Greek Pork Souvlaki with Pita and Tzatziki

This Greek pork souvlaki with pita and tzatziki is by far one of my favorite and most satisfying meals to put together. Not to mention, it makes for delicious leftover.

This herby Mediterranean dish can easily be simplified for a quicker 40 minute weeknight dinner — ten minutes to prep, twenty to marinate, and ten to cook. Or you can opt to make this dish more elaborate by taking the time to brine and marinate the meat for longer, and make the pita and taztziki from scratch. The latter is what I prefer when I have a little extra time on my hands or it’s the weekend. I’ve tried both methods and you really can’t go wrong either way, both are super delicious.

So what exactly is souvlaki?  Souvlaki is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat like chicken, pork, or lamb, and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer.

That said, traditionally this dish is grilled as skewers, but you can use this method of cooking it on a skillet instead. The first time I made this dish was in the middle of winter and it would’ve taken a bit of extra effort to get outside. Thus, I’ve turned to cooking this on a grill pan and have repeated this method time and time again, and it’s SO good. However, maybe this summer I’ll be more inspired to try the grill method.

Greek Pork Souvlaki Recipe (Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 pound of pork butt, shoulder, or tenderloin OR skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch thick pieces or large chunks

• 1 large yellow or sweet onion, cut into 1/2 inch wedges

For the brine (optional)

• 1 quart cold water

• 1/4 cup kosher salt

• 1/4 cup granulated cane sugar

• 1 cup distilled white vinegar

For the marinade (20 minute or up to 12 hours)

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• 3-4 large cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

• 3-4 sprigs thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 springs rosemary

• 2 shallots, sliced

• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano

• 3 tbs fresh lemon juice

• Kosher salt and cracked pepper

Instructions:

In a large bowl, stir in the brine ingredients until the sugar and salt dissolves. Add the cut meat into the brine and refrigerate overnight. You can also omit this step, however, if you have the time, brining meat, especially lean meat, will make it much more tender and juicy.

Remove the meat from the brine, run under cool water, then pat dry with a towel.

In a large bowl combine the marinade ingredients, add the meat, and onions, mixing thoroughly until meat is covered. Allow the meat and onion to soak in the marinade for at least 20 minutes , if not up to 12 hours in the regrigerator. The longer the better, but as I mentioned, this dish is still SUPER tasty the short cut method!

Heat a large cast-iron skillet until very hot, then add the meat, onions and leftover marinade and cook for about 10 minutes until the meat and onions are tender. Transfer the pork and onion onto plates or a big bowl saving the marinade for dipping. Serve with fresh pita and tzatziki and a side greek salad.

This recipe was modified and adapted from How to Roast a Lamb by Michael Psilakis.