Chicken Gyro Meatball Salad

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We’re obsessed with this tasty salad! This healthy gyro salad with spiced chicken meatballs and chopped fresh vegetables makes a perfect low-carb, gluten-free or ketogenic main dish.

This chicken gyro salad celebrates the fantastic flavors of a Greek gyro sandwich, only lightened-up and made into a salad.

It’s a super-tasty meal-in-one salad I’ve been happily enjoying as a complete meal these days.

And bonus – it’s so easy to put together, especially if you make a batch of the meatballs ahead of time.

You might be happy to know this creation is also low carb, keto-friendly and gluten-free (just skip the pita on the side) — basically an all-around healthy plate.

Plus the variety of colors and fresh textures make this a beautiful dish to put on the table.

Can’t beat that!

Meat for gyros

Gyros are one of the tastiest sandwiches in the world, don’t you think?

The classic gyro features pita stuffed with spiced rotisserie-roasted meat, tomato, onions and tangy yogurt tzatziki sauce. Yum!

But instead of the meat you’d find on a gyro platter (usually beef or lamb, in loaf form), this salad has bite-size meatballs made with ground chicken and seasonings.

The combination of crunchy vegetables, grilled meat and spices make me think of Chicken Shawarma Salad, another dish that pretty much exists to make your mouth water.

Seasoning for healthy chicken gyros

All you need are a few basic pantry herbs and spices to add a Greek flair to the chicken meat:

• Dried oregano – This woody, aromatic herb is an essential seasoning in Greek and Mediterranean cooking. Crumble it between your fingers to release its essential oils before sprinkling.

• Paprika – Ground from sweet, mild dried red chilis, this spice adds a savory fruity flavor to food, along with a gorgeous russet color.

• Cumin – The pungent, earthy aroma of cumin is hard to mistake for any other spice. It’s a classic seasoning for grilled meats in Greece and Middle Eastern cooking

• Garlic – Use fresh cloves, either grated on a Microplane or finely chopped

• Onion – Grated onion is the “secret” ingredient to many a tasty meatball or burger. I use white or yellow onion, shredded on the medium-side of a box grater or handheld grater.

Gyro salad dressing

Instead of the traditional Tzatziki sauce for gyros, I drizzled this salad with a variation of my all-time favorite lemon tahini sauce simply because I always have some in the refrigerator.

Of course, if you’d prefer to skip the dressing and use your own cucumber-yogurt tzatziki or other tangy sauce (even hummus) go for it!

Easy Tzatziki Sauce Recipe

Tzatziki is easily made by mixing 1 1/4 cups plain thick yogurt (Greek-style is perfect) with 1 cup chopped seedless cucumber and 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.

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