Easy Chicken Shawarma
This easy chicken shawarma recipe is perfect when you want the delicious Middle Eastern flavors of a restaurant-quality dish at home! Served on flatbread with a tangy cabbage slaw and creamy yogurt sauce, and you have one of my favorite meals!
Happy Monday, friends!
First up, I appreciate all of you who have chimed in on the last Friday Thoughts discussion!
I am slowly reading my way through the comments (had company through the weekend and was disconnected from all things internet, which is always kind of refreshing), and I am loving so much your insight, feedback, and hilarity as I get caught up today.
Second up, chicken shawarma! And even better, easy chicken shawarma!
That’s the recipe we are talking about today, and if you don’t know what shawarma is (or even how to pronounce it), no worries.
Just think of it as a flavorful, grilled chicken with Middle Eastern vibes that increases tremendously in deliciousness when paired with flatbread, yogurt sauce and chopped veggies.
I can eat meals with this flavor profile for days on end. I love them so much.
The chicken in and of itself is fairly basic (can use boneless, skinless chicken breasts or chicken thighs) with a ton of smoky, delighful flavor.
But when you add in the creamy yogurt sauce, chopped veggies, cabbage slaw and flatbread, you have a colorful, delicious combo that is crazy delicious.
The great thing about this meal is that you can keep it low carb and eat the tasty chicken salad-style – with the creamy, lemony yogurt sauce acting as a simple dressing to bind everything together.
OR, you can pile everything in a piece of soft flatbread and die of happiness.
As I’ve mentioned 1,483 times already, this homemade flatbread is my favorite of all time in the history of ever. It is so simple to make!
You can see from the pictures in this post that thanks to some extra super helpers in the kitchen, our flatbread managed to be a bit…well…chubby. But guess what? Chubby flatbread is pretty great.
The dark horse in this recipe is most definitely that red cabbage slaw. It is terrific! Like, surprisingly, astonishingly delicious.
My grandma used to make cabbage slaws all the time and serve them with just about everything (including her famous Swiss cheese + Spam casserole – don’t knock it til you try it :).
Her cabbage recipes (that weren’t actually recipes but just lots of ingredients thrown together like the majority of her amazing cooking) weren’t like coleslaw…no, no…they were purely tangy and a little sweet and not creamy (no mayo!) at all.
My sweet grams was born and raised in Switzerland, so there was absolutely no Middle Eastern influence going on in her cooking, but the red cabbage slaw in this chicken shawarma recipe today is nearly identical to the kind she used to make, and it is amazingly perfect with the smoky, flavorful chicken.
I am in love with this meal! Healthy and flavorful, it is perfect for any time of the year.
I prefer to grill the chicken for extra flavor, but I’ve included some simple notes for skillet-cooking or broiling the chicken. Versatile and delicious…easy chicken shawarma needs to make it on to your menu plan ASAP!
One Year Ago: Instant Pot Indian Vegetable Rice
Two Years Ago: Doubletree Hotel Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Three Years Ago: Sweet Molasses Bread {Restaurant Knock-off}
Four Years Ago: Baked Shrimp and Orzo with Feta Cheese
Five Years Ago: Italian Lasagna Rolls
Easy Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Chicken + Marinade:
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced, or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper, I use coarsely ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, use more if you want more heat
- 3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, (or chicken thighs)
Yogurt Sauce:
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 garlic clove, finely minced, or a hefty pinch of garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Quick Cabbage Slaw:
- 5-6 cups thinly sliced red cabbage, 1 small head of cabbage or 1/2 head of large cabbage
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or red wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon salt, I use coarse, kosher salt
- Pinch of black pepper
For Serving:
- Flatbread or pita bread (see note)
- Diced tomatoes
- Diced cucumbers
Instructions
- For the chicken, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, garlic, coriander, cumin, smoked paprika, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Place the chicken in a shallow dish or in a gallon-size ziploc bag. Add the marinade and rub over the chicken to make sure each piece is coated. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to 24 hours.
- For the yogurt sauce, whisk together all the ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use (can be made up to several days in advance).
- For the cabbage, place the cabbage and parsley in a large bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice (or vinegar), salt and pepper. Pour over the cabbage and toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve (can be made several hours in advance). Season to taste with additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
- Preheat an outdoor grill (see recipe note for cooking in an oven) to medium- or medium-high. Grill the chicken for 4-5 minutes per side until an instant-read thermometer registers 165 degrees at the thickest part of the chicken. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes or so before slicing.
