Shawarma Recipe:

This beloved food from the Middle East is also well-liked in several regions of Pakistan. If you have never heard of shawarma, it is a dish made from thinly sliced meat, which can include lamb, mutton, chicken, or beef. It is slowly roasted by the heat while being barbecued on a spit and stacked like a cone. Shawarma can be eaten by itself, with a mountain of meat on your plate, or combined with other foods like pita or other flatbreads, sandwiches, or wraps.


This dish for Chicken Shawarma will blow your socks off! A fantastic Chicken Shawarma marinade is made with just a few common spices, giving the chicken unusual Middle Eastern flavours. When this is cooking, the fragrance is crazy!

By popular demand, I've included this dish from my first cookbook, "Dinner," which is a reader favourite.

All of my friends will be quite familiar with this recipe because I prepare it so frequently; it is one of my signature dishes. A small amount of common spices, garlic, a squeeze of lemon, and olive oil morph into the tastiest flavour. It's off the charts for effort to result.

It smells amazing when this chicken is cooking. In fact, when I lived in a townhouse complex, that is exactly how I met most of my neighbors—random strangers who peered over the fence to ask me how much money I was making. When I distributed samples, they were thrilled!

What exactly is Chicken Shawarma?

A well-known meal from the Middle East is shawarma. Popular street cuisine, it is generally prepared using seasoned meats stacked on a vertical rotisserie and cut into small slices as it turns. Be at ease, though! On the BBQ or in a regular pan, we can cook our food horizontally!

Traditionally, lamb, mutton, and chicken were used to make shawarma, but nowadays, beef is also used. Although it's typically served as a wrap, you may also see it served on a plate in some nations together with salad, seasoned rice, or fries. I'm providing you both alternatives in this dish.

The components of chicken shawarma:

Here are the ingredients needed to create chicken shawarma. Most likely, if not all, of the spices are already in your cabinet.

Since chicken thighs are juicier than chicken breast, I like to use them when making shawarma. However, both chicken tenderloin and breast work well.

Fresh lemon juice!

Olive oil: To provide flavour while also preventing the chicken from being "cooked" by the lemon juice (as we do with ceviche!).

Spices: Nothing unusual about this! Cardamom is the one ingredient you might not have on hand, despite the fact that you can now readily find it at any grocery store. It is a crucial component that sets the Shawarma marinade apart from other cuisines, such Mexican, which frequently uses the other spices in this recipe. It has a piney, almost lemony flavour. Basically, don't skip it!

Control of spice - The cayenne pepper is responsible for the marinade's spiciness in the Shawarma. If you don't want it hot, either cut back on it or leave it out entirely since it isn't a crucial component of the flavour. I swear you won't feel cheated. This dish has a tonne of additional flavours!

Options For Shawarma's Sauce

Shawarma is typically served with yoghurt sauce or tahini sauce, both of which are popular in Israel. Use the tahini sauce from this recipe for roasted broccoli if you want to use one.

Here is all you need to make a lemon yoghurt sauce:

Making Chicken Shawarma:

The chicken should marinade overnight for the finest results. But in all honesty, you can get away with marinating for as little as 3 hours because the volume and flavour of the marinade are so potent. Numerous times, yet nobody has ever voiced a complaint.

Mix the marinade — For ease, simply combine the marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag. The best option is a bag since the chicken keeps its marinade-coated appearance. Turn the chicken a few times or double the marinade by 50% if you prefer to use a container.

To the marinade, add the chicken. Remove any extra air before sealing the bag, then massage the exterior to coat. Put the marinate in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. If you're in a rush, even three hours will do!

Yogurt sauce: Simply combine the ingredients to make the yoghurt sauce, then put it aside for at least 20 minutes to allow the flavours to blend. This is refrigerator-safe for three days.

Cook chicken on the stovetop or barbecue. The spices will give it a wonderful crust, and the aroma will make you drool. It's seductive!

Before serving, chicken should be rested for at least 3 minutes to allow the juices to evenly spread throughout the meat. Otherwise, when you slice the meat, the juices will just stream out everywhere.

Simply arrange everything on a tray for serving and let each person assemble their own wraps! Chicken, warmed flatbreads, homemade or store-bought yoghurt sauce, lettuce, tomato slices, onions, and chicken. I occasionally slice the chicken if it is on the larger side. On the other hand, if they're tiny, I usually just leave them whole.

Steps for Making Chicken Shawarma

Chicken Shawarma can be prepared in two ways.

Wraps - As Chicken Shawarma wraps, which are similar to Gyros and Doner kebabs and come with lettuce, tomato, and a basic yoghurt sauce on the side. Red onion, cheese, and other add-ons are optional. (Are they authentic? But that's okay! ), hummus, and hot or spicy sauce.

Rice and salads are served on the side of the shawarma platter. Because it's so on-theme, I often serve this recipe with a big dollop of either the hummus or the yoghurt sauce on pita bread or another kind of flatbread.


The chicken shawarma is shown below with mejadra, a Middle Eastern lentil rice that is so delicious you'll want to eat it all by itself. and a Middle Eastern chickpea salad (I don't flavour the chickpeas since otherwise there are way too many kapow spices).

Along with Chicken Shawarma, the following items would also be welcome: a lemon rice dish

With nuts and dried fruit, in a rice pilaf

Rice Pilaf with Chickpeas

Juicy Greek Salad: Greek salad tastes great with Middle Eastern cuisine.

Shredded Cabbage, Carrot, and Mint Salad from the Middle East

Roasted Vegetables from the Middle East with Tahini Drizzle

Roasted pumpkin with pine nuts and yoghurt sauce

Broccolini with Tahini Sauce, roasted

The above-mentioned Chickpea Salad and Mejadra, a rice dish made with spicy lentils, are seen in the spread below.

Scrumptious food for events:

When I'm cooking for a large group, this Chicken Shawarma and the Vietnamese Noodles with Lemongrass Chicken are two of my go-to dishes because they're simple to prepare in large quantities, great for "lay it all out and let everyone serve themselves" meals (I'm a big fan of food like that), and they travel well. This is one of the meals I've prepared numerous times when camping, along with Vietnamese noodles and Greek gyros. It was also a component of a seven-course Arabian feast menu that I presented back in 2015, the year I first shared this dish. I will eventually update all of the recipes with brand-new pictures, but I still haven't gotten around to it. I adore the menu since it uses so many ingredients that are readily available and can be prepared in advance.

When preparing this Chicken Shawarma, be prepared for some incredible aromas!