Learn how to make this super Easy Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma, plus an out of this world garlic sauce and prepare your own chicken shawarma wraps. Beats takeout or fast food!
At the risk of sounding like I’m exaggerating, this chicken truly is the best. I made this last weekend and I couldn’t wait to share this recipe with you guys. Hubs loves chicken shawarma and he loves going to Extreme Pita almost every week to get his chicken shawarma wrap with tabbouleh salad. It’s his favorite there, but no surprise there since he loves his sandwiches and wraps.
I decided to surprise him and make my own chicken shawarma wraps with my own homemade tabbouleh salad and garlic sauce. First let me just say that this garlic sauce is money, you can’t have a chicken shawarma wrap without garlic sauce and it’s so easy to make, all you have to do is just put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
WHAT IS CHICKEN SHAWARMA
Obviously this isn’t an authentic shawarma because I roasted mine in the oven, whereas it’s usually prepared on a spit and it can be grilled for as long as a day. Well I don’t have a day so this is the speedy method.
However it is important to marinate your chicken, the flavors here are to die for, and the chicken will melt in your mouth. It’s also a bit spicy from the red pepper flakes, so if you don’t like heat, just omit them.
WHAT SPICES ARE IN CHICKEN SHAWARMA
Believe it or not the spices are not that out of the ordinary. You’ll need smoked paprika, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric and salt and pepper.
HOW TO COOK CHICKEN SHAWARMA IN THE OVEN
You’ll want to roast the chicken at a pretty high temperature like 425 F degrees because you want it to crisp up. I also turned the broiler on for about 3 minutes to crisp it up a bit more.
After the chicken roasts until crisp you need to let it rest for about 5 minutes and then you can slice into bits.
HOW TO SERVE CHICKEN SHAWARMA
I love to serve this with tabbouleh salad either on the plate or add it to my wraps, if making wraps. You could eat the chicken as is with some rice, but I still recommend the garlic sauce for that true Arabic experience.
I also spread some hummus over my wraps but you can totally skip the hummus and just add tabbouleh salad, chicken shawarma and plenty of that garlic sauce.
Well I sure did surprise my hubs because he loved this. I know when he’s really enjoying a meal because he’s not complaining and there’s just silence as he’s eating, maybe a moan here and there. The only problem is that now he’s asking for chicken shawarma wraps every single day.
These wraps are a flavor bomb and it’ll beat any chicken shawarma take out. they’re perfect for lunch or dinner, you can even wrap them up in foil and take them to a picnic. They’ll be delicious!
CRAVING MORE MIDDLE EASTERN RECIPES? TRY THESE:
- Best Ever Hummus
- Tabbouleh Salad
- Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma
- Moroccan Style Roast Chicken and Potatoes
- Baba Ghanoush
- Baklava
Easy Oven Roasted Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Chicken Shawarma
- 4 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cumin ground
- 2 tsp black pepper ground
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 chicken breasts boneless and skinless
- 1 large onion sliced
- 2 tbsp parsley fresh, for garnish
Garlic Sauce
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup lemon juice
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 egg white *
- 1 tsp salt
Chicken Shawarma Wraps
- hummus
- tabbouleh salad
- garlic sauce
- pita wraps
Instructions
Chicken Shawarma
- In a large bowl add the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, cumin, black pepper, paprika, turmeric, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, garlic, and whisk well. Add the chicken and toss making sure the chicken is well coated in the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap or foil and refrigerate for at least an hour. The longer the meat marinates the more flavour you'll have.
- Preheat oven to 425 F degrees. Add sliced onion to bowl with chicken and toss well so that the onion is fully coated in the marinade. Add everything to a 9x13 baking dish. I didn't have much marinade leftover since the chicken absorbed most of it, so that's why I added everything to the baking dish. Spread everything evenly over the baking dish.
- Bake in the oven until the chicken is browned and crisp on the edges, for about 40 to 45 minutes. If you want the chicken crispier on top, turn the broiler on to high and broil for 3 minutes until nice and crispy on the outside.
- Let the chicken rest for about 5 minutes, then slice it into bits.
Garlic Sauce
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth, it should take 1 to 2 minutes. This recipe will make about 1 1/2 cups of sauce, refrigerate leftover sauce.
Chicken Shawarma Wraps
- To make the chicken shawarma wraps, warm up the wraps first in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then spread some hummus over each wrap, spoon about 2 or 3 tbsp of tabbouleh salad, add chicken shawarma, and drizzle with garlic sauce and serve.
Notes
- Prep time does not include time for marinating chicken.
- *If you don't want to use raw egg whites in the garlic sauce, you can omit it, just add the oil little by little to the blender until it thickens and should have the consistency of mayonnaise.
- You can find the homemade hummus recipe here. You can find the tabbouleh salad recipe here.
