isithalal.food · Recipes

Halal chicken gyros

Quick pitta gyros with flattened Halal chicken breast, garlic and oregano, tomato, red pepper and a mint tzatziki made with a yogurt that has no gelatine.

Greek · Main · Easy · 2 stuffed pittas · 14 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

In Greece the gyro cone is often pork; a chicken or lamb gyro is only Halal with Halal-slaughtered meat, and some yogurts are thickened with gelatine.

Halal-critical ingredients

• The meat: In Greece the gyro cone is often pork; chicken and lamb gyros also exist but need Halal slaughter. Use Halal chicken from a Halal butcher or a certified pack. When buying a gyro, ask which meat is on the spit and whether it is Halal. See Gyro and Chicken.
• Greek yogurt: Some set and low-fat yogurts are thickened with gelatine, which is often pork. Read the yogurt's ingredients and choose one with no gelatine. See Yogurt and Tzatziki.

Ingredients

Chicken

• 1 large skinless Halal chicken breast
• a little rapeseed oil, for brushing
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• ½ tsp dried oregano

Tzatziki

• 2 tbsp Greek yogurt without gelatine
• 10 cm piece cucumber, grated and squeezed dry
• 2 tbsp chopped mint, plus a few leaves to serve

To serve

• 2 wholemeal pitta breads
• 2 red or yellow tomatoes, sliced
• 1 red pepper from a jar (not in oil), deseeded and sliced

Method

1. Flatten the chicken. Cut the chicken breast in half lengthways, cover with cling film and bash with a rolling pin to flatten it. Brush with a little oil, then cover with the garlic, oregano and some pepper.
2. Cook the chicken. Heat a non-stick frying pan and cook the chicken for a few minutes on each side until cooked through with no pink in the middle.
3. Make the tzatziki. While the chicken cooks, mix the yogurt, cucumber and chopped mint.
4. Fill the pittas. Cut the tops from the pittas along their longest side and stuff them with the chicken, tomato, pepper and tzatziki. Tuck in a few mint leaves. If packing for lunch, keep the tzatziki in a separate pot and add it just before eating so the pitta doesn't go soggy.

Allergens

gluten (pitta), milk (yogurt)

How this recipe was researched

Method from BBC Good Food's 'Herby chicken gyros' by Sara Buenfeld (serves 2: a large chicken breast halved lengthways and flattened, brushed with rapeseed oil, garlic, dried oregano and pepper and cooked a few minutes a side in a non-stick pan; 2 tbsp Greek yogurt mixed with grated cucumber and mint as tzatziki; stuffed into 2 wholemeal pittas with tomato and jarred red pepper). The source already uses chicken; we specified Halal chicken and a yogurt without gelatine. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: a gyro pitta in Greece, not the finished dish from this recipe.