Vegetarian crispy roasted chickpea gyros – 10 min prep, 30 min in the oven, just as easy to make for babies, toddlers and parents all at the same time.
Gyros are a very popular Greek street food dish, made from meat such as lamb, pork or chicken. The best way is to cook the meat on a vertical rotisserie. And if you are ever in Greece make sure you try it. Or look out for Uncle Gussy's food truck in New York!
It is then placed in a warm pitta bread with sauces (such as tzatziki) and salad consisting of onions, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes.
Now, I wanted to bring the taste of Greece home, by making a super simple vegetarian version that I could make for me and my toddler at the same time.
This is a perfect vegetarian weekday lunch or dinner because it's so simple to prep. You can also double the amount for all the ingredients and then serve the next day as a salad, or the same thing again. That way you just need to prep for 10 minutes and you have two meals (yay).
As always, see below for the options for baby-led weaning, finger food, toddlers and kids and deconstructed versions for picky eaters.
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Nutrition and Ingredients
Chickpeas
- You can use dried ones and then cook them but canned or boxed ones are perfectly fine – however try and buy ones where the ingredients are just "chickpeas, water" and no added salt. Otherwise, if you are giving this to babies and children under 2, I always wash and drain them to get rid of excess salt.
- We season these with cumin, paprika, garlic granules and dried oregano to give them a delicious flavor.
- Full of molybdenum, manganese, folate and copper. Also 2 cups of cooked chickpeas contain your whole day's worth of fiber.
Pitta Bread
- You could make your own, but let's be honest, as a parent you probably don't have time. Try and buy wholewheat ones with very limited ingredients, so most likely "flour, yeast, water, salt".
- Wholewheat is more nutritious than white. They also have more fiber and release energy more slowly.
Salad Ingredients
- Standard delicious tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and red onion. Use any variation you have of these in the fridge. I use cherry tomatoes and iceberg lettuce because I prefer those but it is up to you.
- Full of different vitamins, minerals and fiber to support healthy growth and development.
Tzatziki
- A Greek side dish made of yogurt, cucumber, garlic and mint.
- Made in 5 minutes.
- Calcium, fats, protein, and antioxidant rich garlic (tip: cut the garlic cloves and let them rest for about 5 minutes so the enzymes have time to do their magic and you get the most of the garlic).
How to Make the Vegetarian Crispy Roasted Chickpea Gyros
Another one of our 10 min prep, 30 min oven meal.
Preheat the oven to 200°C / 400°F.
Chickpeas. If using canned, drain them, and place on a baking tray over parchment paper (if you prefer) and add all the seasoning (cumin, paprika, garlic granules and dried oregano). Mix them all up thoroughly so they are all coated in the spices. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until crispy enough for you. Note: for children under 2 – do not roast them, but use them as is, and either halve them (1-2 year olds) or smash them with a fork (under 1 year olds) to avoid a choking hazard.
Wash and cut up all the salad ingredients into smaller pieces.
Make the tzatziki. Grate the cucumber, salt it a tiny bit and squeeze out all the liquid. Mix it with the yogurt, vinegar and garlic.
Warm the pittas. You can place them in the oven for about 2 mins, or in the toaster. The oven will make them softer.
Assemble the pittas. Layer each with tzatziki, chickpeas and salad and enjoy.
How to serve to babies and toddlers
Baby-led weaning. Do only what you feel comfortable with. You can smash the canned (not roasted) chickpeas to minimize choking hazard. Tomatoes – you can offer baby a quarter of a large tomato to suck the soft part inside. Pitta bread – I would wait until the baby is ready for pincer grasp sizes. And offer yogurt on the side with a preloaded spoon (not tzatziki unless the baby is older and you can offer pitta bread dipped in tzatziki).
9 months + whenever ready. Smash the chickpeas. Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into tiny pieces, the size of a baby pinky fingernail, that they can grab by themselves. If you think they are ready you can offer soft pitta bread with the tzaziki dip. As your baby grows you will start to see what and how they are capable or eating and will naturally increase the size of their food.
12 months +. By this stage you can serve everything the same as for the adult, except the crispy chickpeas as they may be a choking hazard (so just used cooked/canned) until the child is 2 or you believe they are ready. Make sure to offer your baby the salad, including lettuce so they can get exposure to it early on.
Wait to serve roasted crispy chickpeas until they are 2+ or until you feel they are ready.
Possible variations to the recipe
Add meat. You can make this with chicken, pork, lamb or any kind of meat really. They don't have to just be vegetarian chickpea gyros!
Use tortillas. If you can't find pitta bread you can just as easily use tortillas (even though then it wouldn't be a "gyros") or any kind of bread really.
Other Family Oven Recipes
Family Oven recipes are all our recipes that take 10 min to prep, and 30 min in the oven and you can serve them to your whole family, from babies, toddlers, kids and yourself. Minimize cooking, minimize cleaning, maximize relaxing.
Greek Falafel Gyro with Homemade Tzatziki
Ingredients
Assembly
- 4 wholewheat pitta breads
- 2 tomatoes chopped into smaller pieces
- 1 cup lettuce washed, chopped into small pieces
- 1 cucumber sliced into thin circles
- ½ red onion sliced for garnish
Falafel (makes 12)
- 1 cup dried chickpeas
- ½ cup fresh parsley
- ½ red onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp coriander
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tbsp olive oil for the mixture
- 3 tbsp olive oil to grease the baking sheet
Tzatziki
- ½ large cucumber
- 6 tablespoon yogurt (full fat)
- 2 tsps apple cider vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves chopped or crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt omit for babies
Instructions
To make the falafel
- Soak the chickpeas for 4 hours at room temperature and up to 24 hours in the fridge.
- Drain the chickpeas.
- Preheat the oven to 180 C / 360 F.
- In a food processor add the onion, garlic, parsley, salt, coriander, cumin and chop.
- Add the chickpeas and olive oil and blend until you have a smooth falafel mixture.
- Grease the baking sheet with olive oil. We do this do the falafel can crisp up.
- Using your hands scoop 2 tablespoons of mixture and shape into patties. Shape the falafel into small patties (they should be about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick)
- Place each falafel on your oiled baking sheet.
- Bake for 30 minutes, flipping them gently after 20 minutes.
Tzatziki
- Make the tzatziki by grating the cucumber, salt it a tiny bit and squeeze out all the liquid. Mix it with the yogurt, vinegar and garlic.
Assembly
- Wash and cut up all the salad ingredients into smaller pieces
- Warm the pittas by either placing them in the warm oven for about 2 min or toaster. Oven will make them softer.
- Assemble the pittas. Layer each with tzatziki, falafel and salad.
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