This Beef Gyro recipe with Authentic Greek Tzatziki Sauce is a delicious combination of flavors from red onion, garlic, marjoram, rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper that you can easily make at home.
A gyro sandwich is so delicious! It reminds me of our trip to Greece. We stayed at the AVA Hotel and Suites in Athens, which is great little boutique hotel that is close to many restaurants, shops and sights to see. Here is the view of the Acropolis from our hotel room balcony!
We toured the Parthenon on top of the Acropolis.
From the top of the Acropolis, you have an amazing view of the city of Athens and beyond.
We also took a full day cruise from Athens to these three Greek Islands: Poros, Hydra and Aegina.
Okay, so back to the gyros recipe. I love all of the seasonings that go into making gyro meat for that Greek gyro taste. While this is a Beef Gyros recipe, you can also check out my recipes for Lamb Gyros and Lamb and Beef Gyros. Also, we have a Greek Chicken Gyros recipe that is also amazingly great!
The process of making ground beef gyros is quite simple. Start by placing the chopped red onion in a food processor. 
Process until finely chopped.
Remove the onion from the food processor and place in a tea towel, squeezing to remove all the juices, then return it to the food processor.
Add the spices to the food processor.
Add the ground beef to the food processor.
Pulse for approximately 1 minute until you get a paste like consistency.
The gyro beef mixture will form together in the food processor, similar to a ball of dough.
Place mixture in a glass baking dish. 
Flatten and smooth the meat into a nice meatloaf as shown below.
Place in a water bath and cook at 325°F for 60-75 minutes or you have an internal temp of 165°F-170°F. Once removed from the oven, drain the fat. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and place on a wire rack (I also put a pan under the rack to catch any drippings) and place a heavy object on top to compress the gyros meat. I used a cast iron skillet with 3 cans inside the skillet for additional weight.
Let rest for 30 minutes and slice.
Slice the entire loaf. 
Place meat slices on a baking sheet and broil for 3-5 minutes until crispy, so the texture is like it came off of your very own rotisserie grill!
Serve in pita bread with lettuce, sliced tomato and sliced onion and don’t forget to add our highly rated gyro sauce from this link: Authentic Greek Tzatziki sauce.
This recipe makes about 14 slices, which is enough for 7 ground beef gyro sandwiches if you use 2 slices per sandwich. Is your mouth watering already?
Here’s the Recipe!
Beef Gyros Recipe with Authentic Greek Tzatziki Sauce
Ingredients
Ground Beef Gyro Meat
- 1 lb. ground beef - lower the fat content the better
- ½ large red onion - chopped
- 2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
- 2 tsp Marjoram
- 2 tsp Rosemary
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 2 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Black Pepper
Sandwich
- 7 Pita Breads
- 7 Lettuce leaves
- 7 Tomato slices
- 4 Onion slices
Instructions
- Place red onion in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
- Remove the onion from the food processor and place in a tea towel, squeezing to remove all the juices.
- Return the onion back to the food processor with the remaining ingredients and pulse for approximately 1 minute until you get a paste like consistency. TIP: The gyro beef mixture will form together in the food processor, similar to a ball of dough.
- Place mixture in a glass baking dish. Flatten and smooth the meat into a nice meatloaf.
- Place in a water bath and cook at 325°F for 60-75 minutes or you have an internal temp of 165°F-170°F.
- Once removed from the oven, drain the fat.
- Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes and place on a wire rack (I also put a pan under the rack to catch any drippings) and place a heavy object on top to compress the gyros meat. I used a cast iron skillet with 3 cans inside the skillet for additional weight.
- Remove the weight and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Slice the meat into desired sized slices.
- Place meat slices on a baking sheet and broil for 3-5 minutes until crispy!
- Serve in pita bread with lettuce, sliced onion, sliced tomato and this Authentic Greek Tzatziki Sauce.
- Enjoy!
VIDEO
Nutrition
Enjoyed this recipe, and I was SKEPTICAL about making my own gyro meat at first, but it turned out really well.
One note for others planning to make this: plan for the meat to take 3-4x longer to cook through.
Hi Kate,
Thanks for the note. I’m just going to say that I don’t like typos in my recipes, but sometimes they happen.
It is now updated for the correct cooking time.
– Linda
I am going to five this a try …. will post my feedback. Am going to try it with 50% lamb and 50% lean ground beef. I expect to see a bit more fat due to the lamb ….
Have you ever tried that combo?
Hi Laurie,
Yes, in fact you can see the recipe at the bottom of this post: https://thewanderlustkitchen.com/lamb-gyros-with-authentic-greek-tzatziki-sauce/
– Linda
When baking the meat do I add water in the glass backing dish or place the baking dish in another pan with water in it??
Hi Frank,
It is a pan of water that you put the pan you are baking into to keep the temperature consistent for even cooking and keep the moisture up in the oven. You can learn a little more here: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/what-is-a-water-bath.htm
– Linda
I’m confused. Your answer of “Neither” contradicts your directions as well as those in the link provided. Both say place the dish IN a water bath. Please clarify. Thanks!
Hi Mamakitty, you are correct, place the dish in a water bath. I have updated my answer above. Thank you!