Review: Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices

I’m somewhat lucky that my home city has a vibrant Greek community. This means we have an endless supply of Greek restaurants offering decadent and luscious gyro meat. From gyro wraps and sandwiches through to gyro topped burgers – we have it all. Still, what if you don’t have access to that yourself, or simply want to create your own gyro work of art at home? If that’s the case, the ever reliable Trader Joe’s has this solution for you: pre-cooked gyro slices that often have a great refrigerated shelf life unopened. Being a Trader Joe’s product, they’re usually unfailingly fairly priced too.

Taste wise these aren’t nearly as rich or overtly seasoned as the restaurants in my local area, nor are they as decadently rich; after all I’m not cooking these with plenty of grease on a flat top in my home. This is also something you might read from other reviewers online too, some being somewhat disappointed as a result. I personally think it’s a bit of a fools errand to compare quick heat and serve home products, to a great restaurant cooking freshly.

Indeed I actually find these subtler flavored gyros slices to be a *good* thing. As much as I dearly love a luscious gyro, sometimes the garlic and other seasonings can be massively powerful, overwhelmingly so. I sometimes suffer a little indigestion as a result – not here. The seasoning is gentle but still enjoyable – and you can always amp them up with a little extra seasoning in the pan or sauce.

Moreover, by making my gyro wrap at home, I can make healthier choices with sides and sauces too; if I’m dining out, I’m having the ultra-large French fries with enough salt and sauce to make a cardiologist feint! For all these reasons, I’m a big fan of these slices, I’m not certain if they’re available year round now, but when I see them I always grab a box or two.

Note: not many people know, but you can shop Trader Joes on Amazon (affiliate link, we get a referral fee on sales) – where they offer quite a lot of their product range, provided it’s shelf stable.

Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices – what’s in the box?

Eight slices come vacuum sealed with the exterior cardboard packaging. Once opened, they’ll keep fresh for a few days in the refrigerator. In my experience you’ll need to re-wrap in clingfilm or similar as they tend to dry out very fast once opened. Most won’t find that a problem, I expect once opened they’re devoured in 24-48 hours.

Trader Joe's Gyro Slices - what's in the box?
Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices – what’s in the box?

Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices

You could use the gyro slices in a myriad of ways, but I rarely go beyond a traditional gyro wrap in a flat bread or fluffy pita. The typical toppings for a gyro are tomatoes, sliced red onion and tzatziki. When I cook at home I just use plain, fat free Greek yogurt – which I actually prefer to the cucumber spiked tzatziki. In the dish below I’ve gone with some spiced and pan fried chickpeas and garlic-lemon zucchini for healthy sides. I save the French fry calories for when I splurge at a restaurant:

Trader Joe's - Gyro Slices gyro with tomato, onion and yogurt
Trader Joe’s – Gyro Slices gyro with tomato, onion and yogurt
Trader Joe's - Gyro Slices gyro plate with spiced chickpeas and zucchini
Trader Joe’s – Gyro Slices gyro plate with spiced chickpeas and zucchini
  • Overall
4.5

Are Trader Joe's Gyro Slices any good?

Absolutely! If you’re looking to craft a gyro based dish at home these pre-cooked slices are a wonderful option. They’re not as aggressively flavored or seasoned as a typical Greek restaurant, but that might even be a plus point depending on your mood or preference. Either way, Trader Joe’s pricing makes these a no brainer for me.

Other gyro ideas

If you love gyro like I do, you’ll always be looking for new ways to create a gyro. Here are a few ideas. First up, I love this Indian preparation.

Here I’ve used a fair amount of cilantro, a modest amount of Indian lime pickle and then topped with an Indian seasoned infused yogurt sauce; to plain Greek yogurt add a sprinkle of paprika, turmeric, ground coriander, cayenne, garam masala and lemon juice.

Trader Joe's Gyro with Indian toppings
Trader Joe’s Gyro with Indian toppings

For vegetarians and vegans you can enjoy the fun too! Check out this great meat-free gyro using Impossible’s fabulous plant-based meant product.

Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices cooking instructions and nutrition

I’ve never met a slice of gyro meat that I love and is also healthy. The same can be said here – which is a good thing – good gyro meat is just replete with lots of fat and salt. A good gyro should probably be an erstwhile treat anyway, so it’s all good in my book.

Cooking these couldn’t be easier; 30-60 seconds in the microwave or a minute or two in the pan – no oil required either with a non-stick pan. These slices are pre-cooked and pretty much heat and serve. This makes these gyro slices an ultra fast way to put together lunch or dinner without any fuss. You’ll probably take longer slicing your onions and tomatoes than cooking these slices.

Update Dec 2019: my current favorite way to cook these is now in the air fryer.

Trader Joe's Gyro Slices nutrition, cooking instructions and ingredients
Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices nutrition, cooking instructions and ingredients
Trader Joe's - Gyro Slices packaging front
Trader Joe’s – Gyro Slices packaging front

How much do Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices cost?

As of December 2018 I paid $3.99 for a pack of these gyro slices. Much like other Trader Joe products I find this to be a might fine price. You could easily make two to three gyros from one pack.

Other Trader Joe’s products

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4 thoughts on “Review: Trader Joe’s Gyro Slices”

    • I’m not aware of any services that ship the frozen and refrigerated TJ products I am afraid. You could probably ship them on dry ice / cooler packs I would imagine, but it wouldn’t be cheap.

      Reply
    • I can’t see why not. Unopened the product is vacuum sealed and cooked – if I remember correctly that is. Of course, I would always advise contacting the manufacturer directly before doing this to be sure of food safety!

      Reply

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