Gyros casserole
Gyros casserole is a great idea for a nutritious oven-baked dinner. The recipe is very simple, and the gyros casserole with rice itself is incredibly tasty and filling.
- dinner for any occasion - perfect for later heating - the entire dinner set served in one dish
- Preparation time: 1 hour
- Baking time for the casserole: 30 minutes
- Number of servings: about 2 kg of dish
- Energy value 168 kcal
- Carbohydrates 13 g
- Including sugars 3 g
- Protein 11 g
- Fat 8 g
- Diet: low-sugar, high-protein.
2 bags of rice weighing 100 g each or up to 600 g of cooked rice
1 double chicken breast - up to 600 g
2 tablespoons of oil for frying
3 teaspoons of gyros spice powder
250 g mozzarella cheese in cubes
half a can of canned corn - 150 g after draining
1 red pepper - about 190 g
2 medium pickled cucumbers - about 90 g
100 g of your favorite ketchup
100 g of good quality mayonnaise
parsley for decoration
Gyros casserole
My glass holds 250 ml. The vegetables were weighed before any peeling/preparation.
The calories were calculated based on the ingredients I used. Therefore, this is an approximate calorie count based on the products I used in this recipe. The listed amount of ingredients yields approximately 2 kg of the dish, or 4-6 servings. Before preparing the recipe, I also encourage you to read the entire post first. It includes many interesting tips on ingredients and their substitutes.
To make the casserole, I used a rectangular baking dish measuring approximately 20 x 29 cm. This is the smallest dish I recommend baking in. For the proportions I've given, I recommend using a baking dish of this size or larger.
Gyros casserole recipe
Clean two chicken breast fillets (one whole breast) and cut them into cubes/pieces no larger than 2 cm. Add three teaspoons of gyros seasoning powder to the bowl with the chicken ready to fry, or create your own blend by combining: salt, dried garlic, crushed coriander, ground mustard seeds, sweet and hot paprika, rosemary, oregano, thyme, pepper, and fenugreek. Mix everything together and set aside for about 30 minutes. Refrigerate the bowl with the seasoned meat only if you plan to cook it in at least two hours. Heat a pan and add two tablespoons of vegetable oil for frying. After a while, add the seasoned meat pieces to the pan. Fry the chicken gyros for about 10 minutes, remembering to flip the meat every few minutes using a wooden spoon. Remove the cooked meat from the pan and set aside to cool.
Tip: Instead of breasts, you can also use chicken drumsticks, cleaned of skin, bones and fibers.
Boil two 100-gram bags of dry rice. I used basmati rice, but you can also use jasmine rice. Cook the rice in salted water until soft, according to the package instructions. After cooking, the rice weighed just under 590 grams. Set the cooked rice aside to cool.
Tip: If you prefer to cook loose rice, you'll need less than a cup of loose rice. This will be about 200 grams of rice, which will weigh about 600 grams when cooked.
Prepare your vegetables. Cut the pickled and marinated cucumbers into thick slices, and wash and core the bell pepper and cut it into bite-sized pieces. If you don't like pickled cucumbers, use only the marinated ones, and vice versa. Feel free to swap the red bell pepper for yellow or orange.
Grease the inside of a baking dish with a little oil. I used a rectangular baking dish measuring approximately 20 x 29 cm, but you can also use a larger baking dish designed for oven-baked dishes. Spread all the pre-cooked rice on the bottom.
In a separate bowl, combine 100 grams of ketchup and the same amount of mayonnaise. Spread 1/3 of the mixture over the rice.
Grate 250 grams of cubed mozzarella cheese (regular yellow cheese will work, too). Spread 1/3 of the grated cheese over the entire surface of the dish with the rice and sauce.
Arrange the previously fried chicken pieces on top of the cheese. Spread 1/3 of the mayonnaise and ketchup sauce over the chicken and 1/3 of the grated cheese.
Next, arrange the prepared cucumbers, pepper pieces and corn without brine.
On top of that add 1/3 of the sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese, so we add all the remaining sauce and cheese.
Uncover the baking dish and place it in an oven preheated to 190 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Select the middle rack with the top/bottom heat setting (if you have a small oven with top heating elements, place the dish on the lower rack). Use a convection oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Bake the gyros casserole for about 30 minutes. Serve with parsley, for example.
