Chicken Shawarma Recipe

Shawarma!!!! Go to any street corner in the Middle East and chances are you will find a little food joint selling lamb or Chicken Shawarma. Chicken Shawarma is a classic staple of Middle Eastern cuisine. Tender pieces of marinated chicken are roasted and stuffed into flatbreads with all kinds of sauces, vegetables, and pickles, often with a side of Salad or French fries. It’s an incredible combination!!

Even if you don’t have access to a rotating spit, Chicken Shawarma can be a surprisingly quick midweek meal. You can also turn it into a fancy weekend dish by making your own flatbreads, sauces, and pickles to go with it.

No matter your taste or ambition, there’s an adaptable version of Chicken Shawarma out there for you.

About Chicken Shawarma

Succulent and spiced Chicken Shawarma is the descendant of the 19th-century Ottoman Empire’s döner kebab – layers of marinated meat and fat slowly roasted on a rotating vertical spit.

Modern Chicken Shawarma cooks the same way, sometimes using chicken skin in between the pieces of boneless meat to keep it juicy as it cooks.

Shawarma is now served all over the Middle East, including Asia, North Africa and the Mediterranean (where the Greeks call it gyro).

The flavor of the Chicken Shawarma will vary depending on where you get it. Spices used to marinate the shawarma can include paprika, turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, or sometimes a regional spice mix called baharat.

Once marinated, shawarma shop cooks stack the meat on those motorized 20-inch skewers and shave off slices of meat with a long, thin knife as they finish cooking.

The result is strips of flavorful meat with crispy edges and juicy, tender insides.

How to Serve Shawarma

Once you have marinated, cooked, and chopped your Chicken Shawarma at home, there are so many ways to serve it.

The most famous and traditional way is as a sandwich, either stuffed into a pita bread pocket or wrapped in some kind of flatbread.

For flatbreads you can use tortillas, lavash bread, or some other leavened flatbread similar to pita or even Naan.

But wait, you don’t have to just serve shawarma as a sandwich! For those who are gluten-free or don’t have bread on hand, serve your Chicken Shawarma over a base of Turmeric Rice or Middle Eastern couscous.

To keep your shawarma and its accommodating carbs moist, you’ll definitely want to add some sauces. Yogurt-based ones are very popular in parts of the Mediterranean and Middle East.

If you or your guests can’t eat dairy or abstain from eating dairy with meat, hummus, tahini sauce, garlicky Lebanese toum, spicy Yemenite schug, or Jewish Iraqi pickled mango sauce (amba) all complement savory chicken shawarma meat.

You’ll need some crunch or freshness to go with your chicken shawarma. A lighter and healthier option would be a salad on the side, or some fresh onion, tomato, or cucumber in your sandwich.

For something with a little tang, pickled cucumbers and turnips are classic in shawarma. French fries also make a delicious companion both inside and on the side for chicken shawarma sandwiches.

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Chicken Patties

Photo Guide

How to make Chicken Shawarma (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

1. Pat dry and cut chicken breasts or thigh to 1½ inch pieces. Set this aside

2. Prepare the marinade: Add the following ingredients to a mixing bowl.

• 1½ tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic minced or grated
• ½ to ¾ teaspoon paprika or red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder (ground cumin)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander (coriander powder)
• ⅓ to ½ teaspoon ground cardamoms or all-spice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon (powder)
• ¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
• 2 tablespoons Greek Yogurt (optional, strained yogurt, read notes)
• 1½ teaspoon lemon juice (only if needed)

3. Mix all the ingredients. I also added 2 tbsp greek yogurt / hung curd (fresh, not sour).

4. Add lemon juice only if needed to give a slight tang. I use about 1.5 tsps. Mix everything well and taste test to adjust the salt & spices. You may adjust the spice levels to your taste.

5. Marinate chicken well. The marinade must be thick and not runny.

6. Cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours to 24 hours. Longer resting time imparts better flavors and keeps the chicken tender.

Grill Chicken Shawarma

7. My experience with grilling this in an oven did not yield me very good results. So I do it in a pan. If you have a grill pan, go ahead and use it.

8. Turn on the flame to the highest. Heat a non stick pan with half tbsp oil. When the pan turns really hot, place the chicken pieces separately with out crowding. Turn them to all the sides for even cooking. Note that I grilled the 250 to 300 grams chicken in 2 batches. Do not crowd the pan, chicken begins to release moisture if crowded.

9. When the marinade almost begins to caramelize then put the flame to medium high . Continue to cook until the marinade completely dries up and the chicken is completely cooked. Since the chicken is marinated well in yogurt, it cooks fast.

10. You will have to control the flame else it might char the meat and turn it hard. So I switch off the stove for a while. Quickly with a wooden spoon cut the chicken further.

I cook further for one to 2 mins to make sure chicken is cooked well. Set the chicken aside. Add quartered layers separated onions and quartered deseeded tomatoes to the pan and toss for few mins on a high flame.

Serving Ideas

Option 1 – Make the garlic yogurt sauce

This can be used as a dip or to spread on the wrap. Add ¼ cup greek yogurt / hung curd, 1 tbsp minced garlic, salt, 1 to 2 tbsp olive oil and lemon juice (optional). Skip lemon if using sour yogurt. Mix everything well.

Option 2 – Make Tahini sauce

You will have to make tahini from here or use store bought. If buying from store, prefer the one that is packed in glass jars and is made from organic sesame.

Add ¾ cup tahini, 1/4 to 1/2 cup luke warm water, 2 large garlic cloves minced, 2 tbsp. lemon juice, salt only if needed to a food processor and process until it turns light and creamy. Next add 2 tsp finely chopped fresh parsley to it. Tahini sauce is ready to use.

Spread the sauce generously on a pita bread.

Then place lettuce, chicken shawarma, then grilled onions and tomatoes. You can also use any of your favorite hot sauces.

Wrap and enjoy Chicken Shawarma rolls.

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Recipe Card

Chicken Shawarma first published in Feb 2016. Updated and republished in 2019. Updated in 2023 May.