Community Pick
Ground Beef Gyros
"This is a great summer meal and quick and easy to put together and tastes wonderful. Refreshing served with the cucumber sauce and is even low in fat. I think this came from Quick Cooking. It's a favorite in our house."
photo by Jonathan Melendez
- Ready In:
- 22mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt
- 1⁄3 cup chopped seeded cucumber (thinly slice remainder of cucumber)
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped onions
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon sugar
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Filling
- 1 lb lean ground beef (I use ground turkey)
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
- 3⁄4 teaspoon pepper
- 4 pita breads
- 3 cups shredded lettuce
- 1 large tomatoes, chopped
- 1 small onion, chopped
directions
- In a bowl, combine first 5 ingredients.
- Cover and refrigerate. (If possible overnight).
- In separate bowl, combine ground beef and seasonings.
- Mix well.
- Shape into 4 patties.
- Grill, covered, (you can also use a toaster oven or broil these) over medium to high heat for 10 to 12 minutes or until meat is no longer pink, turning once.
- Cut patties into thin slices.
- Stuff into pitas.
- Add lettuce,cucumber, tomato, and onion.
- Serve with yogurt sauce.
Questions & Replies
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I'm not sure if this is a question or a tweak. Why not just cook the meat in a skillet (coarsely crumbled) with seasonings instead of making patties and grilling/broiling and then trying to slice into thin slices? It just seems easier to me, am I missing something? -
I have a package of chicken bacon, could I use it to give the texture of gyro meat instead of the patties?
Reviews
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To make this a little more authentic looking (and easier IMO) I put the meat, onions and seasonings in a food processor an pulse to a soft consistency, then pack it firmly into a loaf pan and bake it like a meatloaf. Let it cool and chill in the fridge a few hours or overnite. Then slice thinly and saute the slices in a skillet to get them nice and browned. I have made them many different ways and we like these the best. -
Wow, this is a terrific recipe for Gyros. I wanted to use ground beef as ground lamb is so expensive and hard to find around here. You couldn't tell the difference in the taste! I think the oregano and garlic were the key. I almost added real onion instead of onion powder and am glad I didn't. Real onion would have made the meat too loose to cut into slices. Instead of making burger patties, I made it into one long low loaf and baked it in the oven at 350 for about 35 minutes. Came out perfect. It was nice and dense and as a result was very easy to slice for the sandwiches. The cucumber sauce was delish. I also used Recipe #79388 for the pita bread as it's such a delicious bread for gyros. My 11 year old dd was in heaven eating this. Thank you for posting. It will be a repeat in our home. -
I would leave the sugar out of the Cucumber sauce. I have never understood why Americans feel they need to add sugar to everything. -
generally speaking, I would say if you are going to try to emulate a Gyro with a mundane flavored meat like burger, you at least need to hold true to the spices that make it what it is. Marjoram, Rosemary, Thyme, Cumin etc... these are all flavors that this recipe is missing. Other than the normal 'fabulous four' of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders this only has oregano. Not sure how this is actually supposed to represent the authentic version? You have basically created a poor mans hamburger on a pita.... -
This was a delicious recipe, the only reason why I gave it four stars is because I had to make some modifications as suggested by other reviewers. For the meat, the smell wasn't quite there (pre-cooked) so I added some cumin, italian seasoning, oregano, onion salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Then as suggested by another reviewer I kneaded the meat for about 10 minutes and pounded it on the counter for 10 minutes (I believed this gave it the gyro rotisserie look, as my first batch I omitted this step and it resembled a cooked meatloaf texture) forming afterwards into a rectangle loaf. <br/>Now for the Tzatziki sauce: I used 8oz of plain greek yogurt, minced cucumber/garlic (used about 3 cloves), salt/pepper, and a pinch of dill (might use a little lemon juice next time).<br/>Aside from that we topped them off with baby spring salad mix, tomatoes, feta cheese on grilled Naan bread (which I brushed with homemade bread oil).
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Tweaks
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I can't believe it....we raise cattle, so I never had any use for turkey burgers, but age is forcing a diet change and I made with ground turkey. This was great! Although I altered Yogurt Sauce, replaced sugar and onions with dill and lemon, onion seemed a bit redundant since it was a garnish in the pita. Wife and three teenage kids enjoyed very much and appreciate a healthier lunch. Thank you
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Great for a low fat version! I also doubled the spices and used ground turkey instead of hamburger and Fat Free Sour Cream instead of yogurt (that's what I had on hand). I also added 1/4 tsp of dried dill to the gyro sauce. I will definitely be making this again instead of giving in to the high fat of lamb gyros. Thanks, Cyrene, for a great alternative. -
This is definitely a keeper. I used a whole cucumber (peeled and seeded) for the sauce and 8oz of sour cream instead of yogurt. I kept everything else in the sauce the same. The sour cream made it slightly too thick, so I sprinkled it sparsely with salt a few times to help draw some liquid out of the cucumbers, helping to make it a little thinner. This was perfect. I also added a few dashes of pepper to the sauce. I kept everything exactly the same for the meat patties, but I used naan from the bakery instead of pitas (next time I want to make my own naan for this). After the patties were grilled and sliced, I laid a slice (piece?) on naan on my pannini press and layered meat and thinly sliced onions on it. I put on the top naan layer and closed the press for a few minutes. After removing from the press, I added the sauce, tomatoes and lettuce between the naan and closed it back up. My husband and I lived lived in Germany for a few years and there were kabab (gyro) stands on every street corner. We fell in love with them there, and this is so close to the taste we remember. Fantastic!
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I was highly skeptical of this recipe since I've been visiting a local shop with wonderful gyros for many years now. Sadly, the shop closed last year and I've been looking for a new source for good gyros. I wasn't expecting much from something using beef instead of lamb, but it turned out extremely well! I added a bit more garlic than the recipe called for and used sirloin tip instead of cheaper ground beef. The sauce seemed to be lacking something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Definitely a keeper though! -
I used ground turkey for this recipie. While browning the turkey, I ended up doubling the onion and garlic powder b/c of personal tastes. I followed the advise of some other user reviews and made the sauce the day before, so the flavors would have time to mellow. I used greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt, garlic powder instead of fresh garlic (this was not my preference, but my fresh garlic had gone bad) and I didn't add the sugar to the sauce when it was made. However, i ended up adding the recommended amount of sugar to the sauce while I was making the filling b/c the sauce was still a bit too tart, and it really made the sauce delicious. Instead of making patties and them slicing them after they were cooked, I just let the meat stay as crumbles. We ate them on some flatbread wraps we bought from the store. The gyros were very good-not quite what you get in a restaurant, but they were definitely good for home-made. We will be adding this recipe to our repertoire. Thank you.
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Cyrene
United States
Residence in Sedona, Arizona. Right now am a stay-at-home-mom of a 20-month-old boy, Evan, and am expecting another baby soon in the next couple weeks. I love cooking and baking and try new recipes all the time. Can't seem to get enough new ones!
