Guys, I did a thing. I made something that both of my kids actually loved. This is super rare. As I’ve mentioned before, I have one kid who is a total carnivore and one who would eat only carbs if given the option. They both ate the heck out of these. They discovered the joy of gyro meat a few months ago, so I decided to try to make something resembling it at home, only in fun kid form. And it worked!
These work best when you use these silicone muffin pans, because they don’t stick as much and are easier to clean. But if you just have a regular aluminum one, that’s cool too. I haven’t tried this with the individual silicone muffin liners, because I like to save those for actual baked goods, and I’m not sure how well they’d hold up to what is essentially a giant meatball. You’ll also want to put the muffin tin on a foil-lined cookie sheet while you cook these, both because the juices will leak out of the muffin pan, and because for the last few minutes you cook them outside of the pan, on the cookie sheet.
This recipe couldn’t be easier if you tried. If you can mix things and turn on an oven, you can make this. Start by turning on the oven, to preheat to 350. By the time you get everything measured and mixed, it’ll be ready to go. Grab a large mixing bowl and put in a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground lamb. The lamb is pretty necessary for the flavor, so I wouldn’t substitute it with anything. To that, add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, 1 egg, and a tablespoon of oregano, 2 teaspoons of cumin, 2 teaspoons of salt, a teaspoon and a half of garlic powder, and a teaspoon each of thyme, onion powder, crushed rosemary, and parsley. Grind over some black pepper, mix it all together until all the spices are blended well into the meat, and form six equal balls. Place the balls into the muffin tin, doing your best to fill the tins evenly and avoid air bubbles or gaps. They will probably overlap the cups a little bit. Make sure that you put the muffin tin on that foil-lined cookie sheet to catch the juices that will come out as they cook. Put them in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
Remove them from the oven and carefully take them out of the muffin tin. Set them upright on the cookie sheet. If the juices aren’t running clear, put them back into the oven like this for ten minutes. If they are, or after your ten minutes have passed, move the oven rack to second from the top, set it to broil, and put the meatloaves back in under the broiler. Broil them for 3-4 minutes, until the outsides start to brown like the outside of the meat on a gyro spit. Remove them from the oven and throw them on a plate. As you can see from the picture, I served mine with a quick Greek salad. For the dressing, I just mixed together 2 tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of lemon juice, about a half teaspoon of oregano, a quarter teaspoon of garlic powder, and a pinch of salt and pepper. The salad had feta cheese, kalamata olives, banana peppers, red onion slivers, and sliced tomato. I would have thrown in some cucumber if I had some.
Gyro Mini Meatloaves
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground lamb
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tsp salt
- 1.5 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dried rosemary crushed
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a 6-compartment muffin tin on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet.
- Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl until the spices are evenly dispersed. Divide into six equally-sized balls and place each one in a muffin tin compartment, making sure to avoid gaps or air bubbles.
- Place the cookie sheet with the muffin tin on top in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully remove each meatloaf from its compartment, placing it upright on the cookie sheet. If the juices are running clear, skip to the next step. If not, bake them for another 10 minutes, then remove the sheet from the oven.
- Place an oven rack in the 2nd from the top position in your oven, then turn on the broiler. Put the cookie sheet with the meatloaves on that rack and broil for 3-4 minutes, until the meatloaves are golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve.
- Macros per serving (1 meatloaf) using 80/20 ground beef: 454 calories, 1 gram net carbs, 29 grams protein, 36 grams fat.
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