A while back, someone asked if I could come up with a recipe for Vegan Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce because she missed having them. To be honest, I had never made them before switching to this way of life. I had eaten them occasionally in restaurants, but not often.
Two options for vegan gyro meat
These gyros have two vegan meat filling options –seasoned baked seitan or grilled Portobello mushrooms.
With the Portobello gyros, I found that lower heat and longer grilling time make for better for flavor. I didn’t cook these slow or long enough, and the flavor was lacking, compared to the vegan seitan gyros.
However, they were still quite good. I am a mushroom lover, so mushrooms are always a good option for me!
The seasoned baked seitan gyro was by far the best, in mine and my husband’s opinions. They take longer because you have to mix and bake the seitan, but the flavor and texture is wonderful and well worth the effort.
Seitan is used for this dish, and many people have never even heard of it before.
The recipe card at the bottom of the page has the full list of ingredients with measurements and instructions.
What is seitan?
Seitan is becoming more and more popular in vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based communities as a meat substitute. It has a look and texture amazingly similar to cooked meat.
An article that offers a great deal of information on seitan is What is Seitan: How to Cook & Recipes. It is loaded with lots of useful information.
I think these Vegan Gyros with Seitan or Mushrooms and Tzatziki Cucumber Sauce turned out terrific. Either way, you decide to go, I think you’re going to be impressed.
Whether mushrooms or seitan–these gyros make for a delicious hearty meal bursting with flavor! So glad I gave the challenge a try!
Other great dinner recipes
This post may contain affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
Vegan Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce
These vegan gyros have two options--seasoned and baked seitan or grilled Portobello mushrooms. Either way, they make for a delicious hearty meal bursting with flavor!
Ingredients
Option #1 - Baked Seasoned Seitan
- 1-1/4 cups vital wheat gluten, available in baking section of many grocery stores
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon tahini
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 3/4 cup water, more if needed
Option #2 - Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
- 4 large Portobello mushrooms
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch cayenne
Tzatziki Sauce
- 1 package silken tofu
- 1 clove garlic
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint, or dry
- 1 teaspoon dry onion flakes
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper, to taste
- 1 cucumber, peeled and seeded
Assembly Ingredients
- sliced onion
- slice tomatoes
- chopped lettuce
- seitan or grilled Portobellos
- tzatziti sauce
- pita or naan wraps
Instructions
Option #1 - Baked Seasoned Seitan
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a blender, blend onion, garlic, tahini, ketchup, soy sauce, and water.
- In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
- Pour the wet blender ingredients into the dry ingredients, and start to stir.
- This will thicken quickly. Use hands and begin to knead together for approximately 3 minutes. If it's too wet, add more vital wheat gluten. If it's too dry, add a little water.
- Line a baking dish with parchment paper and press seitan into it. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Once cooked it will look like this.
- Slice into strips.
Option #2 - Grilled Seasoned Portobello Mushrooms
- Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Coat each mushroom with the mixture.
- Grill on low heat until moist and tender. My opinion is that the lower heat and longer grill, the better for flavor. I didn't cook these slow or long enough, and the flavor was lacking, compared to the seitan.
- Remove from heat and slice.
Tzatziki Sauce
- In blender, blend all ingredients, except cucumber, until smooth.
- Peel and deseed cucumbers. Scraping the center with a spoon helps a lot with this.
- Dice them into tiny pieces.
- Place on paper towel to drain excess water. Squeeze slightly, if necessary.
- Combine ingredients from blender with diced cucumber, and whisk together.
Assembly
- Spread a spoonful of tzatziki sauce down the center of one pita or naan wrap. Add a lettuce, diced tomato, onion, and either grilled mushroom slices or seitan. Then top it with another spoonful of tzatziki sauce. Fold the wrap and hold in place with a toothpick or wrap it in parchment/foil.
- The grilled Portobello mushroom gyro was good but, as mentioned above, grill lower and longer to enhance flavor. The advantage of using mushrooms over seitan is time and effort. The mushrooms are quicker and require less involvement.
- The seasoned baked seitan was by far the best, in mine and my husband's opinions. They take longer because you have to mix and bake the seitan, but the flavor and texture is wonderful and worth the effort.
- Both are good, but seitan is the best!
Notes
Detailed instructions, in-process photos, and my personal helpful tips can be found in the article above.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6Amount Per Serving: Calories: 211Total Fat: 5gCarbohydrates: 24.5gFiber: 5.0gProtein: 25.8g
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate, complete, and useful.
Ava
Monday 19th of October 2020
How long should i cook the mushrooms for do you think?
Terri Edwards
Tuesday 20th of October 2020
Hi Ava- I think around 30 minutes would be good for the mushrooms. They can also be cooked in the oven.
Alexander
Monday 20th of April 2020
How much vital wheat gluten does it say in the recipe? It says 1-1/4 cups. Does it mean 1 to 1.25 cups or is it 0.25 cups? I want to get it right ^_^
Joe
Thursday 11th of November 2021
@Alexander, 1.25 cups
Terri Edwards
Monday 20th of April 2020
Hi Alexander- This recipe calls for 1.25 cups of vital wheat gluten. Hope you enjoy it!
judy piper
Thursday 25th of May 2017
I'm going to try this interesting recipe. I do think that tahini is noncompliant with this WOE so I won't use it. I might substitute a half teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds ground up, though. These are very oily. The rest sounds terrific! Thanks.
kim
Thursday 25th of May 2017
Hello, I am in the middle of cooking this right now and since I made only half the recipe, I am wondering if I bake it for only half the time as well
kim
Thursday 25th of May 2017
I'll answer my own question , lol. It takes the same amount of time in a deep dish bowl scenario Yummy, Terri!
denise condreay
Saturday 14th of November 2015
I'm relatively new at this and I really appreciate the pictures showing me how it's supposed to look. I'm definitely trying this!!
Terri
Saturday 14th of November 2015
Denise, I'm a visual learner too. So glad the step-by-step instructions with pictures is helpful to you. Hope you enjoy this recipe! :)