Chicken Shawarma is a popular gourmet sandwich that you can get at Middle Eastern restaurants. Marinated chicken chunks are mounted on a large rotating skewer and then roasted slowly to perfection against a gas burning grill. Due to the unavailability of such industrial roasters at homes, Chicken Shawarma has typically remained a restaurant dish. However we’ve learned a few tricks that can bring you the beautiful flavor of Chicken Shawarma home without the need of such roasters.
We’ve experimented with at least 3 recipes; 2 of them tasted good but were closer to “Shish Tawook” (another chicken dish) than they were to Chicken Shawarma. So what we’re going to feature here is our third recipe which was adopted from a family friend whom was once a Chef at a Lebanese Restaurant in Michigan.
Recipe: Easy Lebanese Chicken Shawarma
Summary: Enjoy our home-made Lebanese Chicken Shawarma recipe from Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen. This Chicken Shawarma dish is appreciated especially by garlic lovers
Chicken Shawarma Ingredients (5 servings)
- 2.5 lbs of thinly cut skinless boneless chicken breast
- 1/2 cup of lemon juice
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of crushed/powder oregano (or thyme)
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder (optional)
- 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons of plain yogurt
- 3 tablespoons of white vinegar
- 8 crushed garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons of canola/vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon of salt
Chicken Shawarma Marination
- Mix all ingredients well and marinate the chicken overnight in the fridge.
- To get the most flavor try to marinate at least 6-8 hours, and if you have plenty of time a two-day marination is ideal.
Cooking the Shawarma
Grill the marinated chicken using a panini/George Forman grill for about 15 minutes. You can also cook the chicken on a BBQ grill if so you wish. Once cooked, shred the chicken thinly as in the photo and it’s now ready to be wrapped in a sandwich.
The Shawarma Sandwich
Spread Lebanese garlic dip/paste (click HERE for recipe) on a pita bread diagonally, add the shredded chicken, sliced Middle Eastern cucumber pickles and sliced tomatoes. Roll the sandwich as in a Burrito, grill on a clean panini grill for a couple of minutes, serve warm and enjoy!
Additional Tips
- Try marinating a mix of 75% chicken breast and 25% skinless boneless chicken thighs. The fat in the thighs gives the chicken a nice kick when grilled
- Add grilled tomatoes in the sandwich instead of raw tomatoes Some restaurants add french fries in the sandwich, others add a cabbage/mayo salad to the sandwich.
- Baking or broiling in the oven will rid the chicken of its juice and must be avoided if possible. We found that using a panini grill cooks faster and keeps the moisture inside the chicken
- You can get middle eastern cucumber pickles from Middle Eastern grocery stores.
- Use only salted pickles.
- Try adding a small dash of Nutmeg powder to the marinade
Preparation time: 25 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Diet tags: High protein
Number of servings (yield): 5
Culinary tradition: Middle Eastern
Copyright © Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen.
i would like a phone number for Mama’s lebanese kitchen the toll free number doesn’t want to seem to connect.
thnx
Bea Clancy
Replace the white vinegar with malt vinegar and this should really bring out the garlic in this mouth watering chicken dish. Great!
Thank you for the tip Chris, I’ll try it with malt vinegar next time and see how it goes
Thanks so much for all your wonderful recipes!!! I am not the most knowledgeable cook but I know when I come across a recipe that is authentic and one that cuts corners or substitutes ingredient online. Your recipes are just what I was searching for!!! Yeslamoo eedaiki!!!!
Thank you FooFoo we appreciate your kind feedback
Do you know how to make El-Aas? I’ve been searching for the recipe online and the one I found has tahini in it. The one I had growing up didn’t have tahini in it. I’m wondering what your version of this dish is like.
Hmm what do you mean by El-Aas? In some areas in Lebanon this simply refers to potatoes.. What ingredients does it have? perhaps this can help us identify it.
Please include a recipe for Middle Eastern cucumber pickles that is mentioned in your sandwiches!
Hi Margery, will add that recipe soon stay tuned.
Delicious! I’ve always looked for a recipe guide like this one to make the perfect homemade shawirma… living in the west, you can’t find that amazing taste you’d get from a corner shop back home in Syria… bookmarking this for future reference..
Very good Chicken! I used chicken thighs instead of boneless skinless breasts as they were all I had. I think the added fat left moisture in the meat and since I had to bake them this was an advantage. I marinated for about 24 hours, then covered the thighs and baked them in the marinade for about 45 minutes. After this I pan fried them really quickly on the stove top, just long enough to give a slightly crispy skin. Then pulled them apart, and added them to my pickles and tomatoes with garlic sauce, served them rolled in a pita. FANTASTIC AND QUICK. thanks for sharing!
Jenny thank you for the detailed feedback on the Chicken Shawarma. I’m glad it went well. We ought to try it with just thighs, we’ve typically done it with chicken breasts however I agree with you the thighs would be juicier and softer.