grilled wagyu beef gyros with lemony kale & dill.

here’s a dinner idea that feels like you’re having takeout - but you’ve made it right at home. i love making things that end up tasting like i did not make it, if that makes sense. like when somebody else makes you a sandwich…it’s always better, somehow.

with all this extra at-home cooking this year and staying in as much as possible, it’s nice to have some dinner ideas up your sleeve that are simple, but may not be in your regular weekly dinner rotation.

make it feel new & different by leveling up the quality of your meat purchase. and if you’re real cool, you’d do a combination of ground wagyu and lamb for these. succulent city.

wagyu is very flavorful & tender, but can be spendy - this is a great use of it where the beef is a main star of the show and not hidden amongst too many other flavors.

however, all the accompanying flavors are big, yet so complimentary - they all work together so fantastically.

lemony kale for brightness, tomatoes & cucumbers for freshness, pickled red onions for zing and acidity, homemade tzatziki yogurt sauce for cool creaminess, & warm fluffy naan flatbreads to hug it all together.

i went for quite large naan flatbreads for these, thinking i’d cut them in half for each gyro.

we discovered that we could very much eat a whole one, it’s just a bigggg filling meal.

big fat warm puffy loaded gyros are the ‘salt fat acid heat’ meal of my dreams.

these are great as a weeknight meal for 1 or 2 people, since you can prepare just enough that you’d need made hot & fresh, or just reheat leftover meat another day.

this could also be a great group meal, served with oven fries and a crisp salad.

whip some of these babies up and share the absolute scrumptiousness with the lovies around you. 🤗

Wagyu Beef Gyros with Lemony Kale & Dill

Makes 4 Large Gyro (recipe easily halved or doubled)

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Beef-

• 1 lb. ground Wagyu beef

• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes

• 1 tsp. kosher salt

• 1 tsp. ground black pepper

• drizzle of olive oil

For the Tzatziki sauce -

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt

• 1/2 a large cucumber, chopped

• juice of 1/2 a lemon

• 1 garlic clove, crushed & minced

• 2 TB. extra virgin olive oil

• 1/4 cup fresh dill, roughly chopped or torn

• handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped (optional)

• pinch of kosher salt & black pepper, to taste

For the Toppings -

• 4 large naan flatbreads

• 3-4 large lacinato kale leaves, washed and chopped

• 2 roma tomatoes, chopped

• sliced cucumber, optional

• lots of fresh dill

• pickled red onions

• 1/2 a lemon

• 1-2 TB extra virgin olive oil

• red pepper flakes & ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions-

In a small bowl, mix all ingredients for the homemade tzatziki sauce, lastly folding in the fresh dill. Chill in the fridge while you prepare everything else.

Chop the kale and gently toss in a small bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, juice of 1/2 a lemon and a pinch of kosher salt. Massage with your hands or toss well with tongs. Chop the tomatoes and slice the cucumbers. Tear the dill and mint off the stems.

Combine all ingredients for the beef in a medium sized bowl with your hands. Form elongated patties. Grill the patties on a barbecue, gas grill or grill pan, 3-4 minutes on each side. Let rest on a cutting board. Roughly tear or chop the cooked patties into chunks.

Grill the naan flatbreads on the same grill, or warm each side in a pan, just until soft and pliable, not crisp. Spread some tzatziki sauce on the naan, a handful of lemony kale, then several pieces of Wagyu beef. Top with extra tzatziki sauce, chopped tomato, cucumber (optional), pickled red onions, fresh dill, red chili flakes and extra black pepper, if desired.

Enjoy immediately!

qp

everything trader joe's gyros.

yaaaaaaaaas. 

excited to share this one! pete & i love to make gyros at home - and we've made them in several different ways using ALL items you can buy at trader joe's!

all for $22! and you can use these ingredients to make either a whole bunch of gyros at once, or stretch them out to have them in 2-4 sittings, depending how many people are eating and how many gyros you'll have. i usually eat 1 if we're using the naan bread; if we're using the thinner flatbreads i might have 2. anyhoo you can stretch these out and have gyros for several meals!

and you can have this done in less than 20 minutes! very excite!

i LUHUHUHHHHVE gyros. & greek food in general. even though these are considered the hot dog of greek food, me no give a hoot. i proudly enjoy hot dogs too, so there. 

so the meat component in here is meatballs -- not lamb + beef. but, i find that the italian meatballs at TJ's do a great job at mimicking gyro meat flavor. especially when you crispify them.

here's what we use!

italian style meatballs ($3.99), tomatoes ($2.29), cucumbers ($1.99), green bell pepper ($0.69), spinach ($1.99), red onion ($0.89), feta cheese ($2.69), tzatziki ($3.49), and naan ($3.69) or flatbreads. 

you can use other colors of bell peppers or other veggies you like, these are just the basics of what i normally go for, flavor-wise. it doesn't matter what type of tomatoes or cucumbers you get - they have a few varieties.

also, i prefer to make tzatziki homemade. but they've got it at TJ's, too!

the naan bread is super fluffy and has a great texture, but they're an odd shape to fit stuff in. i'll get the middle eastern flatbreads at TJ's most of the time. pitas work, too.

i've tried using TJ's turkey meatballs in these gyros, but the regular italian style are just way better tasting.  way mo fat & calz though. i actually barely use two meatballs on my gyro because i'll slice them up and crisp up the interior in the pan. and they're pretty rich. one meatball goes a long way for me. pete just goes whole meatball style; he doesn't know what calz are. 

dice up the tomatoes, cucumbers, green pepper, some red onion, add a few shakes of salt & pepper, and gently toss with a spoon. i like to chill this while i'm waiting for the meatballs to cook. 

we kicked our microwave to tha curb, so i like to thaw the meatballs a little bit before putting them in the pan. i add a little water and cover the pan to steam it up for about 5 minutes, then uncover and turn them to crisp. then i'll cut them in half or slice each meatball into 4 and crisp up those innards on low while i'm getting everything else ready.

if you do have a microwave, heat them in there for a few minutes and then brown them in a pan for about 5 minutes.

warm the naan, flatbreads, or pitas on a pan til they're easy to fold, then build your gyro!

i like to bulk it up and add extra greens like spinach, then layers of tzatziki, veggies, meatball slices, feta, and more veggies on top! 

sriracha is also amazing on gyros.

hey! you could also use the extra veggies & such to make a chunky greek salad on the side! 

we love you TJ's! and obviously while you're there you'll probably get a cheap bottle of wine and some sort of delish seasonal cookies or fabulous chocolate treat. because that's just what happens in that place. 

qp