A plant-based meal that tastes amazing! Grilled eggplant “steaks” seasoned with Greek seasoning and olive oil, creamy tzatziki, fresh juicy tomato, crunchy cucumber and red onion. This is a meatless meal that totally satisfies.
I love love love gyros … you know, that amazing Greek sandwich street food you see at every festival. I seriously thought it was the meat that I loved the most, but I had SO many eggplant from the garden and cucumbers and tomatoes too and even a few red onions. So I decided I would give a plant-based gyro a whirl. My daughter (a definite carnivore) requested a meat-based gyro as well, so I marinated some venison to cook up for her gyro. I wondered which one would taste better?
The funny thing was I tried both the meat-based version and the vegetarian version and I discovered I really like the plant-based version better. Now, to be fair, the venison certainly wasn’t anything like the traditional gyro meat which is garlicky ground beef and lamb strongly seasoned and cooked on a spit, then cut off in thin, juicy slices, but it was really tasty. Still, the eggplant version was just more flavorful. I really loved the buttery flavor and texture of the Greek grilled eggplant with the juicy tomato, creamy tzatziki, crunchy cucumber and the little sweet crunch of the onion wrapped up in the soft pita bread. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it …
The first essential thing to making these gyros taste Greek is the seasoning. You can certainly use a store-bought seasoning mix, but I am quite partial to my homemade Greek seasoning (recipe here). Don’t skimp on it when you make your gyros! The seasoning is what gives it that great Greek flavor.
Grilling the eggplant gives them a nice smoky taste and a texture more like steaks. Eggplant can get mushy when cooked in the oven or stovetop, but when you grill this pretty purple fruit (yes, eggplant is a fruit) in slices, it dries out the edges, leaving the inside nice and tender, yet the outside has a little bit of a chewy texture, so it’s just the perfect balance.
Do I need to salt the eggplant?
It depends on the eggplant. I typically get eggplant fresh from my mom’s garden and I’ve never had a bitter one yet, so I tend to skip the salting stage, but some of the store-bought ones can be bitter. If you are worried that your eggplant might be bitter, sprinkle it with salt and set it in a colander over the sink for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours before cooking. I don’t think I’ve ever actually bought an eggplant at the store because there are always so many from the garden, but if you’re purchasing your eggplant, here’s a guide that tells you how to pick the perfect eggplant.
Do I really need to peel the eggplant?
Some eggplant don’t need to be peeled, especially if they are fresh and young, but if they aren’t, then the peel can be tough. I tend to err on the side of caution here and peel them. I didn’t want any tough skin messing up my gyro nirvana!
PrintGrilled Eggplant Gyros {Meatless}
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3 - 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
- Greek seasoning (recipe here) and olive oil
- Pita bread
- Tzatziki sauce (recipe here)
- Fresh garden tomato, sliced
- Red onion slices
- Fresh garden cucumbers, sliced
Instructions
- Fire up the grill. Peel and slice the eggplant. Sprinkle one side of each slice liberally with Greek seasoning, then brush with olive oil.
- Set the oiled side of the slice on the grill, then season and brush the top side.Grill until browned on both sides and tender.
- To assemble the gyro: Warm the pita breads by toasting briefly on the grill or in a toaster oven. Slather with a generous amount of tzatziki, Add a few slices of eggplant, then tomato, onion and cucumber slices. Add another generous dollop of tzatziki sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
If you are worried that your eggplant might be bitter, sprinkle with salt and let sit in a colander over the sink for at least 30 minutes before grilling.
The number of servings depends on the size of the eggplant and how many slices you put on your gyro.
For a gluten free gyro, use gluten free pita bread – recipe here.
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
© Copyright 2018, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
Looking for more plant-based meals?
Eating more plant-based foods not only helps save the planet, it can help ward off chronic diseases and keep you healthy. When you incorporate more plant-based meals in your diet, you might notice your blood pressure going down, your weight dropping, your skin looking healthier.
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3 comments
[…] eggplant meatballs. But I’d also just made some fabulous Greek seasoning and those yummy eggplant Gyros, so I still had Greek food on my mind … and meatless Greek meatballs sounded really good to […]
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