There is this little Greek joint about half an hour from us that sells, well, Greek food obvs. But, this place is, first off, a fast food restaurant that sells the typical gyros you would expect. But, they also mimic Chipotle’s burrito bowls by offering gyro bowls.
Like Chipotle, you can choose which kind of meat you would like ~ beef, pork, or chicken. Which kind of rice, if any, you want ~ white or saffron. And then a variety of toppings! My husband and I loved going there anytime we happened to be in the area around lunch time.
Lately, I’ve been reminiscing about these delicious bowls and contemplating on how I could recreate the pork that is normally cooked on a spit. I don’t have a spit as part of my kitchen arsenal, shocking, I’m sure! So, as much as I wanted to recreate this bowl at home, it unfortunately, and pathetically, took my some time to finally figure out how I wanted to approach this!
See, the problem with slow cooking pork in a seasoned broth is that it is only lightly infused with the flavor. Whereas, I wanted a bit of a punch. Alternatively, roasting the pork in the oven coated in seasonings wouldn’t season all of the meat, inside and out, nor would it give me fall apart tender meat.
Then it clicked. My solution. So, I ended up slow cooking a pork tenderloin in about 2 cups of chicken broth. Something that had the very lightest amount of flavoring without just using water, but without adding any other spices or sodium. Once the pork was super tender, I shredded it with two forks.
From there, I heated up a cast iron pan and added the shredded meat to it. I took my seasoning mix and sprinkled it over all of the meat so it was entirely and thoroughly coated! Then, I took a scoop of the leftover broth, about a fourth of a cup at a time, and poured it over the meat, letting it cook off before adding more. The broth still had fat and all the yummy flavorings in it… I didn’t strain any of that out. It added so much flavor back to the meat!
And now that I had my meat dilemma worked out, the rest was easy! You can buy the packs of “yellow” rice at the store. Some of those packs are saffron rice. Some of them are more targeted toward Mexican-style cooking. So, I just made saffron rice from scratch, and boy was it easy! Prepare the rice exactly the way you normally would (I opted for jasmine rice!) I always like to add a generous pinch of salt to the water as I wait for it to boil. In addition to the salt, I added about a tsp of crushed saffron threads. Once the rice was added and cooked, it was a vibrant and beautiful yellow!
I topped the pork and rice with pickled red onions and a shepherd’s salad. Keeping true to this little fast food restaurant, I topped the bowls with tzatziki and I made a tzatziki with a couple of squirts of sriracha… YES! Sriracha tzatziki!!! Have you tried it?? It’s amazing! I absolutely recommend making some! Then, feta, if you’re like me and love feta… or don’t, if you’re like my son who, weird kid, does not like feta 🤷🏻♀️.
This is a great weekday meal if you throw the meat in the slow cooker first thing in the morning. The meat doesn’t need to be seared, there is nothing that needs chopping first thing, and all you’re doing is adding chicken broth… easy peasy! Then, in the evening, you can throw the rest of the food together! The rice takes about 30 minutes to cook, which gives you more than enough time to make the salad and finish the meat!
This dinner was so much better than this little Greek restaurant. And it is so awesome that we can now make these delicious gyro bowls anytime we want! Yay!
Enjoy!!
Greek Pork Gyro & Saffron Rice Bowls
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: Greek, Mediterranean
- Cuisine: Dinner
Ingredients
Pork
1½ – 2 lb pork tenderloin
2 – 3 cups chicken broth
2 TBs ground cumin
1½ TBs ground coriander
1½ TBs paprika
2 tsps dried oregano
2 tsps dried thyme
2 tsps dried parsley
2 tsps dried dill
2 tsps salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp black pepper
2 TBs olive oil
Saffron Rice
1 cup jasmine rice (adjust if making for more than 4)
1 tsp saffron
salt
To Serve
store bought or homemade tzatziki
feta
Instructions
Make the Pork
Place the pork tenderloin in a slow cooker and add the chicken broth to just cover the meat. Cook on low 6 to 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Remove from the broth and place on a cutting board. Shred with two forks.
In a small bowl, mix together the ground cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano, thyme, parsley, dill, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and black pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron pan over medium heat. When hot, carefully swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the shredded pork and sprinkle over the seasoning mix. Using tongs, toss the spices and pork together. Take about 1 cup of the broth, with fat, from the slow cooker. When the pork is searing hot, drizzle about ¼ cup of broth over the meat and toss. Cook until the liquid had evaporated. Repeat ¼ cup at a time with the remaining broth.
Make Saffron Rice
Meanwhile, half an hour before starting the pork, make the saffron rice. In a medium pot with a lid, place 1½ cups water, a generous pinch of salt, and the saffron. Cover and heat over medium until boiling. Add the rice and stir. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes, then turn the heat off and let sit on the hot burner for another 10 minutes. Remove the lid and whisk the rice. Cover until ready to serve.
Plate
Dish the rice into bowls. Top with the pork, Greek salad, pickled red onions, tzatziki, sriracha tzatziki (see intro above), and additional feta. Serve immediately.
Enjoy!
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