When you want a healthy, flavorful, and easy-to-make recipe, these chicken shawarma bowls check all the boxes.
Why Chicken Shawarma Bowls Are a Family Favorite
- I use tender, juicy chicken pieces, loaded with Mediterranean spices like cumin, paprika, turmeric, coriander, and a pinch of cayenne for a spicy kick!
- Easy to adapt to my family’s personal preferences.
- Perfect for busy weeknights because it’s ready in about 30 minutes.
Shawarma Bowls!
I’m no stranger to authentic shawarma. It’s a traditional Middle Eastern street food from the Levant region, which is where my husband’s family is from.
In our house, creating modern twists on traditional shawarma is pretty common. I have seven different shawarma recipes on this website, including grilled shawarma on a spit and this shawarma bowl recipe. I even created my own homemade shawarma spice blend. In a Mediterranean household, we take our shawarma seriously!
Traditional shawarma is made from either chicken, beef, veal, lamb, or a mixture of meats. The seasoned meat is alternated with strips of fat on a vertical spit for juicy, tender slices of meat. However, you don’t need special equipment for my shawarma bowl recipe.
I keep it pretty simple by adapting my chicken shawarma recipe, skipping the pita bread and making it more like a Mediterranean salad. There is something about throwing fresh, delicious, and flavorful ingredients into a bowl that makes the meal feel so comforting and satisfying. The result is a low-carb, gluten-free, high-protein, and fiber-rich shawarma bowl perfect for busy weeknights and healthy grab-and-go meal prep lunches.
How to Make Chicken Shawarma Bowls
For this easy shawarma bowls recipe, there are two simple components: preparing and cooking the chicken and assembling the salad. Here is how:
- Mix the spices: In a small bowl, combine 3/4 tablespoon each of cumin, turmeric, coriander, garlic powder, sweet paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon each of cloves and cayenne pepper. Set aside.
- Prepare the chicken: Pat 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs dry, season with salt on both sides, and thinly slice into bite-sized pieces. Place in a large bowl and add the shawarma spices, 1 large thinly sliced onion, juice from 1 lemon, and 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, and toss to coat. Set aside while you prepare the salad. If you have time, cover and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.
- Prepare the salad. Place 8 ounces of arugula, 2 to 3 diced Roma tomatoes, 1 diced English cucumber, and 1/4 of a medium red onion thinnly sliced in a large mixing bowl. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and sumac. Mix well. Just before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Cook the chicken: Set a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat, add a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the chicken, cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, then toss and cook another 5 to 6 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked. (I like a bit of color on my chicken, so I tend to go a bit longer until the chicken is browned and crusted in some parts.)
- When ready, divide the salad into serving bowls. Top with chicken shawarma and add a dollop of hummus, tzatziki, or baba ganoush to the bowl to give you even more flavor, texture, and volume. These creamy extras give your shawarma bowl a little more pizzazz.
How to Meal Prep Chicken Shawarma Bowls
- Make the chicken the same way as the regular recipe.
- Make the salad according to the recipe instructions, but do not add the dressing. Keep dressing on the side in a little container to add right before you eat the salad.
- Divide salad and chicken evenly between airtight containers. The salad is best eaten within 2-4 days after assembled and kept in the fridge.
- Put extras like hummus, tzatziki, and baba ganoush in small containers as well to avoid eating a soggy salad.
More Shawarma Recipes
Once you’ve made my chicken shawarma bowls, try your hand at some of my other favorite recipes (I wasn’t kidding when I said I take my shawarma seriously!):
- Easy Homemade Chicken Shawarma (The chicken is baked and served in a pita.)
- Grilled Chicken Shawarma on a Spit
- Spicy Cauliflower Shawarma
- Beef Shawarma
- Vegan Mushroom Shawarma with Tahini
- Shawarma Spiced Chicken Sweet Potato Bowls
Ingredients
For the Chicken Shawarma
- 3/4 tbsp ground cumin
- 3/4 tbsp turmeric powder
- 3/4 tbsp ground coriander
- 3/4 tbsp garlic powder
- 3/4 tbsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, more if you prefer
- salt
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large lemon, juice of
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, Private Reserve Greek EVOO
For the Salad
- 8 oz baby arugula
- 2 to 3 Roma tomatoes, diced
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon, juiced
- extra virgin olive oil Private Reserve or Early Harvest Greek EVOO
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac
To Serve
- A side of hummus tzatziki, tahini, or baba ganoush
Instructions
- Prepare the spice mix: In a small bowl, mix the cumin, turmeric, coriander, garlic powder, sweet paprika and cloves. Set aside the shawarma spice mix for now.
- Dry the slice the chicken: Pat the chicken thighs dry and season with salt on both sides, then thinly slice into small bite-sized pieces.
- Season the chicken: Place the chicken in a large bowl. Add the shawarma spices and toss to coat. Add the onions, lemon juice and olive oil. Toss to combine. Set aside for now, while you prepare the salad (and if you have time, cover and refrigerate for a couple hours or overnight.)
