Juicy chicken shawarma marinated in spiced yogurt then grilled is a delicious dinner served wrapped in easy flatbread with crunchy vegetables.
What is Shawarma?
Shawarma is meat (most often beef, lamb or chicken) stacked on a vertical spit and grilled low and slow, often all day long. The meat is carved off the side of the spit and served in pita bread or flatbread with your choice of vegetables, sauces, pickles, etc.
As I didn’t have the option to cook the chicken for long on a vertical spit, I wanted to replicate the juiciness and flavor in a simple way. Something we could all do at home. And so I decided to marinated the chicken in spiced yogurt. I used boneless, skin-on chicken thighs and baked them in a really hot oven with the top grill/broiler on to really caramelize the skin.
The end result was chicken SO juicy and delicious, we all ate our fair-share before the slices even made it into our shawarmas.
Ingredients
Full recipe with amounts can be found in the recipe card.
- Chicken thighs. I used boneless thighs because they stay incredibly juicy during cooking. Chicken breasts can be used but the cooking time will need to be adjusted to avoid over-cooking.
- Yogurt. Use a thick, Greek-style yogurt if possible.
- Garlic.
- Lemon.
- Olive oil.
- Spices: Paprika, chilli flakes, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper.
How to make chicken shawarma
- Marinate the chicken: Place boneless, skin-on chicken thighs in a large bowl. Combine Greek yogurt, spices, garlic, lemon and olive oil and add to the chicken. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes – 1 hour. (The longer the better but even as little as 30 minutes will work wonders.)
- Cook the chicken: Pre-heat your oven to its hottest temperature, turning the top element/grill on if needed. Place the chicken onto a large baking sheet/oven dish. Bake until cooked through with the skin nicely caramelized. Remove from the oven and slice.
- Assemble the shawarma: Serve the charred chicken in flatbread or warmed pita bread. Top with garlic sauce, pickles and fresh vegetables of your choice.
What’s the difference between pita bread and flatbread?
Flatbread is a thin, flat bread (usually unleavened) cooked on a hot cooking surface/pan until charred and blistered. Pita bread is soft, leavened bread that often has a pocket which can be stuffed with grilled meat and vegetables.
What to serve with shawarma
Chicken recipes16
- Easy herby lemon chicken skewers
- Spicy grilled chicken with corn salsa
- 30-minute easy grilled chicken and vegetables
Chicken shawarma with easy flatbread
Ingredients
For the chicken shawarma
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp chilli/red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 kg boneless, skin-on chicken thighs
For the easy flatbread
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp garlic powder (optional)
- ½ cup plain/Greek yogurt
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ¾-1 cup milk
For the garlic yogurt sauce
- 1 cup plain/Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped mint
- 2-3 garlic cloves crushed
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
- salt and pepper to taste
For serving
- Pickles of your choice
- fresh vegetables of your choice (tomatoes, cucumber, avocado work well)
Instructions
- Mix all the marinade ingredients together then pour over the chicken and allow to marinate for 30 mins - 1 hour.
- In the meantime, mix together the dry ingredients for the flatbread then add the yogurt and oil. Add the milk, a little at a time, and mix until a rough dough starts to form. You might not need all the milk. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until it just comes together in a smooth ball. Cover in plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Pre-heat the oven to 240ºC/460ºF (or as hot as your oven goes) with the top element/grill to caramelize the skin on the chicken.
- Place the chicken in a baking dish/baking sheet in a single layer then place in the oven. Allow the chicken to bake/grill until fully cooked with the skin crisp and caramelized.
- While the chicken is baking, roll tennis-sized balls of dough out onto a floured surface (to around ½cm thick) and cook in a hot pan until golden and bubbling then flip and cook for another minute or two on the other side. Remove from the pan, brush with melted butter (optional) and keep wrapped in foil.
- Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients and mixing well.
- When the chicken is cooked, remove from the oven and slice.
- Serve the chicken shawarma in the flatbread with vegetables and pickles of your choice drizzled with the garlic sauce.
Nutrition
Could the chicken be cooked on an outdoor grill?
Of course, that would be delicious!
I found some almond flour taco shells. Having to be extremely conscious of carb count, I need something else instead of the flatbread.
