Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!)

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

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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5 from 15 votes

Ground Beef Gyros (kind of..!)

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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 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 4

Author Rachel Singer

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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