It’s still summer and grilling season is in full swing. Also, it’s about time I post my favorite recipe for chicken shawarma. You can find the one for beef (or lamb or venison) here. This version was initially given to me by mom years and I’ve tweaked it a lot, cooked it at plenty of get togethers with friends and shared the recipe with them. It’s always a huge hit and better than anything (as far as I can tell) that you can get in the US.
Impatient? Skip to the recipe.
The real Lebanese Shawarma is cooked on massive rotisseries all over the country. I have never had a version outside of Lebanon, and certainly not in Texas that comes close to how the real thing should be. My guess is that it comes down to the high turnover and volume that a good busy Lebanese sandwich shot goes through as well as using dark and white meat. Here, you usually get a few slices that are already mostly dried out on the large skewer of mostly white chicken breast and that get reheated on a griddle to dry out even more.
It all could be so much better if they ditch the massive skewer altogether and just pay attention to the details, grill the meat fresh and serve it hot and juice. I suppose that robs the restaurants here in the US of the “showy” part and the claims of “authenticity without the giant rotating vertical cylinder of meat. That’s what I do though, marinate boneless chicken thighs and grill them over charcoal for a fantastic Shawarma.
The chicken version of Shawarma today seems far more popular than beef/lamb. It’s almost the default, but that was not always the case from what I remember. Shawarma with no qualifier, referred to the beef/lamb version when I was a kid in Beirut. I distinctly remember my dad, sometime in the late 1980s coming home with the “new” chicken version for us to try out. I realize it’s a purely anecdotal story and proves nothing. For all I know the chicken version has been around forever too. In any case, I love them both and enjoy them equally when I am back in Beirut.
How to serve Shawarma? Really the ideal way is to wrap it in flat bread (pocket pita) with plenty of garlic spread (this is not optional in my opinion), shredded lettuce, pickles and French fries. But you can also make a plate of it with similar ingredients and some rice and maybe a few dollops of proper hummus. No easy access to good pocket flat bread? Try it in flour tortillas. Authentic? No. Delicious? Hell yes, and that’s what matters.
Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Method
- Mix the chicken and marinade together very well. Let marinate for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight and up to 24 hours.
- The ideal way to cook the chicken is on a grill heated to medium (you can keep your hand hovering 3 inches over the grates for about 4 seconds). Remove the chicken from the marinade and discard the marinade. Grill turning every 3 minutes or so until cooked through and registers about 160 F on an instant meat thermometer. Thighs are very forgiving but be very vigilant if you are using chicken breasts so that they do not dry out. For chicken thighs the cooking time total is around 10 minutes (I use a Weber charcoal grill), but your grill will be different so rely on your thermometer. The chicken should be very well browned and charred in a few spots.
- Oven method: Put in a baking dish ensuring the meat is one layer with the skin side (where the skin was) up. Bake in a 400 F oven until done (about 20 minutes) and registers 160 F on a meat thermometer. Oven method does not work too good for chicken breasts.
- Let the chicken rest for 10 minutes and slice into ½ inch thick strips. Tuck in pita bread with plenty of Toom (whipped garlic condiment), shredded lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. Adding French fries to the pita wrap is also traditional.
