Instant Pot Gyro Casserole–ground meat seasoned with greek seasoning, rice and tomatoes served with creamy yogurt cucumber sauce and fun toppings like feta cheese. A fresh, fun and easy way to enjoy Greek flavors.
Instant Pot Gyro Casserole
We don’t go out to dinner all that often (too much cooking to do) but when we do I love choosing Greek food. I love the fresh flavors, soft pitas and the creamy tzatziki sauce. If you’re like me you’ll enjoy these greek rice bowls with seasoned meat, rice, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce and more fun toppings! It’s a fresh and fun summer dinner I think you’ll love!
Ingredients/Substitution Ideas
- Ground beef or ground lamb
- Onion
- Greek seasoning–I used Cavenders All Purpose Greek Seasoning
- Garlic cloves
- Broth–or water and Better than Bouillon
- Basmati rice, converted rice or long grain white rice
- Petite diced tomatoes
- Greek yogurt
- Cucumber
- Dried Dill–or 3 Tbsp of fresh dill
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Toppings–diced tomatoes, feta cheese, diced red onion, chopped kalamata olives, banana peppers, sliced pita bread
Steps
Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the ground meat and break it up. Add in the onion. Brown for about 5 minute. Drain off excess grease.
Stir in the greek seasoning and the garlic cloves.
Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
Sprinkle in the rice, dump in the tomatoes.
Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. Stir.
Make the tzatziki sauce by stirring the yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
In a bowl or plate scoop some of the rice mixture. Drop a big dollop of tzatziki on top. Serve with diced tomatoes, feta, red onion, olives and pita slices.
Notes/Tips
- Pita Bread–we like buying the Papa Pita brand at Costco. It tastes good toasted with a little bit of olive oil drizzled on top.
- How to seed a cucumber–Using a sharp knife, cut off both ends of the cucumber. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise to create two long halves. Take a spoon, such as a teaspoon or a melon baller, and gently scrape along the length of each cucumber half to remove the seeds. Start from one end and work your way to the other end. Be careful not to apply too much pressure and remove any excess flesh along with the seeds.
- With all the toppings listed in the recipe card this makes a one bowl meal! It’s so fresh and perfect for summer. If you want something extra to serve with it consider hummus and crackers or pita or grilled vegetables. Another idea is to serve with fresh corn on the cob.
- This recipe can be gluten free if your greek seasoning is gluten free and you forego the pita bread.
- You can use brown rice for this recipe. But please adjust the cooking time to 22 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
- I used my 6 quart Instant Pot*. You can also make this in a 3 or 8 quart pot.
- Store leftovers in an airtight container* in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The rice part of the recipe can be frozen for up to 3 months. The tzatziki does not freeze well.
More Instant Pot Greek Inspired Recipes…
Instant Pot Greek Green Beans
Tender cooked green beans with potatoes, tomatoes, olive oil and feta. Serve as a side dish or make it a main dish by serving with a loaf of crusty bread.
Instant Pot Greek Chicken Potato Bowls
Seasoned chicken and potatoes with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions and feta.
Greek Style Garlic Chicken (Instant Pot or Crockpot)
Greek Style Garlic Chicken can be made with your Instant Pot or Crockpot. The chicken is served alongside yogurt cucumber sauce, lettuce, tomato and toasted pitas. A great summer meal!
Greek Chicken Gyros (Instant Pot or Crockpot)
Seasoned chicken served in a soft pita with lemon dill sauce and cucumber tomato salad. It’s a party in your mouth! Make the chicken in your Instant Pot or the Crockpot.
Did you know you can filter the recipes on my website to search by meat type, IP or Crockpot, low carb, gluten free, etc.? Use the filter to find exactly what you are looking for.
