Mouthwatering Homemade Chicken Shawarma (Oven-Roasted & Full of Spice)
If there’s one recipe you’ll want to make again and again, it’s this oven-baked chicken shawarma. Marinating juicy chicken thigh fillets overnight in a shawarma spice blend captures the addictive flavours of authentic shawarma, and the simple one-tray roasting method makes this dish a winner for cooks of all levels.
What Is Shawarma? (And How This Oven Version Works)
Shawarma is the Arabic word used to describe a cooking technique widely used throughout the Greater Middle East. Cuts of meat are piled on top of each other in the shape of an inverted cone, then slowly roasted for many hours on a rotating vertical spit (or kebab). This shape and technique allows the natural fat to trickle down as the meat cooks, continually basting the layers of meat and keeping them nice and juicy. This recipe recreates that flavour at home by using an authentic shawarma marinade and roasting the chicken in a hot oven.
Shawarma Marinade: Always Marinate for Maximum Flavour
First and most important, the chicken is marinated overnight in the shawarma spice blend, a mix of beautifully fragrant spices such as cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric. Garlic and lemon juice are essential to achieve that classic chicken shawarma flavour. To learn more, read about the shawarma spice blend on Flaevor’s Spice Directory here:
My Juicy Shawarma Trick: Use the Skin for Basting
Using skin-on chicken thighs is the best way to add extra fat, but the trick is to remove the skin before chopping and marinating the chicken. Cut the chicken into strips, then add the skin back into the bowl so everything marinates together overnight. When placing the chicken on the roasting tray, sandwich the skin evenly between the strips of chicken. This allows the fat to slowly melt during cooking and keeps the chicken shawarma juicy in the oven. At the end of cooking, simply remove and discard the skin.
Extra Shawarma Flavour: Toss in the Pan Juices
Once the chicken has finished roasting, there will be a good amount of juices and seasoned fat collected underneath. Toss the chicken around the tray so it’s coated in the shawarma juices, each bite will be rich and intensely flavoured.
What to Serve With Chicken Shawarma?
Most people are familiar with chicken shawarma, which is typically served in a wrap made of pita or laffa bread, accompanied by salad, pickles, and sauce. In the Middle East, however, it is commonly served with garlic sauce, chips and pickles. For a modern twist, try serving shredded chicken shawarma with grilled vegetables, rice, salad, pickles, tahini, yoghurt and hot sauce.
Shawarma Sauce Ideas
Sauces such as tahini sauce, yoghurt sauce, garlic sauce and various chilli sauces go hand in hand with shawarma. For something a little different, try serving it with a delicious pickled tzatziki sauce instead. It takes inspiration from Greek gyros (their own version of chicken shawarma) and combines pickled cucumbers for extra crunch and flavour.
Explore More Recipes on Flaevor
Easy Oven Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Shawarma Chicken
- 1kg chicken thigh fillets, skin on
- 1 x Shawarma spice blend, recipe here
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp lemon juice
Pickle Tzatziki
- 400g Greek yoghurt
- 200g shredded pickles
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp lemon rind
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp chopped dill fonds
- Salt and black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the Chicken: Remove skin from chicken thighs and cut into 1-inch strips. Next, cut chicken pieces into 1-inch strips.
- Combine the shawarma spice blend with the olive oil and lemon juice.
- Transfer the chicken meat and skin to a large bowl. Season with salt, then cover with the shawarma marinade, making sure each piece of chicken and skin is well coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and transfer to the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours, or up to 24 hours to marinate. Obviously, the longer you leave it, the better it will taste.
- Pickle Tzatziki: This can be made the night before or fresh on the day of cooking. Grate the pickled cucumbers using the large-holed side of a box grater. Combine with the remaining tzatziki ingredients. Taste and season with salt and pepper or lemon juice if needed. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with extra olive oil.
- Cooking the Chicken Shawarma: Remove the chicken from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. When ready to cook, heat the oven to 200°C.
- Rub a little olive oil onto a roasting tray, then spread the chicken pieces onto the tray, keeping them together without gaps so the fat spreads around the meat. Divide the chicken skin evenly throughout the meat, pushing it gently between the chicken pieces. Transfer the tray to the oven and roast for approximately 30–35 minutes, or until the meat is cooked through and juicy.
- Finish the Shawarma: Remove the tray from the oven and discard the chicken skin. Carefully remove the meat from the tray and, using a large knife, chop the chicken into thinner strips.
- Return the chicken strips to the roasting tray, squeeze over a little extra lemon juice, then toss the chicken in the pan juices and fat, coating each piece as evenly as possible. Taste and season with salt if needed.
- To Finish: Serve the chicken shawarma on a large plate with the pickle tzatziki and side dishes of your choice.