauce, you may want to wring out the grated cucumber in a clean kitchen towel.
  • Extra sauce will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days, noting it may thin out as time passes and the cucumbers release their juices.

Nutrition

Serving: 1, Calories: 737kcal, Carbohydrates: 54g, Protein: 64g, Fat: 29g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 18g, Cholesterol: 157mg, Sodium: 1892mg, Fiber: 6g, Sugar: 11g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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