Vegan Gyros

Ingredients:

1 onion sliced

1/2 tbsp sugar maple syrup, agave or date syrup (Optional)

8 oz oyster mushrooms the gyro meat

1 splash white wine or a squeeze of lemon juice

1/2 tbsp olive oil

6 sprigs fresh thyme (leaves only)

Gyros Seasoning Mix

1 tbsp coriander

1.5 tsp cumin

1/2 Tbsp paprika (sweet or smoked)

1/2 Tbsp garlic powder

3 tsp oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ground cloves

1/8 tsp chili powder

Serving Suggestions:

4 Flatbreads (Pita Bread), Vegan Tzatziki Sauce, Sliced Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Red Onion or Scallions, Fresh Dill, Fries, Hummus etc…

 

Instructions:

Make the Spice Mix:

In a small bowl whisk together all the gyros spices until combined. Store in a spice jar until needed.

Caramelize the Onion:

Heat up a medium heavy bottom pan and cook the onion in a light drizzle of olive oil with a pinch of salt until translucent. Stir in the sugar and cover with a lid. Cook on medium low heat until nicely caramelized, checking and stirring often taking care not to burn it. Once caramelized transfer to a bowl and reserve. (You can omit the sugar of course but it helps speed up the caramelization process).

Prepare the Gyro Filling:

Meanwhile shred the oyster mushrooms into thin strips and add them to the skillet you cooked the onions in. Turn the heat up and add a splash of white wine or a squeeze of lemon. Stir in the fresh thyme and cook together until the mushrooms are wilted.

Stir in 3 teaspoons of the Gyro seasoning mix and continue cooking until all the moisture has evaporated stirring often so the spices don’t burn. Taste and season with sea salt and more of the spice mix to your taste.

Optional but suggested: transfer the mushroom filling to a broiler proof dish, give it a quick spray of olive oil and broil for a few minutes until the edges crisp up. Remove from heat and mix in the caramelized onions.

Preheat your pita breads in the microwave, under the broiler or in a dry skillet.

Use your hand to fold the pita into a cone and wrap some butcher paper around its bottom. Secure with kitchen twine.

Fill your pita cone with the vegan “ Gyros meat”, a few slices of cucumber, tomato and a generous drizzle of vegan Tzatziki sauce. Garnish with fresh dill and red onions if desired.

Notes:

The Tzatziki Sauce:

You wouldn’t have a gyro without tzatziki. It’s a Greek yogurt based sauce, spiced up with lots of garlic and cucumber. Make a full batch and use it to dip veggies in for the rest of the week or just make more gyros. You can use my Vegan Tzatziki Sauce!

Gyros Variations:

Swap out the mushrooms – Instead of oyster mushrooms, you could use young, unripe jackfruit, tempeh, or seitan. Actually, our Vegan Ribs, minus the BBQ sauce, would work amazing as gyro meat.

Use my Potato Flatbread instead of Pita – Don’t have pita bread on hand? No problemo, just whip up a quick batch of these vegan potato flatbreads instead.