I can’t remember where I got this recipe from, but this is a yummy and simple recipe for making chicken shawarma in a regular oven that can take as little as 15min of prep time, depending on how pedantic you want to be about ingredients1.
Ingredients:
- 2lb Boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 large yellow onion
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice2
- 1-1/2 Tbsp minced garlic3
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp black pepper4
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Instructions:
- In a large bowl or measuring cup, using a whisk, mix together the oil, lemon juice, garlic, and spices.
- Peel the onion, and slice it into long narrow pieces.
- Add the onion and chicken to the marinade mix, and stir them to evenly coat all pieces5. After mixing them, I’ll usually then put it in a large 1 or 2 gallon ziploc bag, and shake it around to make sure things are evenly coated.
- Set the coated chicken and onion slices aside to marinate in the fridge for at least two hours, though if you have time, overnight is better.
- Once sufficiently marinated, preheat the oven to 425F, and then place the marinated chicken and onion mixture onto a baking sheet. You can spray the baking sheet first, but the marinade has enough oil in it that I usually don’t bother6.
- You then bake it in the oven until it is golden and cooked through. This typically takes less than 30min.
I’ll typically serve the cooked chicken shawarma and onions while they’re hot, on pita bread or pita pockets, with diced cucumber, Roma tomatoes, and sliced romaine lettuce. Theoretically, it’s probably most authentic if you top it with a yogurt7 or tahini-based sauce, or tzatziki sauce, but I usually prefer hummus.
- Ask yourself the question — if someone calls for lemon in a recipe — do you go for the bottle of lemon juice, or would you consider that bordering on sacrilege. If you’re fine with using pre-minced garlic and bottled lemon, this recipe can take as little as 10-15min of prep time. If you’re the kind of person who only use fresh-minced garlic, and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, it will probably taste at least 5% better, though it’ll likely double or triple your prep time. Your call, I won’t judge. ↩︎
- Or the juice of one medium-sized lemon if you prefer fresh-squeezed. ↩︎
- Three large cloves of garlic if you want to peel/mince them fresh. ↩︎
- Freshly ground black pepper is slightly better — you can make some by smashing peppercorns inside a fold of paper towel with a mallet. ↩︎
- If you want to, you can trim excess fat, and slice the chicken into narrow, ~1/2in strips before coating it in the marinate, or you can marinate the full pieces, cook them, then slice them when they’re cooked. It’s easier and faster to cut them when they’re cooked, but you get better coating of the chicken with the marinade if you slice it beforehand. Either approach works. ↩︎
- The chicken is fatty enough, even if you trim it, that between the rendered fat and the olive oil, you typically end up with a lot of juice, and very juicy chicken. If you wanted more of a grilled texture, you could potentially cook the chicken on a wire rack on the baking sheet, or you could cook the chicken for say 20min, then finish it on the grill. But frankly, just doing it on the sheet pan gets you something that’s delicious and easy. ↩︎
- The recipe I had did come with a simple yogurt sauce recipe. You basically whisk together 1/2 cup of unflavored Greek yogurt, 1 Tbsp of lemon, 1 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil, 1 Tbsp of minced garlic, and a pinch of kosher salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. If you like yogurt sauce, it’s a pretty quick and simple recipe. ↩︎