You don’t need to head to the Mediterranean or even the mall to enjoy a Greek Pita Sandwich. These homemade Steak Gyros are packed with flavor and are so easy to make.
Topped with fresh and creamy Garlic Yogurt Sauce and served alongside Couscous Salad or French Fries, these pita sandwiches make for a fun and frugal dinner. Stop eating out or grabbing takeout when you can make your faves at home for less!
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Have you ever met a Gyro or pita sandwich you didn’t like? Me, neither.
Loaded with grilled meats, piled high with lettuce, tomato, onion, and feta cheese, drizzled with that amazing garlic yogurt sauce? It’s hard to beat the Greek pita sandwich.
However, it’s the high price I could live without. Our local pita places charge upwards of $10 for a gyro!
Making them at home myself for less is the way to go, at least so I can feed that pita craving whenever it hits.
Why Make This
They’re a good homemade alternative to the kebab shop. While these Grilled Steak Gyros aren’t quite the same as the traditional lamb-style gyro, they’re still amazingly good. The combination of feta cheese, yogurt sauce, juicy steak, and crisp veggies is such a tasty meal.
They’re affordable! At only $2.27/person, you get an incredible meal for a great price.
They’re make-ahead. When you order from your local pita place, you need to eat it pretty quickly, lest the pita sandwich get soggy. All the components of these steak gyro will stay good in the fridge up to 4 days, so if your crowd is fewer than 8, you can enjoy Greek pita more than once in a week!
Ingredients
The ingredients list for Greek pita is pretty straightforward. You’ll need:
grilled protein – I use an easy Greek marinade on steak or chicken, but you can also swap in lamb, pork, shrimp, tofu, or falafel.
pita bread – Pita bread is traditional but you can use naan or other flatbreads if that’s what you have.
veggies – Lettuce, tomato, and red onion are nice, but you can also add cucumber if you like.
tzatziki or greek yogurt sauce – It’s fairly pricey to buy at the store, but you can make your own at home for cheap.
crumbled feta cheese – This is optional. Many shops charge extra for feta. When you make your Greek pita sandwiches at home, you can have all the feta you want. If you’ve got leftover feta, be sure to make this Easy Greek Pizza Recipe.
Step-by-Step Instructions
These sandwiches are super simple to make!
- Prep the vegetables.
- Make the garlic yogurt sauce (tzatziki).
- Grill the steak. Chop it into bite-sized pieces.
- Assemble the sandwiches by layering the cooked meat, lettuce, tomato, onion, and feta cheese atop each sandwich. Drizzle with sauce, if desired. Serve as is, or wrap in foil to eat more like a burrito.
Make-ahead Instructions
To meal prep Greek pita sandwiches, leave all the elements separate. You don’t want anything to get soggy or mushy. Store the components in airtight containers in the fridge. When ready to serve, reheat the meat and assemble the sandwiches.
Consider serving these elements in a future sandwich bar with friends.
FAQs
The classic gyro is made from seasoned ground lamb, however a lamb-beef combination is more common. The meat is mixed with seasonings, cooked on a spit, shaved, and often fried on a griddle. Served in a pita or flatbread, it is topped withe vegetables, feta cheese, and a garlic yogurt sauce.
A gyro is the meat filling that goes into the pita. A pita is a Middle Eastern flatbread that splits during baking to form a pocket in the center.
You can create sandwiches with pita bread, either stuffing a filling into the pocket, as in these Tuna Pita Pockets or folding it like a taco. Pita is also delicious served with hummus, yogurt dips, and baba ghanouj. You can even build a pita pizza!
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- grilled sirloin tip steak – $9.32
- pita bread – $3.59
- baby greens – $2.00
- red onion – $0.15
- tomato – $0.60
- garlic yogurt sauce – $1.17 (if homemade)
- feta cheese – $1.35
When shopping at a mid-range grocery store at non-sale prices, you can expect to pay about $18.18 for the ingredients to make 8 pita sandwiches. This works out to $2.27 each!
Compared to the $10+ ticket price at our local kebab shops, this is a screaming deal.
Save Even More
Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:
- Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. The meat, pita, and the cheese are the high price items in this recipe. Watch for sales and stock up.
- Bake your own pita bread. It’s not difficult to bake pita bread and it’s super fun to watch them puff.
- Make your own Garlic Yogurt Sauce. Tzatziki is a must-have on a Greek pita and thankfully, it’s super simple to make yourself, with just five ingredients.
More Great Sandwiches
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Greek Pita Sandwiches
Equipment
- cutting board
- chef's knife
Ingredients
- 1 batch Mediterranean Grilled Steak Recipe
- 8 pita bread
- 1 6-ounce package baby greens or shredded lettuce
- ¼ red onion sliced
- 3 tomato chopped
- 1 batch garlic yogurt sauce
- 2 oz feta cheese crumbles (½ cup)
Instructions
- Cook the steak over a hot grill until desired doneness. Rest for 10 minutes and slice against the grain.
- Assemble the gyros ingredients: sliced steak, pita breads, greens, onion, tomatoes, dressing, and feta cheese.
- Allow diners to assemble their own open faced sandwiches, layering meat, greens, onions, and tomatoes on a pita bread. Top with tzatziki and feta cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published on November 29, 2010. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Jeanine Bedell
This looks so delicious! I’m making it tonight but I don’t have a grill. What’s the best way to cook the steak and still have it turn out juicy? Not a lot of experience with cooking steak. 🙂
Jessica Fisher
I don’t personally have much experience with that, but I know folks who pan sear it in a cast iron pan or use the broiler. Do you have a generic all-purpose cookbook? That will probably explain both methods.
Debbi Does Dinner Healthy
Holy cow, how did you eat that! It’s enormous! But looks absolutely delicious! Thanks!
Jessica
@Debbi Does Dinner Healthy, you’re so funny! I probably ate two that night!
Martha Artyomenko
That sounds yummy! I have a bunch of feta cheese to use up!
Michelle
they look AMAZING! I can’t wait to try them, we love gyros & I haven’t found a good recipe yet, we’ll be trying them this week! 🙂
Ellen
Thanks for this! I was looking for something different to make on our vacation to the mountains next week, and I think I’ve found it! =)