Instant Pot Beef Pitas with Tzatziki

Name: Instant Pot Beef Pitas with Tzatziki
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 65 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Middle Eastern, Turkish, Mediterranean
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb. (750 g) boneless beef chuck, thinly sliced; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced; 1/3 cup (3 fl. oz./80 ml) water; 3 Tbs. olive oil; Juice of 1 lemon; 2 tsp. dried oregano; 1 Tbs. garlic powder; 1 cup (8 oz./250 g) plain Greek yogurt; 1/2 cucumber, finely diced; 1 garlic clove, minced; 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh dill; Juice of 1 lemon; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper; 8 pita breads; Lettuce leaves; Sliced tomatoes; Thinly sliced red onion; Chopped fresh dill

Instant Pot Beef Pitas with Tzatziki is rated 1.0 out of 5 by 1.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Servings: 8

The popular Greek gyro has been simplified here with the help of an Instant Pot, though your guests will have no idea that you didn’t spend all afternoon cooking. Ready all of the sandwich fixings, including the cool, creamy tzatziki, while the beef cooks.

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Ingredients:

For the beef:

1 1/2 lb. (750 g) boneless beef chuck, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup (3 fl. oz./80 ml) water
3 Tbs. olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 Tbs. garlic powder

For the tzatziki:

1 cup (8 oz./250 g) plain Greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber, finely diced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh dill
Juice of 1 lemon
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For serving:

8 pita breads
Lettuce leaves
Sliced tomatoes
Thinly sliced red onion
Chopped fresh dill

Directions:

Season the beef on both sides with salt and pepper.

Put the beef and onion into an Instant Pot. In a small bowl, whisk together the water, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano and garlic powder, then add the mixture to the pot. Cover the pot with the lid, lock the lid in place and turn the valve to “sealing.” Set the Instant Pot to pressure cook at high pressure for 30 minutes.

While the beef cooks, make the tzatziki: In a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, cucumber, garlic, dill and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve.

When the pressure cooking is complete, let the steam release naturally for about 15 minutes, then turn the valve to “venting” to release any residual steam. Remove the lid from the pot and, using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef and onion to a bowl.

To serve, spoon an equal amount of the beef mixture into each pita and top with lettuce, tomato and onion. Sprinkle with dill and finish with a dollop of tzatziki. Serves 8.

Adapted from Williams Sonoma The Instant Pot Cookbook (Weldon Owen, 2017)

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Rated 1 out of 5 by chas from Tasteless While it is challenging to come up with instant pot recipes for beef, I had hoped that chuck in this W-S recipe would work well. In terms of tenderness, it did. But, there was nothing approaching the gyro flavor I had hoped for. (I have done this twice now.) The pan drippings were watery and lifeless. Thank goodness for the Tzatziki, but one shouldn't have to drown his food to improve the flavor of the star ingredient.

Date published: 2019-01-27