Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma
sheetpan, one-pot-meals, chicken, Middle Eastern
This Easy Sheet pan Chicken Shawarma recipe is made with tender juicy pieces of chicken that are marinated and cooked in the most aromatic shawarma spices. The chicken is baked/roasted to perfection on a sheet pan and served in pita wrap with veggies and tahini sauce or serve it in a bowl with rice or French fries — It’s always a favorite!
Shawarma is a close relative to Greek gyros and Turkish döner kebab. It’s a popular street food especially in the Middle East. This easy version is made with chicken, wrapped in pita bread with vegetables & tahini sauce and garlic sauce too - a delicious mouthful of flavours and textures. Traditionally it’s prepared on a vertical rotisserie but this very simplified version of chicken shawarma is surprisingly really easy to make at home with very minimal ingredients, effort and mess. This Chicken Shawarma recipe will leave you completely satisfied, whether you serve it plain, as a wrap, salad or bowl, because the flavors are so so good.
Why You Will Love This Chicken Shawarma Recipe
- Easy - not only is it easy to prepare it is also easy to cook and enjoy at home
- Flavour - you will love the deliciously marinated spiced chicken
- Quick - this sheet pan chicken recipe bakes up in less than 20 mins with very minimal prep and cleanup
- Family friendly + Great for entertaining - You can prep all of the wrap or salad ingredients ahead of time then just cook the meat while your guests enjoy some appetizers or drinks then everyone can assemble their own Shawarma Wraps or bowls.
What Is Shawarma?
Shawarma is a Middle Eastern dish and style of street food and cooking that involves stacked, spice-marinated meats – lamb, turkey, chicken, beef, or a mix of meat – that is cooked on a slowly-rotating, vertical spit in front of a rotisserie for hours. The caramelized outer layer of meat is shaved off and served over rice or in a flatbread sandwich along with lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, cucumber, pickled veggies and either tahini, hummus or garlic sauce or garlic yogurt sauce. Even though we don’t all own a rotisserie, we can still make this chicken Shawarma-style recipe at home. To replicate this favorite, I’ve marinated chicken in the same aromatic warm shawarma spices, then cooked on a sheet pan in the oven. The result is juicy flavourful chicken that can be served in wraps, rice bowls, in salads or sandwiches. No matter how you serve it, you will love this new easy favorite.
Sheet pan Chicken Shawarma Ingredients
- CHICKEN: I used boneless skinless chicken thighs but you can use skinless boneless chicken breasts too. You will need 1 -1 ½ pounds sliced into 1-inch-thick pieces. Chicken breast tend to be less tender so I would recommend actually marinating your chicken breast for 1 hour or up to overnight to ensure your chicken is tender. This is why I love to use chicken thighs - naturally they are more tender because of the cut and about of fat and you almost can overcook them - so chicken thighs are my preferred meat.
- MARINADE: Extra virgin Olive oil, yogurt, onion/shallots and garlic - to flavour and tenderize the chicken
- SEASONING: Feel free to use store-bought or use the homemade blend below. Its a long list of spices but if you don’t have all of them don’t sweat it - stick to the 6-7 main ones being: Cumin, Coriander, Cardamom, Smoked paprika, Cinnamon and cloves or allspice - and your blend will still be delicious. Feel free to add more or less of the seasoning blend or individual spices to taste. Of course we also seasoned the chicken with salt and pepper. Other recipes include turmeric and garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper or chili flakes for some heat - feel free to add a pinch of each or any if you prefer. If you would like you could also add a squeeze of lemon juice as well.
- PITA BREAD: Feel free to use store bought or homemade
- SAUCES: You can use store-bought or homemade sauces like tahini, garlic sauce or hummus. I have included the home made recipes I use for my tahini and garlic sauce below - they are optional.
- VEGETABLES: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, pickled turnips are all good options - you can include all or just your favourites.
How to Make Homemade Sheet pan Chicken Shawarma
There are just a few simple steps to making delicious chicken shawarma and here they are (full directions in recipe below):
- Prepare spices and marinade
- Prepare chicken and marinate - slice and combine with spices and marinade.
