Growing up in Amman meant that one of the few foods we could eat out was shawarma which was made by various vendors around town. The traditional way is to put it into a pita bread pocket. Homemade shawarma will normally be made differently than at a restaurant mainly because most people won’t have a spit to cook it on in a traditional way. It didn’t help much that there was a shawarma place really close to my house. Place the sliced meat in a pan with olive oil. Shawarma is a traditional Middle Eastern meal made of thinly sliced cuts of meat, like chicken, beef, goat, lamb, and sometimes turkey, (cooked on large rotating cones) and rolled into a large piece of flatbread or pita that has been steamed or heated. I’m a Chef and food blogger who is passionate about creating recipes from my Arab American background. This preparation of shawarma is lighter than one you might find at a local restaurant. Thanks! Which is why we are presenting you with this How to Make healthy Nigerian homemade Chicken Shawarma. Add chicken into the bowl with marinade. Thoroughly towel-dry the boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Nothing worse than having a shawarma that you have to fight with as you try and get your teeth through the meat. And what I like to use is chipotle for that bit of heat. Let chicken come to room temp as you preheat oven to 400F, with rack on upper middle position. Vitamin C is important … Come along with me as I #CookTheStates . CREAMY BAKED MASHED POTATOES WITH BACON ✨ As I, SAUSAGE AND APPLE STUFFING ✨ When we want a fail. BREAKFAST  /  MEAT  /  SWEETS  /  VEGETARIAN  /  APPETIZERS. He’d then squeeze the lovely and luscious tahini sauce on top of the meat and let it drizzle in between all the pieces of the lamb. Shawarma spices are unique to shawarma with doner and gyros having their own regional spices and flavors. Either pickled cucumbers, or pickles which I really like, pickled turnips, dyed pink using a little beetroot. Even if you’re normally a die-hard white meat cooker, go with chicken thighs here. I haven’t eaten it much in the past three years though and I can’t even remember the last time I had it. Add 2 TB olive oil and mix into a paste. Set aside. I used to be a shawarma lover in my pre fitfam life. As the pieces of meat would fall he would catch the slices into the open pita in his hand. It is not the healthiest meal once all the ingredients are added together to make a shawarma sandwich. I love to teach people about food, and I’m a big proponent of Middle Eastern cooking! I’m not sure how it started precisely, but it’s here to stay: my undeniable infatuation with healthy, tender, ultra flavorful chicken shawarma. Your email address will not be published. Better results will happen if your chicken isn’t super cold. Along with a nice tomato and onion salad with a vinaigrette. Traditionally the pre-seasoned meat is pushed onto a skewer and cooked over hot coals or on a spit. Get my FREE 41-Page eBook about how to make the perfect mezze! Cook over medium heat until almost done, about eight minutes. 1 tbsp Olive Oil. Shawarma Spice. If you buy something through one of those links, you won’t pay a penny more, but we’ll get a small commission, which helps keep the lights on. Starting and ending with half a baking potato, thread all the chicken onto two … Other than that it’s allspice, garlic powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and a little oregano. So, make your own healthy … It was a great treat for us to go out and watch as the shawarma turned and sizzled on its spit. Add spices, and continue to cook until done, stirring occasionally an additional four or five minutes. Not the hot spicy kind, if anything the hot is added on the side. 2 Tomatoes ... Shawarma Seasoning. Once done put into a wrap or a sliced open pita bread, add tahini sauce, pickles and salad. This Easy, Healthy Homemade nChicken Shawarma is incredibly tender with big, bold flavors. Learn how your comment data is processed. We would dip them in a typical garlic mayonnaise kind of sauce, and along with french fries we would devour our lovely treats. 1.2m members in the HealthyFood community. That’s because skinless chicken is used. And it wasn’t even hard. Chicken Shawarma is a middle eastern meat dish based on a doner kebab that would originally have been made with lamb or mutton. Narrow on the bottom of the spit, and wider at the top, this cone shaped meat layered delight is cooked slowly. So this shawarma recipe is a pretty healthy, lean protein option! Generally the spices are of the sweet variety. Then using his long and sharp knife he would slice some of the shawarma meat as the spit continued to turn. Happens to be Whole30 and Paleo approved. Cooking on the barbecue: Light a lidded barbecue, and let the flames die down. 1 lb Sirloin Steak thin slices. Skinless, boneless chicken thighs are actually quite lean and turn out so much more tender (translation: they’re harder to mess up.). 1 tsp Allspice ground. So it’s worth putting quality in your food if you can. Roast the chicken in a single layer for even browning. You can actually lighten up this recipe even further. The three main variations of this meal in the Middle East are the doner kebab, from Turkey, gyros from Greece, and Shawarma from the Arabic speaking countries. Getting the right cut will always help make you dish a success. Let chicken cool enough to handle. There was a range of meats we could choose from. You can put the shawarma in a wrap with sauteed onions, avocado, cucumber and pickles. Then for something completely different, and a relatively new innovation, I remember my mouth watering as the shawarma man opened a pita and soaked up some of the meat juices on the inside of the, He’d then squeeze the lovely and luscious, Homemade shawarma will normally be made differently than at a, Either pickled cucumbers, or pickles which I really like, pickled turnips, dyed pink using a little, If making shawarma at home you will most probably be making it in a, Once done put into a wrap or a sliced open pita bread, add tahini sauce, pickles and, You can put the shawarma in a wrap with sauteed, Another idea is to serve the meat on top of garlic and. Cuts like flank steak or hanger steak will work just fine if you let them marinate. Serve immediately with pita bread, basmati rice, or. If you’re not a fan of spice, you can definitely leave it out! In a large bowl, whisk together all the spices to combine well. Use tongs or clean hands to thoroughly coat all pieces of chicken evenly, on all sides. Discussion of … This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. One of the trademarks of food from the Middle East is all the spice mixes that dominate so much of it. Prime rib is what I normally try and use, or a tri-tip in thin slices. This does have a touch of hot spicy other than the balck pepper. Once the coals have turned ashen, pile them up on one side with a few coals scattered around the other.