- Nutritional information does not include tabbouleh salad, hummus or pitas. It does include garlic sauce. Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
Nutrition
Love this recipe! I have made it several times & everyone who eats it loves it! I serve the chicken with the sauce, I haven’t served it with pita as I’m gluten free & it’s delicious as is.
Thank you!
It’s great tossed into a salad as well! We’re so glad you love this recipe 🙂
This was supper for my husband and daughter tonight and they both really liked it. Served it with tabbouli, pitas, roasted baby potatoes and the garlic sauce. When I was making the sauce, as one point it looked like the sauce had broken, but another 10 seconds in my high speed blender and it was a s smooth as silk. Thanks for a great recipe!
Fabulous recipe!! This will be a regular staple for me!
Finally got around to making this tonight and man…is it good. Even my son who’s a picky eater liked it. I also made the hummus and of course the Garlic sauce and all of them are winners. The only change I made was adding some toasted pine nuts to the hummus. Thanks for a great recipe. This one is going into the keeper file.
So happy you guys enjoyed it!
I made these a few days ago when my adult daughter was here for a visit. They are a bit of work, but it is so worth the results! My daughter said (between moans of joy), ” I understand why Jo’s husband wants theses sandwiches everyday!” They are awesome!
I have doubled (or tripled) the marinade and then frozen it in ziplocs with chicken. The chicken marinades as it defrosts and it makes it a little simpler for a week night meal.
This shawarma is Awesome!!! It’s my new favorite! Everyone loves it! Thank you for a great recipe.
This is one of our favorites to keep going back to! Thanks for the comment, we’re happy this was a hit for you 🙂
Another great recipe. The chicken has authentic taste and the Tabbouleh is an excellent side. Good for a weekday meal or a nice dinner party. I use one onion for each breast to take advantage of the wonderful sauce.
I have a question instead! I’m very hesitant about adding cumin and/or cinnamon to a main dish. What should I expect?
Cumin is a fantastic spice used all over the world in savory dishes, it’s the most detectable flavor in taco seasoning. Cinnamon is also incredible used in savory dishes. It’s very common in middle eastern countries. If you want an authentic shawarma flavor, keep it in there!
My family loves sharwarma! Your chicken looks so delicious and easy to make!
This looks wonderful! Have always wanted to try Chicken Shawarma. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the offer. I love your recipes, so keep up the great work!
Linda
I’ve been using this recipe for a while now and want to say thank you for it! We LOVE IT and crave it often!! It’s just so good!!!
Yay!
I made this for the first time tonight. My son, who is extremely picky about flavours and textures, ate two helpings. I substited rice for the pita. I had no planned aheads for tomorrow. Thank you so much for such an easy, delicious recipe.
I’ve done this recipe twice now and my friends have asked for the link both times, it’s so good I highly recommend it.
I made your recipe for my son’s birthday and we all absolutely loved it! I was concerned that there might be too much lemon juice, but it was perfectly balanced with the spices. Also, we used chicken breast tenders (2.50 lbs) and there was more than enough marinade. As a matter of fact, everyone was dipping their pita and fries in the juice at the table! We will definitely use this recipe again. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure, so glad you enjoyed it!
So delicious. My son requests this every week (not joking). I like marinating it for 3 days. I cheat and buy trader joes garlic sauce. I also BBQ it, alternating the chicken tenderloins with onion on a skewer. I also serve it with pickled onions and serve on Nan bread. YUM!
I just made this but used chicken thighs instead of chicken breast and made a point to sear them before putting them in the oven and it was amazing! The garlic sauce was great too! My husband is usually a no sauce kind of guy but he totally liked it with the chicken!
My only question is how long does the sauce last in the fridge? It’s just the two of us and I made the full batch so there’s quite alot left over.
I would keep this for about 5 days max
My husband and I love this recipe and make it almost weekly. Those I’ve shared it with also love it! To make life easier for us on busy days, I take a canning jar and add 6x the powdered ingredients at one time (that way I only need to think in tablespoons), cap, and shake. Then it just takes 3 tablespoons of the powder to the oil, lemon juice, and garlic. We usually cut up the chicken and let it soak in the drippings for a few minutes before assembling. It is also great on salads. Thank you for a great addition to our rotation!
Wow! Amazing! ‘We can have this any time’ was my husband’s review of these recipes. The chicken was beautiful – immensely flavourful and moist! Seriously, I loved it! The garlic sauce was even better than I expected and the hummus was delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Hey,
Thank you for shawarma recipe, I really really like the way you explained it, Me and my family like shawarma when we ate it in asian restaurant so i’m going to try this one in upcoming weekend where we set together once in a week so this will be amazing can you please tell me if i use persian saffron in it ? this will be perfect or not give me some suggestion
Thanks
Debra
You can add a little bit of saffron to the marinade if you’d like. However, it is a delicate flavor and quite expensive. There are a lot of big flavors in this recipe that may overpower your saffron!