- Prepare sauces and veggies
- Cook the chicken - roast spiced chicken with shallots until cooked through with caramelized edges
- Serve - with your choice of sauces and veggies
What to Serve With Chicken Shawarma
- Pita bread/Shrak bread/Markook bread
- Fresh sliced tomatoes and onions
- Iceberg lettuce or cabbage
- Pickled veggies (turnip, pickles, coleslaw etc)
- Various Dips & Sauces (hummus, tzatziki sauce, tahini sauce, garlic sauce (recipes below), etc)
- Fresh chopped parsley
- Lemon wedges
- Rice
- French Fries
Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing
- MAKE AHEAD: The chicken can be tossed with the marinade and stored in an air tight container and left to marinate for ½ an hour to overnight in the fridge. Remove from fridge when preheating oven and place on a sheet pan to come to room temperature before roasting. The sauces can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2-3 days
- STORAGE: Leftover Chicken shawarma can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days - reheat stove top or in the microwave
- FREEZING: You can season meat and place in a freezer safe bag sealed tight and freeze for 1-3 months, thaw over night in the fridge and then remove from fridge when preheating oven and place on a Sheet pan to come to room temperature before roasting.
More Recipes You Will Love:
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1-1½ pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs or chicken breast, sliced into 1-inch-thick pieces
For The Marinade
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
- 1 large shallot, peeled and sliced thick
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 teaspoons Shawarma seasoning or
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin, ground
- ½ teaspoon ground Allspice, ground
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger, ground
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, ground
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, ground
- ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
For Serving
- Pita
- Sliced tomatoes
- Sliced onions with sumac
- Fresh Parsley
- Iceberg lettuce
- Sliced pickles
- Pickled turnip
- French fries
- Tahini Sauce (recipe below)
- Garlic Sauce (recipe below)
Tahini Sauce (Optional)
- ½ cup Tahini paste
- ⅓ cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup cold water
Garlic sauce or toum (Optional)
- 1 cup garlic cloves peeled
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 3 cups neutral oil such as canola or safflower
- ½ cup lemon juice
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Lightly grease a large sheet pan / baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray or line with foil or parchment paper
- Whisk together the olive oil, yogurt, garlic, shawarma spice blend, (cumin, cinnamon, allspice, paprika, cardamom, oregano, coriander) salt, and black pepper in a large bowl.
- Add the chicken and shallots toss to combine and coat evenly.
- Spread in a single layer on a sheet pan, making sure the pieces are not overlapping or too crowded.
- Bake until the chicken is cooked through and the onions are slightly caramelized, about 12-15 minutes. If you would like a bit of char on your chicken, broil for 1-3 minutes
For the Tahini sauce (optional)
- To make the tahini sauce, place all the ingredients except for the water, together in a food processor or bowl and blend until well combined.
- Slowly add the water to reach desired consistency.
For the Toum (optional)
- Slice the garlic cloves and transfer to a food processor and add the salt. Process for a minute until the garlic becomes finely minced, scraping down the sides of the food processor.
- Slowly pour oil into processor while its running, stopping to scrape down the bowl periodically. Keep processing until the garlic starts looking creamy.
- Once the garlic looks emulsified by the few tablespoons of oil, increase the speed of pouring the oil and alternate with the ½ cup of lemon juice until all the oil and lemon juice is incorporated. This will take about 15 minutes to complete.
- Transfer the sauce into a glass container and cover with a paper towel in the fridge overnight. Makes about 4 cups.
Recipe Notes
- Serve Roasted chicken with the warm pitas or serve in butter lettuce in place of the pitas or Shrak bread, also known as Markook bread. Another alternative is to serve the chicken and veggies with rice to make shawarma bowls. You can also add fries to the sandwiches or the bowls. Or create a chicken shawarma platter with all the different sides and sauces included like hummus, tzatziki, or a tangy tahini sauce. Or, serve the chicken shawarma wrapped tightly in your bread of choice and dip them into the sauce or dip of your choice!
- If you wanted to grill the chicken you will need to either thread the pieces of chicken onto skewers or slice the chicken into thicker pieces so you don’t lose any through the grill grates. Grill until chicken is cooked through - internal temp 165°F
- Spread chicken pieces in a single layer on your large sheet pan, making sure the pieces are not overlapping or too crowded. (over-crowding pan could cause chicken to steam instead of roast so if you need to roast chicken in two batches to do if you only have a small sheetpan)
