My Cookbook: Souk to Table 
Chicken Shawarma Plate
If you’re craving your a great shawarma plate from your favourite joint, here’s some good news. You can make it at home, and it’ll be even better! Whenever I have some hummus at home, I will 100% be making a Shawarma Plate. It’s so good (resisted putting so many O’s on the “so” here), and so easy to make. I love mixing and matching the different sides that typically go into a shawarma plate depending on what I have in the fridge. My preference is always a chicken shawarma plate!
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What to add to a great Shawarma Plate
The components of a really great shawarma plate are easy to mix and match based on what you have at home. Here’s what you will need:
- Some type of Shawarma, duh. I love my super quick and easy sheet pan chicken shawarma, which is what I teach you how to do in this recipe
- Hummus. Homemade is always best when it comes to hummus and you can make it within minutes using this recipe and a food processor. But hey, if you are using store bought hummus, no judgement here. I do the same from time to time.
- A type of carb. I usually serve my shawarma plate with either yellow rice, or white vermicelli rice, because I always have some on hand. But another amazing option is Batata Harra, which is Lebanese spicy potatoes. SO good!
- A fresh salad. I throw together a really quick cucumber, tomato and red onion salad with some fresh mint, lemon and olive oil. That’s my go-to option for simplicity, but you can also make Fattoush or Tabouli and both would be epic.
- A delicious sauce. My go-to sauce is always a yogurt tahini garlic sauce because of how light and delicious it is. Also super easy to make, I’m talking mix all the ingredients in 2 minutes and you’re done. You can also add Toum which is a delicious Middle Eastern garlic sauce.
So the next time you have a huge craving for that favourite shawarma plate, skip the extra fat and extra money and make it yourself at home! You won’t be disappointed. Leave me a review with your feedback – I’d love to hear!
Chicken Shawarma Plate
Ingredients
For the Chicken Shawarma:
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 2 teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
For the Yogurt Tahini Sauce:
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/2 lemon, juiced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
For the salad:
- 4 small cucumbers
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1/2 small red onion
- 1/4 cup packed fresh mint, or 2-3 tablespoons dried mint
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 1 tablespoon sumac, optional
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Other components:
- 2 cups cooked rice
- Hummus, homemade using this recipe or store bought
Other side options:
- Fattoush Salad
- Tabouli Salad
- Batata Harra, Lebanese Spicy Potatoes
- Crispy Baked Falafel
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 450ºF (optional – you can also cook the shawarma on a non-stick pan on the stove)
- Cut chicken thighs into thin strips
- Mix the lemon juice with all the spices and combine to create a paste
- Marinate the chicken for a few hours in the fridge (you can skip this if in a hurry)
- Lay chicken on parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 450ºF for 20-25 mins until cooked through
- To make the sauce, mix all ingredients together well
- For the salad, slice the cucumbers into halves, and the tomatoes into large cubes. Slice the onion into thin strips and finely chop the fresh mint
- Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, sumac and mint and pour over the salad. Mix well
- Serve the shawarma with the sauce on top, with a side of salad, cooked rice, and hummus. Enjoy!
You have provided me with another great dish! I made it as a bowl instead of plate. Instead of salad(can’t do red onions or tomatoes), I sautéed green beens in olive oil and garlic. The balance of flavors you’ve introduced me to has added extra joy to my cooking. Making the sauces from scratch was very therapeutic. Thanks again!
Alicia – I am so happy to hear that you loved making this and also eating it. Thanks so much for your lovely review!
But I wish the rice I used should be Pilaf .
loved it
Amazing!
This recipe didn’t work for me. It was way too sour, because there is lemon juice in everything except for the rice. Especially the salad was too sour, since the instruction “the juice of 2 lemons” is imprecise (my lemons were on the larger side). It should also be stated in cups like the olive oil, so we can know the correct ratio. Also, does this small salad really need that much dressing? I didn’t have enough tahini left, so maybe that also made the yoghurt sauce too sour. The chicken was also sour by itself, and then combining it with the salad, the yoghurt sauce, some rice and hummus it was a really sour mouthful.
Hi Sebastian – sorry this didn’t work out for you! We do love lemony flavours here. Maybe try it with a different salad next time 🙂 You should give my “Shawarma rice” a try – that is definitely less sour.
Thank you for the recipe! Is it ok to make it with chicken breasts?
Yes you can definitely use chicken breast. But I would cook it for a bit less to avoid it drying out. More tips here: https://www.hungrypaprikas.com/chicken-shawarma/
Absolutely delicious! I agree with the person that posted about the tahini and yogurt sauce. It is really thick. I just added more lemon to it. It’s absolutely delicious with tzatziki. In addition. I also made that delicious Arabic rice with the vermicelli. Thank you for all of your recipes. I just absolutely love your culture, and your food!
Hi Collie! So glad to hear of your great feedback! And glad we share the same love for middle eastern food!
The recipe is amazing! Loved the salad dressing! The yoghurt tahini sauce didn’t work for me, maybe I used too much tahini and it was too dense.. but I made tzatziki instead and it worked lovely!
I’m glad you enjoyed Emer! Shame about the tahini sauce! Maybe give it another shot with less tahini (some tahini can be very thick and some not-so great brands have bitterness so that can definitely impact the taste!).
I’d also recommend thinning it out with a little water! My tahini sauces always need it!
This was wonderful! Tastes just like our favourite chicken shawarma, thank you!
thank you so much for sharing, turned out amazing!
Hello,
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this amazing recipe. It was full of flavour and in my opinion it tasted better then the major stores that sell Shawarma plates.
I loved that it was easy to prepare, could be completed within 30-45mins. Your recipes are amazing!
Shabana.
Shabana – thanks so much for the lovely review. I’m so glad you found it to be quick as well as delicious!
Hi!
I tried your shawarma recipe and it turned out amazing The best part was that it is so easy to put together. I couldn’t even take a picture it was gone within a few minutes.
Thanks for sharing your recipes. Definitely I’ll be trying more of your recipes.
Thanks,
Sadia
Thanks so much for trying it and sharing Sadia! So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