Last Updated on June 13, 2022
Chicken Shawarma Recipe
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 home, Chicken Shawarma has typically remained a restaurant dish. However, we’ve learned a few tricks that can bring you the beautiful flavor of the Chicken Shawarma Recipe at home without the need of such roasters.
Chicken Shawarma Skewers in Tripoli, Lebanon
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 who was once a Chef at a Lebanese Restaurant in Michigan.
Nice Marination of Chicken Shawarma
The basic concept in our recipe is to have a nice marination that mimics a good chicken shawarma flavor and then grill the chicken in such a way that keeps it juicy. We’ve found that our friend’s advice of using a panini or George Foreman grill is the best as it cooks fast and it keeps the chicken moist. Do not overcook the chicken, we’ve found that 13-15 minutes on medium heat was plenty, especially that we we were cooking thin slices of chicken.
The Chicken Shawarma Sandwich
Once the chicken shawarma is grilled, place the chicken breasts on a cutting board and shred into thin slices as per the photo above. Spread those slices along the diameter of a pita bread, add a bit of Lebanese Garlic Paste (check recipe) , some salty cucumber pickles, a bit of roasted tomatoes, french fries, roll it and voila.. you’ve got yourself a nice chicken shawarma sandwich, made at home! The image below is of our Chicken Shish Tawook sandwich just for illustration purposes, so you can see the chicken pieces are similar to kabobs where as in the Shawarma they’re shredded.
If you like beef try our Beef Shawarma Recipe as well. Now on to the recipe…
Lebanese Chicken Shawarma Recipe
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs boneless chicken breast or thighs
Marinade Ingredients
- 1/2 cup lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons tomato sauce
- 4 tablespoons plain yogurt
- 3 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 head garlic pealed, crushed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoons salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano ground
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder optional
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg powder
Sandwich Wrap Ingredients
- 6 loafs pita bread
- 4 tomatoes grilled or roasted
- 6 teaspoons Garlic Paste Lebanese
- 1/2 lb cucumber pickles salty
- 2 cups French fries
Instructions
Marinating the Chicken
- Cut the chicken into thin slices of about 1/2 inch and place in a marination bowl.
- To make the marinade, mix all dry and liquid ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend for a couple of minutes.
- Add the marinate to the chicken bowl mixing well. Cover and let marinate in the fridge overnight.
Cooking
- When ready, grill the marinated chicken on a panini/George Forman grill for about 15 minutes on medium heat. You can also cook the chicken on a BBQ grill if so you wish.
- Shred the cooked chicken thinly and set aside to make a bombastic sandwich.
The Making of the Shawarma Wrap
- Spread 1 teaspoon of Lebanese Garlic paste along the center/diameter of a pita bread.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of chicken
- Add salty cucumber pickles, some French fries, and some grilled tomatoes, roll and enjoy.
Notes
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Very tasty and authentic recipe. My wife and I tried this today at home and we loved it. Tomorrow we will try your shish touk recipe. Thank you so much.
Glad you liked it Salman thanks for the feedback
Hi, thanks so much for this lovely recipe.
Im emailing from London. I wanted to make this recipe for my husband and just wanted to check if its 2 tablespoons or 2 teaspoons of tomato paste? Because it made the sauce go really thick.
Thanks
Amanda
Amanda we use two tablespoons of tomato sauce. If you’re using tomato paste however, then you should use less, perhaps two teaspoons. But in all cases it won’t make a huge difference in flavor even if the marinade is thick. if you’re concerned about it just add a bit more olive oil and vinegar.
Hey,
Thanks for posting this, I have a quick question till my chicken is marinating. All the recipes that i used before that tahini paste as ingredients, although your recipe does not have it. Do you think it can still be used.
Thanks
Hi Sam – Are you sure we’re talking about the same Chicken Shawarma? I’ve never had it marinated in Tahini and never tasted any Tahini flavors in restaurant versions. On the other side, the Beef Shawarma does have Tahini in the sauce that is used in the sandwich, but not in the marinade.
I’m Arabic and I live in south fl a place where the Mid East food selection is slim and the places are sub par, to the michigan restaurants I am use too. This recipe is amazing. I blacken both sides on a really good non stick pan and then I let the chicken rest at least 6 mins then it slices perfectly.
Hey.please would you tell me what kind of tomato sauce are you referring to. Is it tomato paste or tomato ketchup
Hi Maddy this is regular tomato sauce you would buy from stores. It’s a bit more liquidy than tomato paste but you could use paste as well. I haven’t tried it with Ketchup.
Thanks a lot for your reply !
Tomato paste
I believe dried coriander powder is a must in this recipe. Otherwise its perfect! I love all ur recipies!:)
Thanks Edgard for prompty clarifying doubts, very few websites do this.Its reassuring to know there is someone to guide you, when in doubt,especially while cooking. Do you know how the original shawarma meat is placed on the vertical griller ? What process does the meat undergo before fixing it on ?
You’re most welcome Vincent. Regarding Shawarma, the meat is cut into flat steaks of about 1/2 to 1 inch thick and then marinated for 2-3 days (sometimes more). When it’s ready to be cooked, it’s then skewered on a vertical pit/skewer and finally topped with a layer of fat then placed against the grill.
Hello, I’m wondering if the garlic amount in your recipe is truly one full head of garlic crushed, or should the amount be one clove of garlic, crushed? Thank you.
Hi Joycelyn – it’s actually a full head of garlic.
There is nothing called Lebanese shawerma, shawerma is a middle eastern dish found all over the region up to turkey, palestine, syria, for me the best shawerma is in Jordan.
another misconsepction about middle east food, most what you find in lebanon , is found the same all over the region
I tried this and LOVE the spice flavoring!! yummmm it’s very close to what I get in stores.
Mine is marinating as we speak…can’t wait. Do you have any recipes for pickled turnips to go with this? The bright pink kind that are pickled with beets? I found one on-line, but it didn’t taste quite like I’m used to.
Thanks!
I can’t wait to to try this recipe, but can you clarify the amount for the oregano? It says “½ of crushed/powder oregano (or thyme)” Is 1/2 of what? A teaspoon?
Hi Matt – I hope you will enjoy the Shawarma let me know how it goes. For the oregano, it’s 1/2 teaspoon sorry about the confusion.
I tried your recipe on a panini grill with the chicken marinated just for 2-3 hours and it tasted delicious. The chicken was moist and I loved the tangyness and subtle flavors in it which reminded me of the chicken shawarma you get at restaurants. Thank you!!!!
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.
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.. 🙂
Please include a recipe for Middle Eastern cucumber pickles that is mentioned in your sandwiches!
Hi Margery, will add that recipe soon stay tuned.
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.
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 🙂
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 🙂
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