If you’ve ever eaten a gyro before, you’ll remember that sauce it comes with more than anything. That’s tzatziki sauce. A blend of cucumber and greek yogurt. It’s amazing. Here is an idea for a healthy lunch: a gyro salad with tzatziki dressing.

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Gyro Salad With Tzatziki Dressing

Another important piece of the gyro flavor is the meat. Traditionally gyros are made with lamb meat, but that is not always easy to find. Beef can make a good substitute. Feel free to just brown and cook the meat in a pan rather than bake it. Chicken gyros are also a thing. I like to use beef in my salads seasoned with oregano, garlic, salt and pepper to get somewhat of a gyro feel to it. 

The best part about this salad is that it is easily prepped ahead of time. I will plan to make them for a few days for lunches. 

You can choose your favorite toppings for your gyro salad with tzatziki dressing. My favorites are:

• mixed greens or spinach
• kalamata olives
• red onion
• tomatoes
• feta cheese

Why is this salad healthy?

Well, it’s a salad. Greens provide a bunch of nutrients including vitamin K, vitamin A, folate, fiber. Basically the greens in a salad are going to nourish you with good stuff. It is wise to choose a good green so you’ll eat it. A word of advice: if you’re an iceberg eater (which is sort of just water) add in a few spinach or romaine leaves at a time to see how you like it. Good choices of greens may be spinach, romaine, mixed greens, other lettuces with a darker color. But if you choose iceberg, you are still doing great and enjoy it. Read my post on Stop Trying To Lose Weight for a little motivation.

The toppings are also great. We have tomatoes, rich in lycopene which is anti-cancer. There is feta cheese, which has calcium for bones, Kalamata olives are just delicious and provide healthy fats linked to reduced blood pressure. 

Fresh Flavors: Turn your favorite gyro flavors into a gyro salad with tzatziki dressing for a healthy lunch. 

Gyro Salad

Turn your favorite gyro flavors into a gyro salad with tzatziki dressing for a healthy lunch

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Lunch

Cuisine Greek

Servings 6 salads

Ingredients

  

Meat

• 1 lb ground beef can use chicken (or skip if non-meat eater)
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder

Tzatziki Dressing

• 1 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 juice from 1 lemon
• 1 cucumber, seeded
• 2 tbsp feta cheese optional
• 1 tsp dill or a few sprigs fresh
• 2 cloves garlic
• salt & pepper

Salad Toppings

• mixed greens
• halved cherry tomatoes
• thinly sliced red onion
• halved kalamata olives
• crumbled feta cheese

Instructions

 

Prepare Meat

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix ground beef with seasonings. Flatten out the beef on a greased (or line with parchment paper) sheet with sides or a loaf pan. It will look like a large rectangle burger. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. Cut in slices. Alternatively, add seasonings to 1 lb of chicken breasts or thighs and bake how you choose.

Make Dressing

• Get the food processor ready. Slice the cucumber lengthwise and take out the seeds with a spoon. Mince the garlic cloves. Juice the lemon. Add all ingredients for the dressing in the food processor and process until mixed. It will be lumpy and thicker than standard dressing. Add more olive oil to thin it out, or more greek yogurt to thicken.

Make Salad

• Prepare greens in a bowl. Top with salad components of your choice. Top with meat and then dressing. Enjoy!

Notes

The dressing keeps refrigerated for about 3-4 days.