Easy Chicken Shawarma
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The best homemade shawarma recipe using the most amazing (and easy!) spice mixture. Great for salads, wraps + bowls!
Shawarma is a very popular street food item from the Middle East, made from marinated meats like lamb, beef or chicken. It’s become increasingly popular here in the US, and now you can make it right at home with the most amazing spice mixture using just a few pantry staples.
I always opt to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs in chicken shawarma, but chicken breasts can absolutely be subbed here. And with a bit of olive oil, fresh lemons, garlic and your pantry spices, you can marinate your chicken for 2 hours or overnight, letting it soak up all that spice goodness.
Throw these bad boys on your grill (or a cast iron grill pan) before serving them in a salad or as a grain bowl. My personal favorite is to serve chicken shawarma with a side of tzatziki sauce and all the pita bread.
Tools For This Recipe
Cast iron grill pan or large cast iron skillet
Easy Chicken Shawarma: Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, chicken breasts can absolutely be used here but chicken thighs have more dark meat and a higher fat content which will yield juicier, more flavorful chicken when thrown on the grill.
Chicken shawarma is typically served as a wrap (in a flatbread such as pita bread). We personally love to serve this with a side of tzatziki sauce.
No grill, no problem. A cast iron grill pan or a large cast iron skillet will work beautifully here, especially during those winter months when it’s too cold to grill out!
Easy Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 ½ tablespoons canola oil
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, water, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, coriander, paprika, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne pepper, cardamom, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine chicken and olive oil mixture; marinate for at least 2 hours to overnight, turning the bag occasionally. Drain the chicken from the marinade.
- Preheat grill to medium high heat.
- Brush chicken with canola oil; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Add chicken to grill, and cook, turning occasionally, until chicken is completely cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately with tzatziki sauce.
Did you make this recipe?
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This truly was Damn delicious! I used bone in chicken thighs and cooked them on the bbq. The spice blend is outstanding. I will cook this many more times. Thank you.
Can you use boneless skinless
Chicken breasts for this recipe?
Sure, but breasts are more difficult to cook on the grill, as they are thick in the middle and thin along the edges and tend to dry out, if you’re not super careful. Personally, if I was to use breasts, I would pound them out flat and then marinate. That way, when they hit the grill, they are pretty even in thickness and would cook very quickly and taste wonderful!
I made this for dinner with no changes to the recipe and it was better than our favorite Indian restaurant!
It was OUTSTANDING!!
Thank you for putting together such great flavors in this recipe.
Wow, this was pretty simple to prepare and the flavors were excellent. The “marinade” is more like a paste so I added a little extra water and lemon juice. It was still pretty thick (is a spice bomb for sure) and so I used my massage skills to make sure each chicken thigh was properly coated. Marinated for 7 hours. I brushed each with vegetable oil and cooked on super hot BBQ grill. The thighs cooked pretty quickly and the oil really helped with grill marks and slightly charred flavor. My son (who is a bit of a foodie) and wife said the taste was just excellent. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Thank you for this recipe! I love Shawarma so much! A local restaurant makes a fattoush salad that is just divine and I get ot with the chicken. Can’t wait to try it! Now all I need is the pomegranate dressing recipe!