This is the Greek gyros recipe you’ve been looking for — not the American döner-style version, and not chicken. This is authentic Greek pork gyros: pork shoulder and pork belly, brined overnight, marinated in olive oil, oregano, and sumac, then cooked on a vertical rotisserie until the edges turn golden and crispy. Exactly the way they make it back home in Greece.

I grew up eating gyros from the neighborhood gyradiko — the gyros shop — where the spit turns all day and you can smell it from a block away. In Greece, gyros is pork. Chicken gyros exists too, but pork is the soul of it. What you find in many American restaurants — a pressed loaf of ground beef and lamb — that’s actually much closer to Turkish döner kebab. We call it doner in Greece too. It’s delicious, but it is not gyros.

This homemade Greek gyros recipe is the real deal. The brine makes the pork impossibly tender and juicy. The marinade is deeply aromatic. The vertical rotisserie — which you can rig at home with just a few wooden skewers if you don’t have one — does the rest. Serve it wrapped in warm pita with tzatziki, sliced tomatoes, and fries for a proper gyros pita, or plate it up Greek taverna-style with olives and feta on the side.

If you love this Homemade traditional Greek Pork Gyro, you will also love these Pork Skewers With Yogurt Lemon Sauce, Chicken Skewers Orzo Bowls with Lemon, or Bifteki-The Greek Burger!

Greek gyros pita with tzatziki, sliced tomatoes, and onions — traditional Greek street food made at home

Overview

How this Greek gyros recipe was born

It‘s a well-known fact that I make souvlaki with pita every time I feel homesick. It is also my most-requested dish whenever we have guests. I make versions with chicken and pork, wrapped in homemade pitas, and served with lots of veggies, sauces, and fries.

This time, I was on a quest to make authentic traditional Greek pork gyro on a vertical rotisserie. Lacking the outdoor grill, I found a relatively small vertical rotisserie I could use in my oven. It took a few tries to perfect this recipe. Lots of cuts of meat went on that rotisserie, and Daryl had to sample my homemade gyros versions daily for a week. He was not complaining; he is, after all, my trusted recipe tester, but let’s say he had had enough of my gyro escapades. I consulted my butcher for what cut would be perfect for traditional Greek pork gyros at home. Extensive research was conducted to identify the perfect marinade and authentic seasonings to achieve the unmistakable flavor of pork gyros. We tried various combinations, and the perfect Greek gyros is finally here. It was a major win to perfect the tenderness of the salty, crispy meat that is such a popular, delicious food back home in Greece.

Why you will love Greek pork gyro

It’s the real thing. Pork shoulder and belly on a rotisserie — the way Greek gyros is actually made in Greece, not the ground-meat American version.
The brine is non-negotiable. 24 hours in brine means impossibly tender, juicy meat that holds up to high heat and still gets crispy.
The marinade punches above its weight. Sumac, oregano, olive oil, a little honey — layers of flavor you taste in every bite.
Flexible cooking method. You don’t need a restaurant rotisserie. A small oven rotisserie, wooden skewers, or the parchment paper kleftiko method all work beautifully.

What is gyro meat made of

Traditional Greek gyros is prepared mainly with pork or chicken on a vertical metal spit that turns on its axis, cooking over a fire on one side. The cooked meat is cut into small vertical slices with a sharp knife, then wrapped in pita bread with sliced tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki sauce. We call it gyros pita. It is also served on a platter paired with the same ingredients.

Lebanese shawarma and Mexican tacos al pastor are all similar to gyros. All are descended from the Turkish döner kebab (from Turkish dönmek = to turn) created in the city of Bursa in the mid-19th century.

Döner kebab consists of lamb, beef, or chicken; however, a pork-based variant prevailed in Greece. At first in Greece, the gyros were called doner (or doner kebab), but in the early 1970s, the Greek term “gyros” (from the Greek word γύρος gyros, ‘circle’ or ‘turn’) was adopted.

In the US, a ground beef-and-lamb version is marketed as “gyros,” but this preparation is actually closer to döner kebab, which is what Greeks also call it. Authentic Greek gyros is made with real cuts of pork, not ground meat.

What makes Greek gyros different from what you find in America

If you’ve searched for a Greek gyros recipe and kept landing on chicken or ground-beef versions, you’re not alone — and now you understand why those results feel wrong.

In Greece, gyros is pork. That’s the default, the classic, the one you get handed wrapped in paper at a street gyradiko at midnight. Traditional Greek pork gyros is made with actual cuts of meat — shoulder for the lean, belly for the fat that renders and crisps on the spit.

What most Americans know as “gyros” — the compressed loaf of ground beef and lamb sliced off a rotating cone — is not Greek gyros. It is döner kebab, the Turkish preparation that spread across Europe and arrived in the US market, rebranded as “gyros.” In Greece, we call that doner. It’s a different dish: different meat, different texture, different tradition. Both are delicious. But only one is actually Greek gyros.

The seasoning of authentic Greek gyros is also distinctly Greek: oregano, garlic, sometimes sumac, always good olive oil. No cumin, no compressed loaf. Just well-seasoned pork, a hot spit, and time. That’s what this recipe gives you.

How to make pork gyros at home

To make a great traditional Greek gyro, the meat must be tender and not too lean. The fat adds so much flavor and makes the food crispy and delicious. A lean cut with no fat will produce a dry, tough gyro. The best combination is pork shoulder cutlets with some sliced pork belly. All the meat is brined for 24 hours. Then it marinates for a good amount of time before getting on the skewer. This preparation seems long, but it is easy and worth it. Trust me!

