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Amazing, Flavorful (& Easy) Chicken Shawarma

Nadiya Hussain's delicious & easy chicken shawarma is perfect for any weeknight, and super versatile...with a few small tweaks it's become one of my regular recipe rotation faves!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Additional Time10 minutes
Total Time55 minutes
Course: Main Dishes
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Servings: 6

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 1.5-2 lbs 750g of boneless, skinless chicken thighs (halved)
  • 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon of dried coriander
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika
  • 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoons of cayenne see notes
  • 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • To serve: Slaw and toppings flatbreads (see notes and overall post)

Instructions

  • Lightly grease a large loaf tin (if it's not non-stick) and preheat the oven to 350 F (180°C).
  • In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch, salt, cumin, coriander, paprika, turmeric, cloves, cayenne, and cinnamon.
  • Put the chicken thighs in a medium or large bowl and pour the oil over.  Stir around to coat (I just use my hands), then add the dry spice mix and get the meat good and coated. 
  • Layer the pieces of chicken in the loaf tin and press down, then bake for 40 minutes.
  • When the shawarma is ready, leave it in the tin for 10 minutes so that all the juices can go back into the chicken.
  • Tip it out of the tin and slice your shawarma. We like to eat this piled into flatbreads with the slaw. Any leftovers can be kept in the fridge, or frozen for the next time you need your shawarma fix.

Notes

  • I love piling this shawarma on top of Smitten Kitchen's amazing layered yogurt flatbreads and adding some nice cool and creamy slaw of some sort. Links in the overall post.
  • This recipe stained my non-stick loaf pan irreparably, so now I have a pan for savory and one for sweet :)
  • The original recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of cayenne which is...WHOA.  But you do you.
  • I have recently tried it with chicken breasts...I cut them in half both length-wise and width-wise before coating them with the spices.  They turned out great and while this is better with thighs you have both options.