- Serve the chicken with the flatbread, yogurt sauce, cabbage slaw, diced tomatoes and cucumbers.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: combined a couple recipes (from Recipe Tin Eats and Cook’s Country)
This was so quick to throw together earlier in the day. I used chicken tenderloins and threw them in the air fryer because it was one of those days, and it was still amazingly delicious.
Very good recipe easy to make and pairs very well with tumeric rice.
I made this with the homemade flatbread when we had all of our children home for a reunion. A couple of years later my oldest son sent me a picture saying he had just made it and that it is one of his favorite recipes.
This dinner is so simple yet fancy enough to feel restaurant quality. A family favorite even with my picky eaters!
We love this chicken marinade!! I make it all the time and even freeze chicken in it then thaw it out overnight and it works perfectly. But, question for you. I was hoping to make a bunch ahead of time and have a lot of limes. Do you think this would work with limes instead of lemons?
Yes! I’ve done that swap and it is delicious.
I loved this recipe!! Delicious!! Now can we get that spam and Swiss casserole recipe?!
I’ve made this recipe my new “last meal.” If I’m gonna die, I want to eat this first.
Haha. I totally feel you. I might have to agree.
So tasty, and a small amount of prep work made this a great meal for a busy school night.
This chicken is PERFECTION!!! Absolutely delicious!!! Love everything about this recipe. Thanks for a great addition.
This chicken is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. And so is everything else about this meal. It’s a new favorite!
It’s such an easy recipe and a refreshingly different flavor! I highly recommend trying this recipe. I couldn’t find my smoked paprika so I substituted with chili powder and it worked well.
I can’t wait to try this! I’m on the lookout for recipes with lots of VEGGIES! This looks great!
Made this for a large family dinner and everyone was in love, especially with the versatility. That grilled chicken is sooooo yummy! Thanks for all you do to keep the awesome recipes comin.’
So so so good! My kids acted like I was killing them with the cabbage slaw. But my husband and I loved this!! I had a bit extra making a salad without a flatbread of everything mixed and it was awesome.
Haha, sorry but that made me laugh out loud. Stop being so mean to your kids! 🙂
Loved it! Will be making it again. Hubby is not a big fan of cabbage/slaw so I mixed the cucumber & tomatoes with your slaw “dressing” and served it that way. Since we are low carb, no bread or rice, but it was delish anyway. The second night, with the leftovers, I made a salad out of the whole thing with the yogurt sauce as dressing. Things I will do differently next time: increase the garlic in the marinade (and maybe in the yogurt sauce) and double the yogurt sauce, because we really loved it. I might add some turmeric as well. Thanks for all your efforts, Mel! I love your blog!!
Thanks for the detailed review, Sheree!
Tonight I made Chicken Shawarma and it was delicious! My family are adventurous eaters, so making your recipes is always fun because you have a lot of diversity, yet the recipes are easy, healthy and hearty. Just the way I love to cook. I’d never made coleslaw with parsley and it was yummy. The only thing I changed was I added cucumber to the yogurt for a tzatziki sauce., although without it, the yogurt sauce was just as good.
Thanks, Sabrina!
I don’t know what shawarma is :p but I’d love to try a new food from the place I have never been to. Thank you for the recipe!
Delicious chicken marinade. Thank you for all the work you put into the blog. I can fearlessly make anything from here and know it’ll turn out well!
Thanks so much, Rachel!
Mel, I make a dish incredibly similar to this. The chicken seasoning is almost identical. I do bake it in the oven rather than broil (after marinating) , and it turns out great! I serve it with a tomato/red onion/cucumber salad on the top, with the same dressing as your cabbage salad. But instead of flatbread we serve it over a brown rice/lentil mix, turning it into chicken schwarma bowls. Na’an bread is served on the side, we put a tahini sauce over the chicken mixture and top it all with seasoned toasted chickpeas. Excellent. And you are right, this seasoning blend… all day! Yum!!
Sounds so yummy!!
As it turns out I had everything needed for the chicken, marinade-ed it up, and had it for dinner last night. Results? Tastiest dinner we’ve had in a long time. Got more coriander today and will be grilling up another batch tomorrow for quick lunches (I’m already dreaming of the salad it’ll become). Two thumbs up!
