I have always been fond of lamb shawarma but now after trying this version with chicken I like it equally. Some folks may not know what "mixed spice" is- not to be confused with pumpkin pie spice. My tried and true Lebanese mixed spice is as follows: In small bowl stir together 1/4 tsp. powdered allspice, 1 tsp. black pepper, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. fenugreek and 2 tsp. powdered ginger. You can adjust the proportions to your preference. The spices must then be ground together in either a clean coffee mill or a pestle and mortar. All of these spices are readily available in health food/ethnic food stores or any grocer that sells herbs and spices in bulk. Thank you for sharing your version of a truly delicious dish.
That was one of the best recipes to try. i come from the Arab world and i know what an authentic Shawerma is. And this is one but with one little modification which is replacing the chicken with beef. Cuz where i come from we eat tahini with the meat shawerma and garlic mayomaise with the chicken one. it was fantastic.
First let me say I love shawarmas. I've had them in many restaurants and even had them in Israel. This tasted nothing like any shawarma I've ever had. I'm not particularly a big fan of hummus so the sauce in this meal really turned me off and infact made me gag. Besides the sauce the chicken came out great except for there was too much of something in the spices that over powered the entire flavor. If you want something interesting try this. If you want shawarma then don't. Oh yeah because we were over powered by some spice in this recipe we had to drown it in BBQ sauce(blasphamy I know.)
I gave this a 4 star only because my hubby didn't like the tahini sauce BUT I loved it! I've had this before at a resturant and this recipe is right on. The kids and the hubby ate it without the sauce. I grilled the chicken (I used boneless breasts) and brushed the flatbread lightly with olive oil and grilled them just until warm when the chicken was done. A keeper for me...maybe I'll turn the tahini sauce into salad dressing for future use??
This was absolutely incredible! Used rice vinegar instead of malt and only marinated for 15 min or so but the combination of the tangy chicken with the yogurt sauce was unbelievable. Reminded me so much of NYC except this was FRESH.
My chicken would not cook in the marinade perhaps because it went straight from the refrigerator to the oven. I had to transfer it to a wire rack and finish it off at 400F. Other than that hitch the shawarma turned out nicely and the tahini sauce was very tasty. I look forward to trying this recipe with lamb. Thank you for sharing.
I have had Shawarma from several restaurants. Each place taste a bit different. I am sure there are better chicken shawarma recipes out there! This recipe did nothing for me. I followed the recipe exact as printed. My daughter and I both were disappointed with this recipe. I will not be making this recipe again.
The marinade was great! I also added pickled turnip and some parsely to the pita before serving.
I haven't tried the restaurant version so I can't compare. I couldn't find boneless thighs so I used regular ones but had to increase the cooking time since chicken was still raw when I checked it at 30 minutes. Didn't care for the tahini sauce topping felt it detracted from the sandwich. Chicken tasted pretty good but had a dominant vinegar flavor. Instead of pita bread rounds I used Greek-style pita fold-up rounds. Interesting different sandwich.