I’m watching carbs at the moment and so wrapped my chicken in lettuce leaves instead! The chicken is the hero here, and I was pleasantly surprised how enjoyable it was, and it went really well with the yogurt dip!
Haven’t made the chicken yet but made the flat bread today, and it was fantastic! I was doubtful because the recipe without yeast looked too easy, but it turned out SO WELL! Thank you so much!
Can I pan fry the chicken ?
You could, yes.
Made this tonight and it was delicious. I left the marinade one the chicken and baked for 45 minutes at 425. It carmelized beautifully. Enjoyed it on flatbread (store bought) with yogurt sauce, pickles, tomato and feta. Great taste and even my family loved it too.
Can I sub the vegetables oil for olive oil. It’s just what I have.
Yes, absolutely.
This sounds awesome and can’t wait to try this weekend. On the flat bread, can I use olive oil instead of vegetable oil?
Yes, you can.
Hi, do you rinse or wipe off the marinade before grilling?
I just shake off any excess but don’t wipe any of it off.
Hi! If I wanted to make a couple batches ahead of time, can I refrigerate the dough or Even better, cook and freeze the flatbread?
Yes, you can absolutely freeze the flatbread. Layer with parchment paper and freeze for up to 3 months.
This is gene most delicious quick tasty dish. As I don’t eat meats I use black beans but use the delicious marinade sauce for the chicken schwarma. Thanks a million my favourite go to recipe
Omg..wow..this chicken is so good!! I covered a cookie sheet in tin foil and threw every last bit of the sauce and chicken on there. Cake out perfectly! I am Italian so 4 cloves of garlic…c’mon…I threw in a whole head because we are garlic fanatics at my house. I also added extra garlic powder to the flatbread….personal preference and made a spicy sriracha version of the sauce with some sriracha powder. Tomato, Cucumber and red onion salad on the side. My pickiest eater ate the whole thing veggies and all. If you have not made this you are absolutely missing out. It is FABULOUS!!
I also always use more garlic 😉 True garlic-fans will always use more than a recipe asks for. So happy you liked this recipe.
I loved all of the recipes!! And I’m eating those pickled onions like a pregnant woman, haha. I did want to offer a bit of feedback — This was my first time making pita, and we loved it! BUT, I had to look at other recipe pages to feel ready to bake. The pita dough is tackier than most breads, and this threw me off – a note about the consistency/texture would have been helpful to know whether I should be adding more milk or not. Similarly, a heat recommendation for the pan would have been helpful. I took hot to mean high heat, but since butter has such a low burn point the fire alarms were going off the whole cook time. Next time I’m going to use a high heat oil and see how that goes, but clarification on temp or this issue with butter may have been helpful. I cant wait to make it again!
Yum this was DELICIOUS! The chicken was sooo flavorful, we grilled it and used chicken breast because that’s what I had in the fridge 🙂 the flat bread was surprisingly easy to put together, came out perfect on my cast iron. Thank you!!
Yay! That flatbread is a winner! 🙂
Can I use water instead? Of milk?
I haven’t tested it so can’t say with certainty. I can’t foresee an issue, the milk just helps the bread stay tender.
Made the chicken but served it with pita bread and tzatziki. Delicious! We’ve never had chicken so juicy!
Great! Love that you made it your own. 🙂
One word: AWESOME! But also DELICIOUS, TASTY and all the other words that go along with that. Takes a bit of effort but nothing too difficult and the end result is so worth it.
Hahaha, thank you so much Wilma! So glad you liked it.
This was delicious. I followed the instructions as they were. I didn’t use the garlic yogurt sauce and bought tazaiki sauce. I’ll definitely be making this again. The bread was so good!! It all was
Oh, I’m so pleased to hear that. That flatbread has become my new fav. 🙂
I love meals that bring back memories Alida. I bet your husband totally enjoyed this one. It looks jus delicious. Homemade flatbread has been on my baking list too. Can’t wait to try it all!
He LOVED it. 🙂 You’ll love this flatbread recipe. It is SO easy and perfect as an easy side dish.
The look absolutely delicious
Thanks so much! 🙂