- Prepare the salad: Place the arugula, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions in one large mixing bowl. In a small bowl make the dressing combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and sumac. Mix well. When ready, pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Cook the chicken: Put a little bit of extra virgin olive oil in a large cast iron skillet set over medium heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the chicken, cook for about 5 to 6 minutes, then toss and cook another 5 to 6 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked (I like a bit of color on my chicken, so I tend to go a bit longer until chicken is browned and crusted in some parts.)
- Assemble: When ready, divide the salad into serving bowls. Add chicken shawarma. If you like, add a side of hummus, tzatziki or tahini. Add warm pita wedges if needed. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Leftovers? Let leftover cooked chicken shawarma cool fully. Store in tight-lid glass containers in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.
- Visit Our Online shop to browse all-natural and organic spices and quality extra virgin olive oils to make this recipe!
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Could I replace the chicken with tofu and if so how many grams would you suggest. Thanks.
Hi, Jo. You likely can, but that’s not something we’ve tried before with this recipe, so it’s hard to advise on what adjustments would need to be made. If you decide to give it a go, please stop back and let us know how it worked out for you!
Can u tell me recipe for oven. Due to heart problems. Cannot have this cooked in skillet.But may cook in air fryer. Tgank you for you tevhique. Love your show.
Hi, Betty — Our chicken shawarma recipe is made in the oven. You can just serve it as a salad instead of in a pita. We haven’t made it in the air fryer, but you could just place it in the air fryer after marinating, and then check the temperature of the chicken for doneness. You want to cook it until it reaches 168°F. Enjoy!
Hi Betty! You can click here to see our baked chicken shawarma recipe, which I’m sure you can easily adapt for the air fryer.
My wife made this last night, and it was really good! Since I’m not a fan of cukes, I used mixed greens for my bowl. I also looked at the protein content in this dish and it’s only 4.8 grams? That’s got to be a typo especially with all the chicken used in the dish. Just an observation. Thanks!
I have made the chicken shawarma before and it was delicious! I am wondering if it could be made with pork. I have a pork tenderloin and can cut it up. Would this work and would it need any adjustments of any kind? Thanks!
That should work just fine. You may just have to adjust the cooking time a bit, as the pieces of pork will likely cook faster than the chicken thighs. Just keep a close eye on them. Pork is fully cooked when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
This is a terrific recipe! Our family LOVES it! Thank you!!!
Easy, delicious dinner option for us. Will definitely make again!
New to Mediterranean seasonings, so enjoying the recipes so far!
Thank you, this is my definite go to site:)
Awesome! Thanks, Dawn!
Fantastic! I marinated the chicken for 3 hours. It was super tender, flavor-packed, and delicious. This is going into our rotation of easy weekday meals.
Yum
I made the Chicken Shawarma salad bowl today! It was delicious and really satisfied the taste buds. However, after all was said and done, it was not so easy. After I found all the seasonings and ran to the store a couple of times, marinating for a couple hours, and then finally cooking and arranging the dish, I was exhausted! I hope most of all the new spices added to my rack will be used again in the more dishes. I’m assuming most of them are the staples in Mediterranean cuisine.
Now that you’ve made it once and have all the spices handy, it should be a breeze to make in the future :).
We had this for dinner last night, it was so full of flavour! It’s most definitely going into our dinner rotation The salad was the perfect balance 10/10
Hi,
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I made this last night and it was a fantastic meal. The chicken was incredibly flavourful and moist. The salad was a perfect addition because it made the meal refreshing and light.
I don’t normally use the term refreshing when I describe a chicken dish, but this was a perfect marriage of two exceptional flavours. We added the Tzaziki for some added flavour, however, it certainly does not need that. Fantastic dish. Thanks for sharing. This is a keeper.
So delicious!! The flavor was amazing!!
Loved this chicken! Made the sheet pan version, with a few minutes of broil at the end. Served with the Mediterranean Cucumber Tomato Salad, tziziki and pita. Looking forward to serving the left over chicken and salad over greens.
Just made this and it was so delicious! We used the skillet method and will be trying the sheet pan method next time. We served it with tahini sauce. Yum!
Just a note that the protein amount in the Nutrition Facts looks to be a typo.
Thank you!
I’m so excited to try this. On Instagram you show cooking the chicken sheet pan style instead of in a pan. I’d love to cook it that way. Can you please share the recommended temp and how long to cook it for? Thansk so much! We can’t wait to try this!
Hi, Heather! If you follow the Chicken Shawarma recipe you’ll see all the instructions for baking it in a sheetpan. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do to help.
You’re the best! Thank you so much!
That is almost 5 teaspoons of seasoning. Do I use all of it in this one recipe? I’m eager to try this!
Hi, Dawn! I’m Summer and I work with Suzy here at The Mediterranean Dish. You do use all of the seasoning! It’s perfection. I just made this for my family of 4 (two teenagers and my husband) rave reviews all around. Use all the spice. You will not regret it!