Chicken Shawarma — Culinary Seasons

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Chicken Shawarma is a traditional Mediterranean dish that is usually a street food where the meat is on a long vertical skewer that is similar to a rotisserie. Meat is stacked on the vertical skewer and turned in front of either an open flame or an electric heating element to cook the meat.

Develop Some Char for Best Flavor

There are methods to cook the chicken in a pan at home, but in my opinion you are missing out on the char and flavor that the chicken gets from the fire or heating element.

In this recipe, the method the chicken will be cooked will use whole pieces of chicken thigh meat that will not be stacked on a rotisserie but will be grilled on a charcoal grill.

This will allow the meat to be charred on the outside but retain the moisture inside the meat. When you slice the meat cut it across the grain of the meat to keep it tender.

Cooking and cutting in this way gives the meat a similar cook and cut that you would get at a vertical rotisserie, nice char on the outside and some meat that it cooked but not directly charred.

The marinade comes through well if you marinate overnight.

Remember, spices do not mean spicy, spices equal flavor. (Feel free to reduce a spice if you do not like or are concerned it will be too spicy.)

Enjoy!