Table of Contents
- Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes – A Middle Eastern Twist on Steak and Chips
- What is shawarma beef?
- Why You’ll Love This Shawarma Beef Recipe
- Marinate the Beef Overnight
- How to Make Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
- Similar recipes found on flaevor.com
- Recipe: Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes – A Middle Eastern Twist on Steak and Chips
If you love steak and chips, you’re interest will be sparked with this Middle Eastern-inspired vamped-up version. Juicy sirloin steak, marinated in a fragrant shawarma spice blend—including cumin,, coriander, cinnamon, and cardamom and served with a . It’s not hot spicy but warm and earthy, perfectly paired with crispy oven-roasted lemon potatoes. To top it off, a decadent drizzle of creamy tarator sauce hits the note. The combined flavours are reminiscent of your favourite shawarma takeout but with a comforting homemade touch.
What is shawarma beef?
Shawarma is an Arabic word and refers to a Middle Eastern cooking technique where layers of marinated meat are stacked into an inverted cone and slow-roasted on a vertical rotisserie. The rich, aromatic taste comes from the shawarma spice blend, a fragrant combination of cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, and more. While traditional shawarma cooks on a spit, this recipe adapts the flavors for home cooking, using thick-cut sirloin steak pan-fried to perfection.
Want to make your own spice blend? Check out our Shawarma Spice Blend Recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Shawarma Beef Recipe
- Bold Flavour: The beef is infused with warm, earthy notes from the overnight shawarma spice marinade.
- Lemon Potatoes: Roasted with garlic butter and lemon for a crispy, golden finish.
- Tarator Sauce: A tangy tahini-based drizzle that ties everything together.
- Easy to Prepare: No rotisserie needed – just a quick pan-sear for juicy, restaurant-quality steak at home.
Marinate the Beef Overnight
The importance of this dish lies in the marinating process. Sirloin steak is rubbed generously with Shawarma Spice Blend and marinated overnight (or in the morning, ready to be eaten at dinner), allowing the warming earthy spices to generously penetrate the beef. Without the full amount of marinating time, you will miss out on that beautiful spiced flavour, so it’s definitely worth the extra planning.
How to Make Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Of course, this recipe isn’t cooked on a spit. It’s been adapted for home cooking with the aim of producing as much of the same flavour and taste as what you buy in a restaurant. The thick-cut sirloin steak is pan-fried to your liking – rare, medium or well done – and basted in butter and lemon juice. There is also a special trick with the potatoes – they are brined in a salt water bath for 30 minutes before being roasted, which makes them even more delicious.
Similar recipes found on flaevor.com
Recipe: Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Shawarma Beef with Lemon Potatoes
Ingredients
Beef
- 2 thick cut sirloin steaks
- 1 tbsp shawarma spice blend recipe here
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt flakes
- Knob of butter
- Squeeze lemon juice
Lemon Potatoes
- 500ml water
- 25g salt
- 400g roasting potatoes
- 3/4 tsp garlic powder
- Sea salt flakes
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 large knob of butter
- 15ml olive oil
Tarator Sauce
- 120ml tahini
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 90ml lemon juice
- 90ml water
- 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- Sea salt flakes and fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Marinade: Combine shawarma spice blend with olive oil. Season both steaks with salt and then rub evenly with shawarma-oil marinade. Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours.
- When ready to start cooking the meal, begin with the lemon potatoes: Combine water and salt in a large bowl, this is the brine. Peel potatoes and cut into wedges (not too thick). Transfer to the salt-water brine and allow to brine for 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 200°C.
- Drain potatoes and pat dry. It’s now time to also remove the shawarma steaks from the fridge and allow them to sit at room temperature whilst you continue to cook.
- Roasting the potatoes: Using a small-medium oven roasting tin, add butter and oil and place in the oven for a couple of minutes or until the butter has melted into the oil. Add potatoes to the butter-oil mixture along with some cracked black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice. Toss around to coat and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
- Prepare tarator sauce: Combine tahini, water and lemon juice and blend until smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add small splashes of water until you have the right consistency. Stir through chopped parsley. Taste and season with salt and pepper as per your liking.
- Back to the potatoes: Remove the roasting pan from the oven and increase the temperature to 220°C . Sprinkle over garlic powder, toss to combine, and return potatoes to the oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until the outsides are crispy.
- Shawarma beef steak: Heat a frying pan with oil and fry the steak to your liking (rare, medium, well done). 30 seconds before removing, add a kob of butter and baste the steak repetitively with the butter. Remove from pan, season with salt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Allow steak to rest while you plate up.
- When potatoes are nice and crispy, remove from the oven, squeeze over lemon juice and sprinkle with a little salt. Toss to combine.
- To finish: Slice steak into thick pieces. Place some tarator sauce on a plate and top with steak slices and salad (optional, see notes). Serve lemon potatoes and the remaining tarator sauce in separate side bowls. Enjoy!
