These unbelievably delicious vegan gyros are made with spiced jackfruit and served in pitta breads or wraps with chips, salad and a creamy vegan tzatziki sauce.
What is gyros?
Gyro or gyros refers to the meat that is traditionally used in this Greek dish. It's cooked on a vertical rotisserie - much like the meat that you'll see cooking in kebab shops all around the world.
The meat is served in a pitta bread with salad, tzatziki and sometimes chips (fries).
According to Wikipedia it began life as a Greek version of the Turkish doner kebab and by the 1970s was commonly known as a gyros.
Gyros is often served as street food in Greece. I can't quite imagine how this works as the gyros that I've tried have been supremely messy. The tzatziki sauce gets everywhere!
How do you make vegan gyros?
You could make a great vegan kebab using seitan or soy strips. For this vegan gyros however, I've made my filling with jackfruit.
Jackfruit breaks down perfectly when cooked. In fact, it's often described as resembling pulled pork. It's a great ingredient to use when adding lots of spices as it takes on flavour really well.
Once you have the jackfruit cooked you just need to cook some chips (fries), make a salad and serve with vegan tzatziki in a pitta bread or vegan flatbread.
Ok the chips are optional but I think they're a great addition.
Pulled jackfruit, cooked with spices, and served in freshly made flatbreads is vegan heaven.
If you like this you might like these baked Greek beans.
More vegan jackfruit recipes
Pin vegan jackfruit gyros for later
How to make jackfruit gyros
If you have made this recipe and loved it please consider leaving a comment and rating below.
Make my vegan tzatziki and vegan flatbread as well for a perfect vegan gyros.
Vegan gyros with jackfruit
Ingredients
For the jackfruit
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 red onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 482 g tin of jackfruit in water or brine
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons water
- Half lemon juiced
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
To serve
- ½ small lettuce shredded
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- ½ red onion chopped
- 1 cucumber chopped
- tzatziki to taste
- 4 flatbreads or pitta
- Handful of chips (fries) optional
Instructions
- First prepare your jackfruit. Once you’ve drained it give it a good rinse and slice it thinly. If you wish you can remove the harder part of the jackfruit pieces and discard. I usually keep mine and cook it with the rest.
- Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan or wok. Add the sliced red onion and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and golden brown.
- Add the garlic, stir well and cook for a further minute.
- Add the herbs and spices, stir, then tip in the jackfruit. Add the soy sauce and 3 tbsp water.
- Stir well and fry for a few minutes then cover and reduce the heat. Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the jackfruit starts to break down.
- Add more water if it starts to stick.
- Season with salt and pepper and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
To serve
- Serve with salad, chips and tzatziki sauce in pitta or flatbreads.
Nutrition
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Jess
Easy to make. Whole family enjoyed it, even the 6 year old.
Cook Veggielicious
Glad you enjoyed it Jess