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Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab

This grilled kebab is simply chicken pieces marinated in Greek yogurt spiked with a generous amount of shawarma spices, then grilled to perfection.

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Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers with lemon, hummus and a tomato cucumber salad

Your Homemade Chicken Shawarma Dreams Are Coming True.

Before we dive into this recipe for bringing the wonderful flavors of chicken shawarma home to your own kitchen, let’s just get this out of the way: if you’ve never had traditional shawarma stop reading this right now! Run to the nearest shawarma restaurant, and try it for yourself. Shawarma, in short, is an amazingly flavorful meat preparation—often lamb, but sometimes chicken—that originated in the Middle East. The meat is generously seasoned and then stacked in a cone-like shape on a continuously rotating vertical rotisserie. It’s a pretty magical, drool-worthy sight. Thin slices of the meat are then shaved off and laid onto a warm pillowy pita and topped with all the good stuff. We’re huge fans—so much so that we wanted to be able to eat it all the time! That means we had to create a recipe for making it at home—sans vertical rotisserie.

Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers off the grill on a baking sheet

A Chicken Shawarma Recipe Shortcut

Truly nothing compares to traditional shawarma, but you’ve gotta have the right equipment and that is hard to come by my friend. Our shortcut to this traditional dish of chicken shawarma is to lace yogurt marinated chicken pieces and grill them up, the perfect dish for healthy summer grilling! Here’s how you make grilled chicken shawarma kebabs.

  1. Make a marinade by combining yogurt and spices.
  2. Toss marinade with chicken pieces.
  3. Thread the chicken onto your skewers.
  4. Grill up your chicken kebabs.
  5. Whip up the easy-peasy tahini sauce.
  6. Serve a simple salad of tomatoes and cucumber.
Tahini dressing in a bowl with lemons, garlic parsley
Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers with lemon, hummus and a tomato cucumber salad

How To Season and Serve Chicken Shawarma

The marinade for this favorite grill recipe is lights out! Greek yogurt is seasoned with turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom to create a flavor packed marinade for chicken thighs. After marinating for a couple of hours (or as little as 20 minutes if that’s all you have) the chicken is then skewered (or not) and ready for the grill (or oven). Once grilled, we serve it alongside a bowl of garlicky tahini sauce, cucumbers, tomatoes, Jeweled Rice, pita, feta, and of course Classic Creamy Hummus for a truly delectable Mediterranean inspired feast perfect for summer cookouts.

Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers with lemon, hummus and a tomato cucumber salad

Tools You Will Need.

More Shawarma to Enjoy at Home

Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers with lemon, hummus and a tomato cucumber salad
Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab skewers with lemon, hummus and a tomato cucumber salad

Chicken Shawarma Obsession

Do you have a new (or old) found love for homemade shawarma? It’s easy to make and we hope you’ll agree! If you whip this grilled chicken shawarma kebab recipe up we want to see it. Be sure to tag @themodernproper or #themodernproper on Instagram so we can see your handy work.

Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab

  • Serves: 6
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  20 min
  • Calories: 592

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 cup plain greek yogurt
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp cardamom
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp salt
  • fresh parsley (optional)

Tahini Sauce

Method

  1. Cut chicken into 1” pieces. In a large bowl combine yogurt, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric and salt. Add chicken to bowl and toss until chicken is coated in marinade. Cover and place in refrigerated for 1 hour. (if you don’t have time for this the meat will still be delicious).
  2. Using soaked bamboo or metal skewers, tightly skewer the meat.
  3. Preheat grill to medium heat. Place marinated skewers on grill and cook until chicken is cooked through (internal temperature reads 165°F on an instant read thermometer), turning often.
  4. In a small bowl combine all ingredients for tahini sauce. It will look like it is separating for a minute, but continue to stir until smooth.
  5. Serve chicken warm with tahini sauce and a simple salad of tomatoes and cucumber.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories592
  • Protein59 g
  • Carbohydrates11 g
  • Total Fat36 g
  • Dietary Fiber6 g
  • Cholesterol216 mg
  • sodium1442 mg
  • Total Sugars2 g

Grilled Chicken Shawarma Kebab

Questions & Reviews

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  • Ameer Gilani

    Hi, what are the instructions (temperature, etc) for cooking these in the oven? Thank you

    We haven't done these in the oven yet but you could cook bake them at 350 for 20 minutes. Make sure that the internal temp is 165 before removing them from the oven. You could broil them for a couple minutes at the end as well if you want them to crisp up a bit. Hope you enjoy Ameer!

  • Molly Boyle

    Is the tahini sauce supposed to be really thin or creamy?

    Nice and creamy! If its too thin, add more tahini, 1 tbsp at a time.

  • Amanda

    Soooo good! My husband is a bit of a Shwarma snob and he even loved this! Going into the summer regular rotation for sure!

    YES! Love to hear it's making rotation, so glad you both enjoyed it Amanda!

  • Sarah Legat

    Oh man this dish, so good. The chicken is great, the tahini is great. I seriously make this once a month, 10/10 would recommend.

    yay! So glad to hear!