Yay! Thanks for the report back!
This was delicious! I used green cabbage, skipped the yogurt sauce , and instead added a can of chick peas, lightly smashed, added to the chicken marinade. I broiled it all on a foil lined baking sheet for 5 minutes per side, let it rest for 5 minutes in the hot oven before cooling on the stove for 5 minutes and slicing it up! I pounded the chicken breasts flat before marinating so they would cook faster and more evenly. The flatbread recipe linked in the post is soo yummy with it! I used one cup whole wheat flour and about 1 1/3 cups white flour. I didnt see the 8-hour marinating time until it was too late so my chicken got about 2 1/2 hours and was still so flavorful. The chick peas soak up the extra spices and chicken flavors as it broils so they came out as a perfect sauce alternative to spread on the flat bread. Next time I am going to get red cabbage for the beautiful color. It’s a keeper Mel!
Yum, Kate! Thanks for detailing your changes!
I made this as well based from Cooks Country. Broiling the chicken was the easiest thing ever. Highly recommend that approach. We even used the leftover chicken for another meal in tacos/enchiladas. There was so much great flavor in the chicken. I also added to this meal, lettuce, sliced onions, and yellow rice (jasmine rice with tumeric). Then people can choose to do a stuffed pita or a rice bowl salad. It is an easy meal to make.
Mel, my grandma makes a slaw just like this too except she puts a bit of white sugar in hers and her palm is her measuring spoon. She never uses proper measures and her recipes are always amazing. Oh, to have that talent.
I cannot wait to make this but likely will leave out the cayenne since one of my kids can’t handle the heat. We’re big shawarma fans.
Homemade flatbread is where it’s at, right! All the yum. Have a great day!!
Thanks, Christin! Love that our grandmas measure the same way. 🙂
How thick are your chicken breasts when you go to grill them? I bought some bulk chicken and they seem freakishly thick compared to say those bagged flash frozen ones.
The chicken I use is pretty thin – I’d say no more than 1/2-inch thick.
This is sooooo colorful & beautiful, Mel, & the purple cabbage just knocks it right out of the park for me. Can’t wait to make it-the flavor profile on this looks divine~
Thanks, Lauren!
It was 26 degrees here this morning but someday it will warm enough to cook out on the grill. In the meantime , the broiler will just have to do.
Is that your flatbread there? I really must give that a try!
Yep, that’s the flatbread – I had some extra super helpers that day so the flatbread is fairly thick and fluffy, but hey, it still worked for us. 🙂
Oh wow Mel .. you just keep upping your rock star status with my family. Shawarma was one of my son’s favorite things he ate while in Armenia as a missionary. He recently made us his own version of it .. we all loved it!! He bought Lavash bread (at Walmart) which is what they traditionally made it with there and used many similar ingredients to what you have here. We cooked the chicken on skewers in the oven on a rack inside a cookie sheet because we weren’t quite ready to start up the grill… then after he put it all together he cooked it in the panini press (which in our case is a George Foreman grill). Now I can’t wait to try this .. and to show him this recipe ❤️!! Once again you Amaze ⭐️
So fun that he made it for your family, Helen! Sounds amazing…and I bet it’s great with the lavash bread. Yum!
I love this flavor profile, too. I’m putting this on my list of things to make soon.
This looks delicious! Green cabbage is all I have in the fridge… is that totally taboo?
Nah, I’d go with it. 🙂
Now, Sweet Friend, you have me curious! What is your G’ma’s recipe for the swiss cheese/Spam casserole?!?! My husband loves loves SPAM! Anyway ya cook it! Can you share her recipe?!?! Thanks so much! . . . .cindy w.
Haha, I KNEW someone would ask! Let me try to track it down from my mom! When my grandma passed away, we were all sad we didn’t have her write down many of her recipes earlier (her death was unexpected). Maybe that legendary casserole was written down somewhere. I’ll check!
This looks amaaaazing how does the cabbage salad keep as leftovers? I can’t wait to try it!
It keeps really well! The cabbage is more crisp on that first day, but I ate the cabbage leftovers right on top of the grilled chicken leftover for 2 days after, and it was delicious (albeit the cabbage having a slightly softer texture)
Perfect! Thank you!!