Homemade Gyro Meat
This homemade gyro meat combines beef and lamb with onion, garlic, oregano, marjoram, and rosemary. Baked in a loaf pan and compressed for a dense, sliceable texture, it delivers restaurant-style gyro flavor without a rotisserie.
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Servings: 8
Calories: 236kcal
Ingredients
- 1 pound Lean Ground Beef
- 1 pound ground pork or ground lamb
- 1 Red Onion. chopped rough chopped
- 6 cloves Garlic
- 2 teaspoons Ground Marjoram
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 2 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
Instructions
- Place onions, garlic into a large food processor and process until finely chopped but not liquefied.
- Add meat and all the seasonings to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix for 3-5 minutes. Do not skip this step. If you do, it will be like ground beef with some weird seasonings in it. It should be an extremely sticky texture.
- Put into a greased 8x8 foil pan, press into the sides and corners, smooth out the top, and bake at 350 for 60 mins, or until a meat thermometer placed into the thickest part of the loaf reads 175-180F. I know that ground beef only needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 160, but for the correct texture, you want to cook it to at least 175F.
- Take it out of the oven and drain all the fat.
- Cover it with foil and then place something heavy on it to compress it. I put a cast iron skillet on top and then carefully placed 3 cans of beans on top of the skillet to compress it for 30 minutes while it rests.
- Slice into thin slices.
Video
Notes
I think the final fat content and calories are lower because I ended up draining out at least half a cup of fat, but I don't know how to account for that in the macros.
- Use any kind of relatively fatty ground meat like beef, lamb, pork, or a combination. If you use chicken or turkey, you may have a drier, leaner result.
- Paddle the living daylights out of that mixture. Let me tell you--it's all in the paddling of that meat. Without this, you just have a meatloaf texture. Paddling matters! Read the article above for the process of protein extraction, and why it matters.
- Put it into a loaf pan and cook it. Then you want to weight down that cooked loaf. This is not the time for a shortcut. Put a heavy object on that loaf, like a skillet or two cans of beans, and let it get quite thoroughly smooshed so that your homemade gyro meat has the same texture as the restaurant gyro meat does.
- This meat freezes well if properly wrapped. I suggest you leave the leftovers in a loaf, wrap well with foil, and then put into a plastic ziptop bag. Alternatively, you can use a FoodSaver (see my FoodSaver review here).
- Serve with tzatziki, hummus, baba ghanoush, and/or pita.
Nutrition
Calories: 236kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 15g