In episode 82, Taryn shares a delicious Greek-inspired recipe – a Gyro Salad. She walks you through making lamb kabobs and assembling the salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and tzatziki sauce. It’s a simple and refreshing salad that’s perfectly paired with the grilled meat. Tune in for easy-to-follow instructions and Mediterranean flavors to elevate your salad game!
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast player. Or scroll down to read a full transcript.
RECIPES MENTIONED
These are some of the recipes mentioned in the episode, most of which are on Hot Pan Kitchen.
- Gyro salad
- Greek lamb skewers
- Easy tzatziki sauce from Cupcakes & Kale Chips
- Greek chicken salad with easy vinaigrette
- Grilled peaches
- Grilled pineapple
- Easy fruit salad
- Instant Pot potato salad
- Greek rice salad
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Some of the following are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Episode 067: Grilling Greek-Inspired Lamb Skewers
- Metal skewers
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Salt conversion chart from Epicurious
- Dairy-free tzatziki
- Ove Glove oven mitts
TRANSCRIPT
Taryn Solie: Hello grillers, and thank you for tuning in today! I am your host, Taryn Solie, and I am here to talk with you about all things grilling and outdoor cooking, including delicious recipes and handy tips and tricks, all to give you some grilling inspiration.
This week we’re talking about a salad option to pair with some grilled meat. There are so many different combos you could do with grilled proteins on top of a salad but the one I’ll be going over today is Greek inspired – I’m talking about a gyro salad.
If you’re not familiar with a gyro, it’s a Greek dish that typically consists of seasoned meat that’s been roasted on a spit then sliced and is served in a wrapped pita. Usually it also has veggies like tomatoes and onions in the pita too, and is drizzled with tzatziki, which is a yogurt sauce made with cucumber and herbs.
For the recipe today we’re deconstructing the gyro into a simple salad. Now the protein for this salad, which is lamb kabobs, I’ve already talked about in Episode 67. I will be giving very general instructions for how to make them but if you want more details then go and listen to that episode.
Let’s start by getting into the ingredients! To make this gyro salad you’ll need the following:
For the lamb kabobs grab:
- ¼ tsp of ground cinnamon,
- ½ tsp of onion powder,
- ½ tsp of garlic powder,
- 1.5 tsps of dried oregano,
- 1.5 tsps of Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and
- 1 pound of ground lamb – you can also use ground beef if you don’t like or can’t find lamb.
Then for the salad you’ll need:
- 1 head of leafy lettuce, like green, red, or romaine,
- 1 pint of cherry tomatoes,
- 1 cucumber, and
- tzatziki, or some other type of sauce or dressing.
I do note a couple of things in episode 67 about making the kabobs, such as making sure your spices aren’t stale, using flat metal skewers to keep the meat from spinning around, and the use of Diamond Crystal kosher salt specifically and a resource for converting the amount if you have a different type of salt. I’ll put some of those resources that I listed in that episode on the show notes page for this episode so they’re easily accessible.
I also want to make a quick note about the tzatziki. You can easily buy it at a grocery store – it’s usually in the deli section near the hummus. And if you’re dairy free I’ve found dairy-free tzatziki at some natural food grocery stores, and I’ll provide a link to the one I saw on the show notes page. You could also try making your own tzatziki, and I’ll link a recipe on the show notes page for that as well.
If tzatziki isn’t your thing, you could make a basic vinaigrette. I have a recipe for one that I use on my Greek Chicken Salad and I’ll link to that on the show notes page too.
Okay, now on to the recipe!
The first thing is to get your grill to a temperature of around 400 degrees F.
Next you want to make the kabobs. You want to combine all of the spices in a medium-sized bowl then add the meat to it. Use your hands to combine everything together, then separate the mixture into 6 equal-sized portions. Form one into a small log shape with your hands and insert a skewer into the bottom of the log, going up and through to the top. Keep forming the log until it’s about 3 to 3.5 inches long, and repeat with the remaining portions of meat.
Once the grill has come to temperature you want to cook the kabobs for roughly 5 minutes per side with the lid closed, flipping them in between – you’ll want to use a hot pad or oven mitt (like an Ove Glove) for this as the skewers will be hot! Keep cooking them until they reach an internal temperature between 160 and 165 degrees F, then remove them from the grill and let them rest for 5 minutes.
While the lamb kabobs are cooking, you can prep the rest of the dish. Start by washing the lettuce in cold water then drying it off with a kitchen towel – this keeps any dressing from being watered down and sliding right off the leaves. Next use a large sharp knife and cutting board to chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces. If you’re short on time you can also just buy pre-chopped lettuce.
Next use the knife and cutting board to chop up the tomatoes and cucumbers. Depending on the size of the tomatoes you can chop them in halves or quarters and set them aside. For the cucumber, slice it into thin pieces about ¼ to ⅛ inch thick, then stack the slices 3 or 4 high and cut them into quarters. You could also cut them into halves if your cucumber is on the smaller side, or you could even do very thin slices and just leave the slices whole – however you like to eat them.
Once the kabobs are finished resting it’s time to assemble the salad. Place some of the lettuce into a bowl, add a kabob on top, sprinkle in some chopped tomato and cucumbers, then drizzle with tzatziki or another sauce or dressing you like and you’re done!
This recipe is very simple but if you want to jazz it up a little you could add any number of things to your salad – kalamata olives, slices of red onion, crumbled feta cheese, or some roasted red peppers would all be good options.
And while this salad is really a meal in and of itself you could definitely have some sides with it to round things out. A side of fruit – either grilled fruit like peaches or pineapple, or a fruit salad – would be good options. Or if you’re wanting something starchy you could do a potato salad, or a rice salad – I actually have a Greek rice salad if you want to go all in on Mediterranean flavors.
I’ll include a link to the full printable recipe for this gyro salad, as well as the other recipes and resources I’ve mentioned, on the show notes page. To get to it you can either go to my main website at Hot Pan Kitchen dot com and click on podcast in the main menu, or you can click on the link provided in whatever podcast app you’re listening on.
If you enjoyed this recipe, consider subscribing to the show on your favorite podcast platform so you don’t miss out on future episodes! I’ve got so many more great grilling and smoking recipes you’re going to love.
That’s it for today, thank you so much for listening, and until next time, keep grilling like a mother.
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