After falling in love with authentic Shawarma on a recent trip, I wanted to recreate the bold warm spices, but with an easy weeknight method. Traditional shawarma is cooked on a rotating spit and sliced to order, but my version is roasted on a single sheet pan. You get all the amazing flavor and crispy, caramelized edges, but with simple ingredients and an easy hands-off cooking method. It’s fresh, fast and so delicious tucked into pitas or flatbread, served over rice, or loaded into bowls. I’m including a really easy yogurt sauce to drizzle over the top, too! This has quickly become a staple in our dinner rotation and I think you’re going to love it too!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs –
- Greek Yogurt – I recommend 2% fat or higher.
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Spices: salt, pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric, ground coriander, cinnamon, black pepper
- Honey
- Fresh Lemon
- Serving options: pita or naan, tomato and cucumber salad, hummus
How to Make Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma
keep scrolling for the full printable recipe
- Toss sliced chicken thighs with a flavorful marinade including greek yogurt, olive oil, garlic, cumin, paprika, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, salt and pepper. I like to let this marinade for an hour or more, but you an cook it quicker if needed!
- Spread the marinaded chicken out on a sheet pan. I’ve intentionally scaled this recipe to use the maximum amount of chicken you can get away with on a standard sheet pan. If you have more than 3lbs of thighs, use 2 sheets!
- Roast the chicken in the oven until it’s golden and caramelized. Tip: You’ll get better caramelization if you roast directly on the sheet pan, but it’s also much worse to wash after, so use parchment if you’d like easy clean up!
- Serve the chicken in one of my suggested ways- I prefer it with this Tomato and Cucumber Salad, some thin slices of red onion, this insanely good hummus, and the yogurt sauce drizzled on top. Then use pieces of soft pita or naan to scoop it all up.
Make it a Meal
There are a variety of ways you can serve this delicious chicken, here’s some of our favorites.
Classic Wrap
Stuff chicken into pieces of warm pitas (or naan) with:
Tomato and Cucumber Salad and this amazing Fresh Hummus. Drizzle with Yogurt Sauce.
Shawarma Bowls
Serve over rice with roasted veggies, Tomato Cucumber Salad, sliced red onions, and drizzled with Yogurt Sauce.
Shawarma Salad
Top a bowl of fresh greens with sliced cucumbers, Sheet Pan Shawarma Chicken, and drizzle with this Creamy Feta and Dill Dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can, but I absolutely prefer thighs in this recipe. If you choose to sub chicken breast, keep an eye on the cook time. They’ll finish sooner and might release a little more moisture.
Slicing the chicken before roasting helps it cook faster and more importantly soak up more marinade per bite. It also gives you those delicious crispy edges. You can definitely roast whole thighs and slice them after, but I’ve tested it both ways and it’s better if you slice first!
It’s normal for chicken to release moisture during cooking. For crispier edges, make sure you start with chicken that’s been patted completely dry. Spread the chicken out on the pan so it’s not crowded, and if you have it- convection works wonders! The good thing about using thighs is that they’re hard to overcook, so you can cook longer to evaporate more moisture.
You can marinate the chicken up to a day in advance. You can also mix the yogurt sauce ahead so dinner comes together quick.
Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Chicken
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced into ½-inch strips
- 2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 5-6 cloves garlic pressed or finely minced
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoons smoked paprika sub normal paprika in a pinch
- 1½ teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Garlic-Herb Yogurt Sauce
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt I like at least 2% fat
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 clove garlic grated with a microplane
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt more to taste
- ½ teaspoon dried dill or about 1 teaspoon fresh minced
Honey Lemon Drizzle
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
Prep the Chicken
- Pat chicken completely dry and trim off any excess fat. (Tip: Do not trim off all fat. This just means to trim anything excessive or dangling off) Kitchen shears work great for this step! Slice thighs into ½-inch strips and place in a large mixing bowl.
Marinade
- Add 2 tablespoons yogurt, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, turmeric, coriander and cinnamon to bowl with chicken. Toss well to coat (TIP: I like to use my hands, with food-safe gloves to really get everything coated well.)Cover bowl and place in fridge. Marinate for at least 30 minutes, but preferably 1 hour or longer.
- While chicken is marinating, whisk up yogurt sauce by combining 1 cup yogurt, mayo, garlic, lemon, salt, and dill. Tip: Add a tiny bit of water until it's a good drizzling consistency. Add additional salt to taste, if needed, and then store in the fridge.
Cook
- Preheat oven to 425℉. Use convection mode if you have it! Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment if desired. I like how caramelized the chicken gets without parchment, but the trade off is a pan that you have to scrub so you make the choice! Spread chicken evenly in a single layer, avoiding overcrowding. Roast for 25-35 minutes, stirring half way through, until chicken is browned and cooked through. If needed, broil briefly at the end for extra color and browning.
Finish and Serve
- Place honey in a small bowl and warm for 10 seconds in the microwave. Whisk in lemon juice. When Chicken is done cooking, pour honey-lemon mixture over it and toss. Serve chicken in warm pitas or naan with toppings, over a salad, or in rice bowls.
Questions & Reviews
Everyone in the family loved this one. And it was easy.
This was a huge hit with our crew. Even my picky eaters said “this chicken is fire!”
This was really good! I added a bell pepper cut in strips and a red onion cut in chunks and used chicken tenders instead of thighs. 25 min convection was perfect. We had with store bought tzatziki and orzo! Whole family loved!
This is so good! It is every bit as yummy as the Shawarma I’ve eaten in authentic Middle Eastern restaurants!
Loved this recipe! My husband wants me to make it every week from now on 🙂
This chicken is soooo good! We loved it! I used heavy duty foil sprayed with avocado oil on the baking sheet so that the chicken would perfectly cook but then I didn’t need to scrub the pan just throw away the foil. Thank you for consistently delicious recipes.
This recipe was a home run! My family of 6 devoured 3lbs of chicken so I’ll double that next time. I didn’t have coriander so I omitted that and it was still amazing. My husband said it’s the best recipe I’ve ever made…. Definitely going into the weekly rotation!
They layers of flavor in this dish are just terrific! Don’t skip the lemon honey at the end. Served with tomato cucumber feta salad and hummus and pita. The only downside: there are no leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
The second I saw you post this I cut up chicken thighs and stuck them in the marinade! So delicious, this is definitely a keeper for us. The honey lemon sauce on the chicken is such a good add!
I’m going to give this a try, looks great!
Sara if you’re ever in Salt Lake City try the chicken shawarma wraps at Curry Fried Chicken, 660 South State street, they will rock your world! 🙂