Most gyros soup recipes throw the Metaxa in with the stock and let everything simmer for 25 minutes. That is exactly the mistake. Almost nothing of the fine brandy aroma survives, the alcohol evaporates and the characteristic wood and honey notes go with it. We add the Metaxa only in the final minute, together with the crème fraîche, and stir briefly at speed 2. That is the one step that makes our soup taste Greek rather than like a generic meat soup with a dash of cream.
We have been making this soup for years whenever guests come over at the weekend and we need to prepare ahead without standing in the kitchen all evening. The marinating takes care of itself. 300 g of pork escalope goes cube by cube into the gyros spice blend and is then left in the fridge for at least four hours, though overnight is even better. If the soup is to taste deep and creamy later, it starts with the marinade, not with the cream.
Gyros Soup with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 12 ✓
- 300 g pork escalope
- 40 g rapeseed oil
- 2 tbsp gyros spice blend
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 onions
- 300 g tomatoes
- 1 red pepper
- 200 g mushrooms
- 200 g vegetable stock
- 200 g double cream
- 200 g crème fraîche
- 4 tbsp Metaxa
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Prepare the meat.
Rinse the escalope, pat dry and cut into roughly 1 cm cubes. Mix the rapeseed oil with the gyros spice blend, coat the meat in the mixture and leave to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
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2
Add the garlic.
Peel the garlic, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 sec / speed 5.
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3
Chop the onions.
Peel the onions, halve them, place in the mixing bowl and chop for 5 sec / speed 5.
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4
Add the vegetables.
Wash the tomatoes, halve them, remove the core and place in the mixing bowl. Wash the pepper, cut into quarters, remove the stalk and seeds and place in the mixing bowl. Wash and clean the mushrooms, add them to the mixing bowl, chop for 5 sec / speed 5 and set aside.
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5
Sauté the meat.
Place the marinated meat in the mixing bowl and sauté for 8 min / Varoma / reverse direction / speed 2 without the measuring cup.
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6
Cook the soup.
Add the vegetables, stock and double cream and simmer for 15 min / 90°C / reverse direction / speed 2.
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7
Season.
Add the crème fraîche and Metaxa and stir together for 30 sec / reverse direction / speed 2.
Because every gyros spice blend varies in intensity and salt content, taste the soup once more before serving.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why Metaxa belongs in the mixing bowl only at the end
Metaxa is a Greek brandy with a muscat wine component and a subtle honey note. Its aroma sits in volatile esters that evaporate between 70 and 80°C. If we add the spirit to the stock and simmer for 15 minutes at 90°C, we lose precisely what we are using the Metaxa for. The brandy character is gone, and all that remains is a faintly sweet note that any other brandy would deliver just as well.
That is why the recipe works in two clearly separated phases. Phase one is cooking: the meat and vegetables are sautéed for 8 minutes at Varoma in reverse direction, then the stock and double cream are added and everything simmers for 15 minutes at 90°C / reverse direction / speed 2. Phase two is the finish: 200 g of crème fraîche and 4 tbsp of Metaxa are added only once the heat has already dropped. Thirty seconds on reverse direction / speed 2 is enough. This way the brandy character is preserved, the crème fraîche does not curdle and the soup turns velvety rather than thin.
What the Thermomix® does in this soup
Uniform vegetable pieces in one step. Garlic, onions, then tomatoes, pepper and mushrooms go into the mixing bowl one after another for 5 seconds at speed 5 each. The result is a dice somewhere between rice and pea size, so every vegetable cooks through evenly during simmering. By hand we would need considerably longer for the same consistency, and the board would need washing five times.
Reverse direction protects the meat. We sauté the escalope cubes for 8 minutes at Varoma heat without the measuring cup so that moisture can escape. In reverse direction the blades run with the blunt side first. The meat is turned, not chopped. The result is still recognisable cubes in the soup, not mince.
Consistent simmering temperature. At 90°C / speed 2 the mixing bowl simmers steadily without us having to adjust the heat on the hob. During this phase the tomatoes release their acidity and sweetness gradually into the stock, and the double cream binds the flavours without boiling and splitting.
How the marinade carries the soup
2 tbsp of gyros spice blend in 40 g of rapeseed oil sounds like little, but it is exactly the right amount for 300 g of meat. The oil binds the fat-soluble aromatics from oregano, cumin, paprika and garlic and presses them into the meat fibres. Four hours is the minimum because pork is denser than chicken and takes longer to absorb spices. Overnight is better: the marinade penetrates deeper into the cubes, and you get the full gyros flavour on the first spoonful rather than the third.