A pan with pork shoulder cutlets next to a pan with sliced pork belly.

Step 1. Brine

Left, herbs and spices for gyros brine. Right, cutlets in a water brine with herbs and spices.

Fill a small saucepan with water. Add the salt and sugar and simmer over medium-low heat for 3-4 minutes until the sugar and salt have diluted. Fill a large container with water and mix in the sugar/salt mixture. Stir well. Add all the other brine ingredients. Stir and add the meat. Make sure it is covered fully with water. Place in the fridge and brine, if possible, for 24 hours. It will result in very tender, juicy meat.

Step 2. Marinate

Spices on a plate a pan with pork marinating, and three small bowls with vinegar, honey, and olive oil.

The marinade intensifies the gyro’s flavor, making it delicious and aromatic. The longer you leave the meat in the marinade, the more it will absorb the seasonings. If you want to marinate meat quickly, use the vacuum-seal method. Get the right equipment; you can vacuum-seal your meat, shortening the time you need to wait before cooking.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Make sure the honey is well-fixed with everything. Rub the marinade on the meat, place it in the fridge, and marinate for 3 hours or overnight.

Step 3. Make the pork gyro

Raw pork cutlets on a vertical rotisserie with half a lemon on top, in a baking pan.

Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F.
Place the vertical skewer on a baking sheet and stack the cutlets by piercing them in the middle. Cut the pork belly slices in half and place them in between the pork cutlets. Trim some fat from the pork belly if you feel it is too much. I concentrate on placing the more meaty parts of the pork belly slices on the skewer and trimming most of the fat. I leave just enough for crispiness and flavor. Otherwise, the gyros might be too fatty and rich.
Place on top half a lemon or half an onion—Cook in the oven for 1 hour and thirty minutes. Rotate the pan in the oven every half hour to cook evenly.
Let the gyro rest for 10-15 minutes. Using a sharp knife, slice/shave the gyros vertically to serve.

Pork gyros on a vertical rotisserie with some pieces cut o the plate and half a lemon.

Pro tips

Some grills have a rotisserie; you can use it for cooking the gyro. Remember to set the rotisserie to rotate often to cook the gyro evenly.
You can improvise and make a vertical rotisserie of 3-4 wooden skewers. Stuck them on top of the onion and lemon halves—stack the meat as directed in the recipe and cook. The skewers will work well and deliver terrific results.
You can also substitute chicken for pork. Use skinless, boneless thighs and skip the brine; marinate the chicken for 3-4 hours or overnight. Cook for 45 minutes, then check every 15 minutes with a meat grilling thermometer if the chicken has reached 165°F and juices run clear. Be careful not to overcook. Cover with aluminum foil if the edges are crisping up too quickly.

How to eat pork gyro

Serve thinly sliced gyro on a platter with a cut-up warm pita, sliced tomatoes, tzatziki, spicy whipped feta, olives, and lemon slices to squeeze for a bright note. Add a sprinkle of smoked paprika before serving.

You can also make gyros pita souvlaki. Brush a pita with a little olive oil and warm it on a cast-iron or on a baking sheet in the oven. Place some gyro shavings in the middle of the pita. Add a generous tablespoon of sliced tomatoes, onions, and a tablespoon of tzatziki sauce. Check our homemade souvlaki recipe for inspiration.

Authentic Greek gyros recipe — pork shoulder and belly served in warm pita with tzatziki, tomatoes, and fries

FAQs

A Greek gyro (pronounced YEE-roh) is a traditional Greek street food made from seasoned pork cooked on a vertical rotisserie and shaved thin. In Greece, gyros is almost always made with pork — pork shoulder for the lean meat, pork belly for the fat that renders and crisps on the spit. It’s served wrapped in soft pita bread with tzatziki sauce, sliced tomatoes, and onions ( sometimes fries). This preparation is called gyros pita. The word gyros (γύρος) means “turn” or “circle” in Greek, a reference to the rotating spit.

In Greece, traditional gyros is almost always made with pork, specifically a combination of pork shoulder and pork belly. The shoulder provides lean, flavorful meat while the belly adds fat that renders and crisps during cooking, giving authentic Greek gyros its distinctive crispy edges. Chicken gyros also exists in Greece but is secondary. The American version uses a ground beef and lamb mixture, which is a Greek-American invention.

They are related but different. Döner kebab is a Turkish preparation made with ground or layered lamb, beef, or chicken on a vertical spit — it was created in Bursa, Turkey in the mid-19th century. When it spread to Greece, a variation using real cuts of pork prevailed, and the Greeks renamed it gyros. What many American restaurants call “gyros” — a ground beef-and-lamb loaf — is actually much closer to the original döner kebab than to Greek gyros. In Greece, that preparation is simply called doner. Authentic Greek gyros uses real pork cuts, not ground meat.

Both are classic Greek street foods served in pita bread with tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki. Gyros is cooked on a vertical rotating spit and shaved off in thin slices. Souvlaki is pieces of meat grilled on a skewer. In Greece, a souvlaki pita can loosely refer to either, but gyros specifically means the rotisserie preparation.

Yes, this recipe includes an easy workaround using wooden skewers placed over halved onions and lemons in a baking pan, which mimics the vertical rotisserie effect. You can also wrap the stacked meat in parchment paper like kleftiko and finish it under the broiler for crispiness. Both methods produce fantastic results.

Pork gyros made at home is a high-protein meal. The brine and marinade use olive oil, herbs, and spices with no artificial additives. Served with fresh vegetables, tzatziki, and warm pita, it’s a balanced and satisfying meal, far cleaner than fast-food versions. Calorie content depends on portion size and accompaniments.