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Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!)

Ground Beef Gyros have all that great traditional gyro flavor — and are easy to make at home!

The other day I was craving gyros, but didn’t feel like driving to my local gyros place and spending too much on fast food dinner for the family. (If you give a mouse a restaurant gyro… he’ll probably want some fries to go with it…) But then I remembered having seen people talking about ground beef gyros on Facebook recently, so thought it might be fun to give that a try! Thus, these Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!) were born.

plate of ground beef gyros

I started with this ground beef gyros recipe from Taste of Home, but decided to use fresh garlic and Kosher salt, and to add both parsley and rosemary in an effort to replace some of the missing depth of flavor from the lamb. You of course don’t get the same texture with ground beef gyros as with your usual blended and processed gyro meat, but the flavor makes for a nice departure from hamburgers — and the homemade gyros really did the job of soothing my gyros craving. See how they work for you! 🙂

Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!)

Ingredients

– for the sauce

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 of a medium cucumber, peeled & diced
Lemon juice, to taste
Sea salt, to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp minced)

– for the gyros

1.5 pounds ground beef
2.25 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp rosemary, crushed between your fingers
1.5 tsp parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
1.5 tsp onion powder
1.5 tsp Kosher salt
Black pepper, to taste

– to serve

Pitas, flatbread, or naan (I used naan from my freezer…)
Tomato slices
Lettuce
Sliced onion
Yogurt sauce, above
Feta crumbles (optional)

Directions

Combine all sauce ingredients, then refrigerate prepared sauce so that the flavors can meld while you cook the rest of the recipe.

mix ground beef with seasonings

Combine ground beef and seasonings in a large bowl, then form into several patties. Fry these in a 12.5″ cast iron skillet over medium heat until cooked through (about 7 minutes a side). Remove to a cutting board and let cool for about 10 minutes, then slice.

ground beef gyros on naan

Serve the sliced ground beef gyro meat in pitas, on naan, or on flatbread, topped with tomato, lettuce, onions, yogurt sauce, and (optional) feta.

Note: The consistency here will not be the same as you get with real gyros, but the flavor is pretty close (as close as you’re going to get without adding the lamb!). If you’re low carb or gluten free, just enjoy your gyro in lettuce or on an appropriate wrap.

Homemade Gyros hit the spot

ground beef gyros have all the flavor

Hope you enjoy this homemade ground beef gyros recipe! (Fauxros??) They’re so full of flavor from the garlic and spices, and all the boys in this house enjoyed theirs, that’s for sure. These homemade gyros on naan bread made for a satisfying dinner on their own, with just the rest of the cucumber and some fruit on the side.

Since the meat itself and all the toppings are low carb/gluten free, it’s also super easy to substitute for the naan and enjoy yours on a lettuce or other suitable wrap in order to keep this recipe suitable for various diets.

Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!), printable recipe

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5 from 15 votes

Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!)

These ground beef gyros make for a nice departure from hamburgers — and really did the job of soothing my gyros craving. See how they work for you! 🙂
Course dinner
Resting time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

– for the sauce

  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/4 of a medium cucumber, peeled & diced
  • Lemon juice, to taste
  • Sea salt, to taste
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp minced)

– for the gyros

  • 1.5 pounds ground beef
  • 2.25 tsp oregano
  • 1.5 tsp rosemary, crushed between your fingers
  • 1.5 tsp parsley
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1.5 tsp onion powder
  • 1.5 tsp Kosher salt
  • Black pepper, to taste

– to serve

  • Pitas,flatbread, or naan (I used naan from my freezer…)
  • Tomato slices
  • Lettuce
  • Sliced onion
  • Yogurt sauce (above)
  • Feta crumbles, optional

Instructions

  • Combine all sauce ingredients, then refrigerate prepared sauce so that the flavors can meld while you cook the rest of the recipe.
  • Combine ground beef and seasonings in a large bowl, then form into several patties. Fry these in a 12.5″ cast iron skillet over medium heat until cooked through (about 7 minutes a side). 
  • Remove to a cutting board and let cool for about 10 minutes, then slice.
  • Serve the sliced ground beef gyro meat in pitas, on naan, or on flatbread, topped with tomato, lettuce, onions, yogurt sauce, and (optional) feta.

Notes

The consistency here will not be the same as you get with real gyros, but the flavor is pretty close (as close as you’re going to get without adding the lamb!). If you’re low carb or gluten free, just enjoy your gyro in lettuce or on an appropriate wrap.

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Recipe Rating




Ronda

Tuesday 12th of October 2021

We loved this! I put the leftover sauce and ground meat over pasta the next day. It was delicious.

Mike

Friday 10th of April 2020

Mix the meat in a stand mixer with all the seasonings, 1/2 cup water and 2tbs potato or corn starch. Blend it until the meat turns pink instead of red. It should have a very sticky consistency. Form it into a loaf and bake it until cooked. Let it cool. Slice it and fry in a non stick pan until heated/browned crisp edges and serve.

Elizabeth

Wednesday 24th of June 2020

Ground turkey is very fine ground. I use that a lot. To help compact it while in the loaf pan, you get a red brick wrapped in foil, don't get the brick wet with water or weigh down with another meatloaf pan that has water in it. Once done baking, you slice it and can also lay it on a cookie sheet and broil it for 1-2 minutes. I also do the gyro seasoning on chicken tenders, Yum yum. I did a dirty tzatziki, Greek yogurt with dill pickle relish, garlic powder and lemon pepper seasoning, no salt one. Short on time, so I pan cooked ground turkey.

Mandy

Friday 10th of April 2020

Mike, Does this help with the texture or does it add something more to the flavor too? Just asking because raw meat grosses me out, but, if it makes is closer in texture to regular gyros, I will try it. Thanks.

Heather

Saturday 4th of January 2020

Excellent recipe! Great flavor, so easy to make quickly; my picky eaters all loved it too.

Emily

Wednesday 10th of July 2019

Sooo good! I can’t believe my husband and I ate the whole thing!

Kathy Seaman

Thursday 23rd of May 2019

Love your recipes and blog.