Chicken Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish where meat is marinated then cut, stacked and cooked on a large vertical spit. We often see it enjoyed in a pita sandwich or wrap with cucumber, tomatoes and yogurt sauce. There are many marinade variations to enjoy, but some of the common spices used for shawarma are cumin, cardamom, tumeric and paprika. This outrageous chicken shawarma was a lot of fun to make using a vertical skewer pan and is so damn delicious.
using a veritcal spit/skewer pan
I purchased a vertical skewer pan on Amazon to test this recipe and it did not disappoint. In fact, I'm a little obsessed with it at the moment. A lot of the pictures for these pans on Amazon show it being used outside at a BBQ, but you don't need a grill to use it. Cooking it in your oven works great! Also, there are so many photoshopped pictures of this product it's hard to tell if it will fit in your grill. Anyone else really sick of the Photoshopped pictures on Amazon? At this point, I just laugh a lot when I see them, but they are still a bit annoying too.
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The pan came with three different skewer sizes. If you're cooking a smaller amount of chicken, use the shorter skewer. I used the medium skewer which can fit about 12 boneless chicken thighs. For this recipe I used 9 chicken thighs.
You can use this outrageous chicken shawarma meat to make pita wraps, tacos, and pizza. This is highly customizable so just use all your favorite fixins for toppings. Feel free to find other ways to use the chicken too - like on top of a salad with crunchy roasted chick peas.
Chef Tips for making outrageous chicken shawarma
- Trim the fat from the chicken thighs. Don't let the fat content of chicken thighs turn you against them. Take a few minutes to trim the fat so you can enjoy that amazing flavor. If you have time to watch my tutorial on how to do this it might be helpful.
- Give the chicken time to marinate. At minimum 3-4 hours. I let mine go overnight.
- Lower your oven racks to make sure the skewer pan will fit in your oven before you preheat and stack all the chicken. It's small detail, but worth mentioning.
- Cooking on the higher heat of 450 degrees is going to give a great result with the char on the outside.
- If you make the naan/pita wraps, tacos or pizza you should definitely make a batch of Bobby Flay's Fantastic Pickled Red Onions. They pair very well with the chicken. You can make those a day or two ahead so you have them on hand.
- After you slice the chicken from the skewer, don't forget to toss the chicken in the juices from the bottom of the pan. Great way to add more flavor!
- You can use plain yogurt to spoon on the shawarma if you make the wrap, but I also provide two sauce options in the recipe card below - both are awesome. 🙂
Outrageous Chicken Shawarma
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 6-8 portions 1x
Description
Craving something different? Then you should definitely try this outrageous chicken shawarma that includes three ways to use the chicken. So yum.
Ingredients
NOTE: PREP & COOK TIMES ABOVE DO NOT INCLUDE MARINADE TIME
- 8-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat trimmed (see notes)
- 1 large onion
For the marinade:
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground coriander
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chili powder (see notes)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Optional ingredients if making wraps, tacos or pizza:
- Bobby Flay’s pickled red onions
- Small Indian naan bread for “pita” wraps
- Large Indian naan or flat bread if making pizza
- Gouda cheese (shredded for pizza) or other cheese of your choice
- Cilantro
- Hard shell tacos
- Sliced cucumbers
- Sliced tomatoes
- Lettuce
Optional yogurt sauce for wraps:
- 1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
** put in bowl and mix with spoon
OR
Optional tahini sauce for wraps:
- ⅓ cup tahini
- 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon water
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Couple shakes of pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon grated garlic
** whisk briskly or blend in mini food processor
NOTE: I used a vertical skewer pan I got on amazon and cooked in my oven.
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Instructions
- Before marinating the chicken, you should trim the fat from the chicken thighs. Using kitchen shears is a great way to do this. Start with the obvious fat around the edges, but you also want to trim the fat from the underside as well. I have a tutorial video for trimming the fat from chicken thighs and if you have time I would recommend watching that. Once chicken fat is trimmed, you can put the chicken in a large bowl.
- Next, mix all the ingredients for the marinade together.
- Add the marinade (paste) to the chicken bowl and mix to coat the chicken. I used gloves for this part. You want to make sure the chicken is coated well on both sides so give it a good massage. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and marinate 4 hours to overnight. I marinated this overnight.
- Next day, peel a large onion and cut three large rounds from it about ½ inch in thickness. We’ll use these when we stack the chicken. One for bottom, middle and top. Brush a little olive oil on the onions.
- Make sure you’ve moved your oven racks down low to accommodate the height of the skewer. Do this before you preheat the oven.
- Preheat your oven to 450 shortly before you’re ready to cook the chicken.
- With the vertical skewer pan, just screw in the skewer to the bottom of the pan. Pour a little olive oil in bottom of pan and rub around with your fingers or a pastry brush. Start with an onion round on the bottom, a few pieces of chicken (alternating the placement of the chicken so they’re not all hanging in the same direction). My video shows this well. Put another onion in the middle, more chicken then an onion on top. If any of the chicken thighs are particularly thin, small, or weird-shaped you can fold them in half before adding to the skewer.
- Place the pan in your preheated oven at 450 degrees and cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Rotate the pan a few times while it cooks. If the drippings in the pan start to burn, add a tiny bit of water. Cook until internal temperature is 165 degrees.
- Once out of the oven, let it rest for 5-10 minutes. Get a sharp knife and start slicing the meat. Let it fall right into the pan. Once it’s all cut up, toss the chicken in the juices from the pan. You can eat the chicken on its own with a side of veggies or salad or over rice. OR you can make shawarma wraps, tacos, or pizza with all your favorite toppings. This chicken shawarma is versatile and can be used however you want!
Equipment
Bobby at Home: Fearless Flavors from My Kitchen
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Buy Now → Notes
- This recipe can hold about 12 chicken thighs (approx. 3 ½ to 4 lbs) so if you had to buy 2 six-packs of thighs you can use all of them. Sometimes I can get 2 4-packs of thighs at my local grocery store, but sometimes they only sell six-packs. So anywhere between 8-12 thighs and you’ll be fine!
- When I tested this recipe I used gochugaru (a Korean chili powder) to give it a little kick of heat. For this version, I did a non-spicy chili powder which gives great flavor and color minus the heat. It’s up to you what chili powder you want to use. If you like spice – use your favorite spicy chili powder BUT KNOW THE SPICE LEVEL OF WHAT YOU’RE USING. J 🌶
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