Recipe- Street Style Chicken Shawarma At Home

Making Chicken Shawarma at home from scratch is easier than you think! Here’s my step-by-step tutorial with a video on how to make shawarma, how to get that street style layering for roasted chicken at home, and my secret seasoning and spices that will make homemade shawarma a party favourite!

We love Shawarma and it’s pretty much our go-to 6 PM snack! And I really wanted to try and recreate it at home. It’s a tall task though because authentic Shawarma is spit-roasted and slow-cooked for a while. I think we’ve come very very close to the original with this recipe.

Authentic Middle Eastern Chicken Shawarma is all about the many layers of juicy chicken and seasoning. As daunting as it sounds, it can easily be made at home. I must warn you – there are quite a few elements to the dish if you want real deal shawarma, but get the family involved and I promise it’ll all be worth it.

The seasoning or marinade is what makes this dish IRRESISTIBLE. We use olive oil, lime juice, ginger garlic paste, cumin, paprika, honey, cinnamon, oregano, turmeric, coriander powder, salt and black pepper. Most of these are probably in your pantry. The olive oil helps coat the seasoning on the chicken, adds flavour, and keeps it moist. You can also add 1/4 cup thick greek yogurt to this.

Ingredients

For the Shawarma

1 kg chicken thighs boneless and skinless
¼ cup olive oil
1 lemon juiced
1 tablespoon garlic paste
½ tablespoon ginger paste
2 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon cumin ground
1 tablespoon chilli powder or paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon ground
1 tsp coriander powder
¾ teaspoon oregano dried
¾ teaspoon turmeric ground
1 teaspoon black pepper ground
2 teaspoons salt
6-8 Pitas
Pickled Beetroot and Onions (See Note 2)
Hummus (See Note 3)
Garlic Mayo or Toum (See Note 4)
Sliced tomatoes and cucumbers half moons like the beetroot
Lemon Wedges
Coriander

Method

* Marinate all the ingredients mentioned under Chicken Shawarma and set aside for 30 minutes to 1 hour

* In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 C/428 F

* Line a loaf tin with parchment paper overhang on the longer side to make it easy to pull out the grilled chicken later

* Layer the chicken thighs one on top of the other so that all the chicken is tightly packed in the tin

* Broil (only the top heating element on) for 25 minutes till the top is nicely charred and the chicken is cooked through and registers an internal temperature of 74 C/165 F.

* Prepare the grill by preheating the grill to medium high and brush the bbq grills with oil

* Place the chicken thighs on the grill and cook for 2-3 minutes (wait till golden brown but if it starts charring too fast, adjust the heat), and then flip the chicken to cook the other side for 2 minutes.

* Baste generously with leftover marinade in the bowl and flip and cook for 1 minute

* Keep repeating the basting and flipping every minute or so till the chicken has been cooking for 8-10 minutes and the internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken registers 74 C/165 F

* Transfer all the chicken to a plate and let it rest for 8-10 minutes before slicing.