We loved this recipe! It's a Friday night tradition for my husband and I to go to our favorite Greek joint and have gyros, but freezing temps this evening so I decided to make these at home. Delicious! The sauce was excellent, I would recommend adding more lemon, greek seasoning, and dill. I doubled the garlic as well. I used 2/3 cup balsamic and 1/3 cup olive oil in place of the vinegrette. No grilling tonight, so I baked the chicken with some marinade for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Excellent. I made this in the winter so we didn't use the grill. I broied the chicken 8 min on each side. I used light sour cream and nonfat yogurt and the Tzatziki turned out fantastic and healthy. My husband loved it I loved it. Definitely buy thick quality pita. My store was limited and the pita fell apart a bit but it didn't take away from the taste.
This had fantastic flavor and really hit spot. Reminded me of my husband and I's favorite college Pita haunt.
As to the people confused by the recipe's chicken marinade make sure you are using a balsamic vinegrette as specified instead of straight balsamic vinegar, 2 TOTALLY different things. Vinegrette is a salad dressing made with equal parts or slightly more Olive Oil to balsamic in addition to garlic, herbs, etc..
The recipe is just fine as written!
Thank you for the walk down memory lane!
This turned out great. I did tweak a few things- kinda without realizing it. (I printed the recipe and left it down stairs!) I used 2 good squirts of lemon juice. And 3 "shakes" of greek seasoning and omited the oregano. I also used a simpler and AWESOME tzatziki sauce... 1 cup plain yogurt 2 T olive oil 1 T lemon juice 1/2 salt 1/2 pepper 1 T chopped fresh dill 3-4 cloves of freshly grated garlic 2 T finely shredded cucumber thats been dried with paper towels 1-2 shakes of greek seasoning. Mix and sit for an hour to chill in fridge. The BEST combo around.
FANTASTIC!!! A little time consuming to make but 100 % worth the effort involved. If you prep these in stages they're much more manageable to make. I quickly threw together my marinade / tzatziki sauce early this afternoon so all I had to do at dinnertime was grill my chicken (on my indoor reversible grill). To all of you wanting to give this a try I have a few tips to share. First you MUST use balsamic vinaigrette (found in the salad dressings aisle of your grocer) DO NOT use straight-up balsamic vinegar! Vinaigrette contains spices & EVOO to help tame the tartness of the vinegar. Second Greek yogurt is a FAR superior choice for this cucumber sauce. Tzatziki should be thick not thin or watery. Unless you strain your yogurt you will end up w/ runny sauce. Greek yogurt has already been strained. Yes it's more expensive but it's also more convenient. Finally to ensure your cucumbers properly "sweat " toss them w/ salt (salt draws OUT water) & then do what reviewer MOLLE888 did - place in a colander / sieve set over a bowl w/ another bowl on top. Put a heavy can in the bowl to add some pressure & watch the liquid seep to the bottom! You will have PERFECT tzatziki every time (promise!). Served w/ red onion tomatoes & iceberg lettuce (no pepperoncini or olives for us) these are a spot on copycat of our favorite local chain's Athenian chicken pitas! Seasoned curly fries completed our meal. Thanks for sharing Chris!:-)
I have made this twice and it was a huge it at our house. Don't be scared by all the ingredients. Cooking process is easy.
my husband lived in greece for two years and says that this recipe was the closest he's ever tasted to the real thing since he's been back in the usa. the sauce is the perfect consistency however he said he'd use more cucumber less dill. i thought it was divine i wanted to drink it it was so delicious!
This was a really great summer recipe. I warmed the pita bread on the grill slightly (it gets crispy quickly). Spend the extra dollar or two for the good pita bread. It makes ALL the difference. I served the pepperoncini whole on the side. I have made this several times and have begun to use balsamic vinegrette in place of the dressing and "Just 2 Good" Italian dressing as a marinade. I also used tin foil to hold the taco-like shape of the pita bread. This keeps it warm too. Perhaps the best tip I have is to use strained yogurt -- I found greek yogurt at the local specialty foods shop but it might be available at Whole Foods / Wild Oats. Also I just cubed the cucumbers b/c I like the crunch.
I was a little disappointed with this recipe. Way too much oregano for my liking and too much vinegar. I think I would add oil to the marinade and just a little oregano. The recipe also needed salt. I will try again but will make some changes.