Instant Pot Gyro Casserole
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 minutes (plus 5 minute NPR)
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 5 servings 1x
Description
Ground meat seasoned with greek seasoning, rice and tomatoes served with creamy yogurt cucumber sauce and fun toppings like feta cheese. A fresh, fun and easy way to enjoy Greek flavors.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef or ground lamb
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 tsp greek seasoning
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 1/4 cups broth
- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice, converted rice or long grain white rice
- 1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
- For serving: diced tomatoes, feta cheese, diced red onion, chopped kalamata olives, banana peppers, sliced pita bread
For the Tzatziki sauce:
- 1 cup plain greek yogurt (I use full fat)
- 1 cucumber, seeded and finely diced
- 1 Tbsp dried dill
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Turn Instant Pot to saute setting. When display says HOT add in the ground meat and break it up. Add in the onion. Brown for about 5 minute. Drain off excess grease.
- Stir in the greek seasoning and the garlic cloves.
- Pour in the broth and scrape bottom of pot so that nothing is sticking. Turn off Instant Pot.
- Sprinkle in the rice, dump in the tomatoes.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 3 minutes. When time is up let pot sit for 5-10 minutes and then move valve to venting. Remove the lid. Stir.
- Make the tzatziki sauce by stirring the yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic, salt and pepper together in a bowl.
- In a bowl or plate scoop some of the rice mixture. Drop a big dollop of tzatziki on top. Serve with diced tomatoes, feta, red onion, olives and pita slices.
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
I made this tonight & it was a big hit! I prepped the tzatziki sauce first to give it time to marinate I used a Greek seasoning recipe that I found online as I didn’t have the mentioned brand. As someone who eats gluten-free, I loved it! It was all the seasonings and flavors of gyro without bread! My family is very picky and they enjoyed the flavors. It was good to have all sides as they could personalize it to their liking! Thanks for another creative recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks Marjorie for the review! So glad you loved it!
The main part of this–the meat, rice and tomatoes is really bland even with the Greek seasoning. I’d add salt and maybe more seasoning. The toppings and tzatziki helped, but it still was pretty blah. Now I have a bunch of leftovers to figure out how to put some flavor into.
★★
Could you just add more greek seasoning in to the leftovers?
I added more plus some garlic salt and some fresh ground black pepper when I saved the leftovers. I’m heating it up tonight so we’ll see if it helped.
How can I convert this to bake in the oven or on te range instead of in the IP?
I made this tonight with ground chicken breast. I added a couple bay leaves and subbed dried oregano, black pepper, and Adobo for the Greek seasoning. The rice was a little softer than I prefer but I might have left it natural releasing too long. Sometimes-picky kiddo liked it folded into a flour tortilla.
We topped ours with crumbled pita chips, tzatziki, cucumber, tomato, feta, lettuce, and Italian chili relish. Next time I would halve the rice portion (and liquid) and double the meat, but it was good.
★★★★
Good tips! Glad you liked it Christina!
Could you substitute orzo for the rice and how would that affect the cooking time?
Okay I think that is a yummy idea! When I pressure cook orzo I use a 1 minute pressure cook time. I would use 8 oz of orzo and 2 cups of broth.
Hi Kim I’m going to try this recipe for IS pot gyro casserole even though my husband is not a fan of them but my daughter and I love them. My question is do you use beef broth?
you can use either chicken or beef broth!
I’d like to try this, it sounds good. Do you cook on high pressure?
yes on high pressure.
Ooooooooh! Can’t wait. Will be doing this for one of our “bowl” nights this week. Hubby gonna love this one. Will be back with stars!
I think you’ll love it Kim!
I understand that brown rice needs 22 minutes of cooking time.
I want to use brown basmati. What would the cooking time be? Any adjustments on liquids?
Thanks!
Hi Carol, brown basmati is the same cooking time as regular brown rice which is 22 minutes with a 10 minute natural pressure release.
what is greek seasoning? i’ve never seen that
Jerry, she shows a picture of it above, but if you can’t see it just Google Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning & you’ll find a place close by where you can get it. I get mine at Walmart. They also have the ‘no-salt’ version in the blue container. We love it on fresh sliced tomatoes as well.
Kim is right. You can see the picture above. I got mine at Smiths. You can also google homemade greek seasoning recipe and do that! Either way it should be great!