Chicken Shawarma with Fresh Pita Bread Recipe

Shawarma is one of the most popular street foods in the Middle East and a very beloved dish. It has gained popularity in The United States in recent years. This dish is unique by the method of cooking, the layers and depth of flavors in every bite.

Shawarma can be made with thin slices of chicken, beef, or lamb. Each kind of meat is seasoned little differently and usually marinated 24 hours or longer. After marinating for 24 hours all the meat makes it way to the shawarma machine where it is stacked on a pole that makes a slow vertical spin that cooks the meat slowly and evenly, this cooking method gives the best end the result of juicy meat with so much depth of flavors, slowly the cooked meat is shaved with a knife onto fresh warm pita and served with garlic sauce, fresh tomatoes, pickles and onions sumac mix. This is a sandwich that will bring all your senses to life.

Follow along for a delicious Chicken Shawarma Recipe:

• Preparation time 1 hour.
• Serving 3-4

Ingredients or the Chicken and Marinade:

• 2-3 lbs of boneless thinly chicken breast.
• 4 tbsp of tomato paste.
• 6 garlic cloves( minced).
• 4 tbsp of plain greek yogurt.
• 1 tbsp of cumin.
• 2 lemon juice.
• ½ cup of white vinegar.
• Sea salt and black pepper.
• 2 tbsp of Arabic spice mix including sesame, saffron, black pepper, allspice, turmeric, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, parsley, coriander, and sumac. (Arabic spices are found in international stores).

Part 1: 

• Combine Tomato paste, garlic cloves, plain yogurt, lemon juice, vinegar, seasoning, and whisk in a large bowl.
• Add in the chicken make sure to cover all the chicken slices with the marinade sauce.  After covering the chicken,  place in the fridge for 24 hours to soak in the flavors.

Part 2:  Using the Spinning Shawarma Grill:

Begin by stacking the chicken on the shawarma pole and add a large white onion and tomato on the top. Begin the cooking process and keep an eye on the chicken and shave the meat as it cooks (about every 10 - 15 minutes). The shawarma machine plays an important role in the cooking method because it helps the chicken cook evenly with control of heat and with special details that helps get the meat pole closer or farther away from the heat. Here is a video demonstrating the stacking of meat on a vertical broiler.

For the Pita Bread: 

Ingredients for Pita Dough:

• 4 cups of all-purpose flour.
• 1 tbsp of granulated sugar.
• 2 tbsp of active yeast or a package of active yeast.
• ½ cup of plain yogurt ( helps the dough to be slightly soft)
• ½ cup of vegetable oil.
• Salt for taste.
• Warm water for the dough.

Directions- Part 1: 

• Follow the direction on the yeast package and separately combine 2 tbsp of active yeast and warm water until it dissolved, set aside until the yeast creates some foam bubbles for about 10 minutes.
• Now for the easiest part of creating a dough, using Spinning Grillers dough mixer machine. Add in the dry ingredients followed by the yeast mix, the yogurt, and the vegetable oil. And while the machine is running on low, slowly drizzle the warm water in the flour until it starts forming into a dough, once the dough is formed, level up the speed and let the machine knead the dough for about 4-5 minutes.
• Take out the dough and save in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap. For best results let the dough rest for 24 hours to double in size before using.

Part 2: Using the Spinning Grillers Pita Oven:

• After the dough has rested, begin by shaping the dough in small balls. The dough will create about 9-10 dough balls.
• On a clean surface covered with a coat of all-purpose flour, begin with a rolling pin shaping each roll into a thin flat and round dough that looks like a mini pizza.  Repeat the process for each ball.
• Now using a Pita Oven: There are many benefits of having a pita oven. For one that pita is consumed with every Midetreanean dish, making fresh pita bread will rank your restaurant on a higher level of authenticity, also it is also great for multiple uses such as tortilla, naan, and the famous “ Manoushe” Zaatar pie. Below link for our Spinning grilles Pita ovens.

Begin the process of baking the bread as shown in the video, bake until slightly golden and ready to serve hot.  This pita bread recipe will stay fresh for about a week.

After cooking the chicken shawarma and cooking the bread, the two most important parts of the shawarma sandwich.

Now to build a shawarma sandwich

There are some important ingredients that will complete this iconic sandwich. You will need:

• Pickles ( Arabic style).
• Toum or garlic sauce ( very famous spreadable delicious sauce.)
• Fresh tomatoes.
• 1 Red onions sliced,1 tbsp of sumac, 2 tbsp of vinegar, and 1 tbsp of chopped parsley ( combine together).

Make a Chicken Shawarma Sandwich: 

• Begin by spreading  a layer of Toum on the pita bread
• Add a layer of cooked  chicken shawarma
• Finish with sleeves of Tomates, pickles, and onion sumac mix.