For this Boneless Leg of Lamb Gyro, we slice leg of lamb thin, then marinate it overnight in gyro seasoning paste before putting it on a vertical spit, known as the Trompo King, to form a meat tower. Then the lamb is slow roasted on the grill until the gyro meat has a glorious flavor crust. Indeed, the meat is carved right off the spit, as God intended (sometimes called al pastor), as it is ready and made into some glorious gyros
If you have been to GrillinFools.com before, you probably know that we absolutely love lamb. Indeed, it’s my favorite protein. Yes, I even like it more than steak. Particularly the lamb racks.
Those little meat lollipops are my absolute faves.
Pro Tip ~ Trim as much fat from the outside as you can.
I left that fat on and sliced away, figuring that fat would melt down the side of the meat tower.
In fact, that did happen if the fat was on the outside of the tower. Although the fat (see the right side of that piece in my hand in the pic above) in the middle of the tower could be chewy for some bites.
Then, assemble the Trompo King (assembly takes 20 seconds) and start stacking the meat a layer at a time to form an al pastor meat tower:
Can anyone else hear the Lion King theme when looking at the pic above?
Notice that rack on the bottom in the pic above? That keeps the bottom of the meat tower from touching the bottom of the Trompo King and burning while over the fire.
This thing is so simple, and yet so brilliant.
Then, prepare the grill for indirect grilling with coals on one side and the meat/Trompo King on the other side.
The heat will concentrate up there and that fat will melt down the tower, basting the lamb.
Obviously, the individual strips of that boneless leg of lamb don’t take nearly as long to cook as the meat tower, thus making for a fine snack for the pitmaster:
After about 30 minutes the tips of the pieces of the sliced lamb in the meat tower are starting to brown nicely while my other Trompo King is doing its thing in the background:
After about 90 minutes, we are ready are serve some gyros:
No way 4-6 pounds of meat is ready after 90 minutes at 300F.
Hold on.
See, the absolute beauty of this method of making gyros (or shawarma or al pastor) is that we don’t have to roast until 4-6 pounds are cooked through. Thus, we just have to cook the outer layer of the lamb.
And that makes it magnificent.
We cook till the outer meat is perfect, carve it off and then cook some more. Thus, carving as it is perfect.
Carve the Boneless Leg of Lamb Gyro Meat
Then, use that pita to collect the meat that you carve off:
For me, this is one of those incredibly social (and delicious) cookouts. People can fill their pita with their toppings and then come over to the Trompo King of roasted meat and get some fresh roasted lamb carved right into that pita to make their gyro right on the spot. Incidentally, not gonna lie, as someone who eats a TON of protein, the fresh tomatoes, cucumber, and purple onion really brought this one home for me.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!
Truth be told, I created some videos for Trompo King, but was not contracted to do these recipes. Thus, when shooting the video, I realized this recipe was so website worthy so I went ahead and took a bunch of stills too and documented it here at GrillinFools.com. I knew some folks would be curious as to where to get the products we used, all of which were fantastic.
Also, remember me saying all you do is carve off the outer layer of meat and roast some more.
Indeed, here we are after we carved off some meat:
Trim the fat off the outside of the leg of lamb. Carve the lamb into thin slices and place in the marinator. Periodically salt the meat and work it through the lamb. Once all the lamb is sliced, combine the gyro seasoning and vegetable oil and pour over the lamb. Work the marinade throughout the meat until all lamb is completely coated. Marinate in the fridge for 4-24 hours
Assemble the Trompo King and pile the lamb up on the spit one slice at a time. Cap the meat tower with a fatty piece of lamb.
Prepare the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with the coals and smoke wood on one side and the lamb on the other. Target temp inside the grill is 300F (+/- 25F). Place the Trompo King full of lamb on the side of the grill with no coals and a chunk of pecan on the coals. Close the lid.
Rotate the spit 180 degrees every 30 minutes. While the lamb roasts, prepare the toppings by chopping vegetables and placing sauce and cheese in bowls.
Once the outside is nice and browned, carve off the outer layer into pitas and assemble the lamb gyros.
Continue to roast lamb to cook the lamb along the inside of the tower for rounds 2, 3 and 4 of the gyros.
Video
Also, more pics of the Boneless Leg of Lamb Gyro Recipe:
Scott Thomas, the Original Grillin’ Fool, was sent off to college with a suitcase and a grill where he overcooked, undercooked and burned every piece of meat he could find. After thousands of failures, and quite a few successes, nearly two decades later he started a website to show step by step, picture by picture, foolproof instructions on how to make great things out of doors so that others don’t have to repeat the mistakes he’s made on the grill.
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