Anyone who makes the gyros spice blend from scratch has a further advantage: salt content and heat can be controlled. Our gyros spice mix made in the Thermomix® contains no flavour enhancers or anti-caking agents. With ready-made blends from a jar this varies greatly, so the rule stands: always taste the soup once more before serving, especially when using a spice mix for the first time.
Where the soup can go wrong in practice
Crème fraîche curdles
This happens when the crème fraîche goes into the mixing bowl at 90°C or above. Lactic acid bacteria cause the protein to curdle under direct heat, leaving the soup grainy rather than creamy. Our solution: wait 2 minutes between the simmering step and the crème fraîche step to let the temperature drop. Then stir on speed 2 in reverse direction for 30 seconds only, no longer.
Soup tastes flat despite the marinade
The most common cause is too little marinating time. Four hours is the absolute minimum. If the meat is only left to marinate for an hour, the seasoning stays on the surface and the inside remains bland. Our solution: marinate the evening before, cover the bowl with cling film and leave it in the fridge. The next day the meat is ready with no extra effort.
Soup turns out too thin
The 200 g of tomatoes and 200 g of mushrooms release a lot of water during cooking. If the mushrooms were not properly dried before chopping, too much liquid ends up in the soup. Our solution: wipe the mushrooms with a mushroom brush or kitchen paper rather than washing them. If you do wash them, dry them well afterwards. Otherwise an extra minute of sautéing without the measuring cup will let the excess moisture evaporate.
Adapting the recipe
With chicken instead of pork. We use 300 g of chicken breast, marinate it the same way, but cut the sautéing time to 6 minutes. Chicken dries out otherwise. The soup becomes lighter while the gyros character is preserved through the spice blend.
Vegetarian with pepper and courgette. Instead of the 300 g of meat we use a yellow pepper and a courgette and marinate the vegetables in the same way. In the mixing bowl 5 minutes of sautéing is sufficient. The spiced oil gives the vegetarian version the gyros quality that would otherwise be missing.
With a feta topping. Scatter 50 g of crumbled feta over each portion before serving. The salty accent pairs well with the sweet Metaxa finish and turns the soup into a main course without needing any bread.
With rice as a filling. Add 50 g of long-grain rice 15 minutes before the end. The rice cooks along and makes the soup more filling, plenty for three hungry people as a main course.
What we serve alongside
A gyros soup calls for bread because the creamy stock invites dipping. Our go-to is a freshly baked garlic cheese baguette that we slide into the oven 10 minutes before serving. Anyone who prefers something lighter can go for our Mediterranean rolls or a slice of olive and walnut bread. When the soup comes to the table as a starter before a main course, we leave the bread out so no one fills up too early.
Anyone who wants to explore Greek cooking further will also find oven-baked gyros and a gyros salad on our site. Both use the same spice blend, so making a larger batch of gyros seasoning quickly covers several dishes.
Making ahead, freezing, reheating
The soup tastes even better on the second day. Overnight the aromatics from the gyros spice blend and the tomatoes continue to develop, and the cream-based stock becomes rounder. For guests we often cook it up to the end of the simmering phase the day before, let it cool, refrigerate it and then add the crème fraîche and Metaxa just before serving when reheating. This keeps the Metaxa aroma sharply defined even the second time around.
In the fridge the soup keeps for 3 days in a sealed container. When reheating, warm it slowly on the hob or in the mixing bowl for 5 minutes at 80°C / reverse direction / speed 1, otherwise the crème fraîche will curdle. Freezing works only partially: the double cream and crème fraîche base tends to separate on thawing and needs to be beaten firmly to make the soup homogeneous again. Anyone who wants to batch-cook is better off freezing the soup without the dairy products and adding the double cream, crème fraîche and Metaxa when reheating.
How other recipes approach this
Goes well with: Baguette, flatbread and tzatziki.
Also worth a try: Altbayerische Mettn Suppn with the Thermomix®.
Other Thermomix® versions of gyros soup often take a different approach. Some use pork fillet with a generous amount of Metaxa (4 tbsp) plus sweetcorn and mushrooms but leave out processed cheese. Others offer pork, turkey or chicken as options, combine processed cheese with crème fraîche and make the Metaxa optional. We deliberately stick to classic pork gyros with a long marinade, combine double cream and crème fraîche for a stable base, and add the Metaxa only at the end so the brandy character does not cook away. Rice as a filling appears in none of them, and the soup gets its heat only from the gyros spice blend and paprika, not from chilli sauces.
More soups from our Thermomix® blog that we make regularly:
- Potato Soup
- Pumpkin Soup Thermomix®
- Goulash Soup
- Pea Soup with Mint
- Lentil and Coconut Soup
- Broccoli Soup or Kohlrabi and Broccoli Soup
- Tomato Soup
- Vegetable Soup
- Green Spelt Soup
