Chicken Shawarma Wrap

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Make easy homemade Middle Eastern Chicken Shawarma Wraps with this recipe! A variety of fragrant spices combine with yogurt and lemon juice to yield a simple yet flavorful marinade. My favorite way to serve chicken shawarma is wrapped in pita bread and slathered with pungent garlic sauce.

Closeup of a chicken shawarma sandwich wrapped in foil on a wooden board.

(This post was originally published in October 2016, but was updated with new photos and a new recipe in 2022).

Shawarma is a popular Middle Eastern and Levantine street food. It's made with thin slices of seasoned raw meat stacked into a cone-like shape on a vertical rotisserie. There is a heat source on one side of the rotisserie, and the spit slowly turns to cook the meat, typically lamb, beef, or chicken.

Finally, thin slices of cooked shawarma are shaved off the spit and piled onto plates and into sandwiches. Similar dishes from different cultures which use the same vertical rotisserie cooking technique include doner kebab (Turkey), gyros (Greece), and tacos al pastor (Mexico).

This chicken shawarma wrap recipe is reminiscent of one of my favorite dining spots in Los Angeles, Zankou Chicken. I obsess over their garlic sauce, which is very similar to "toum," a Lebanese garlic dipping sauce. It is a fantastic option as the sauce component for chicken shawarma sandwiches or plates.

Classic additions to a chicken shawarma sandwich include lettuce, tomato, and red onion. They add both color and texture to what is already a fantastic combination of flavors. Pickled cucumbers or pickled turnips add another bit of crunch and briny acid to balance everything out.

Ingredient notes

Ingredients for chicken shawarma wraps on a light grey background.

Chicken: The best option to yield the juiciest chicken shawarma is boneless skinless chicken thighs. You can certainly use chicken breasts or tenders, but if using large breasts, either slice them into thinner cutlets or pound them to an even thickness so they cook evenly.
Yogurt: Yogurt works beautifully in marinades, especially for chicken. It adds flavor and helps tenderize the meat. Use plain, unflavored yogurt in this recipe.
Pita: Use large, thin pita breads for these chicken shawarma wraps. They may be labeled as Arabic bread, Syrian bread, or Lebanese bread, ideally with a diameter of about 10-to-12-inches across. Although they may be easier to find, avoid using the smaller, thicker Greek-style pitas for this recipe.
Sauce: After the chicken shawarma itself and the pita bread, in my opinion, the sauce is the most important part and is the easiest to customize to preference! My go-to sauce is this copycat Zankou Chicken Garlic Sauce which is similar to Lebanese toum, a traditional accompaniment for chicken shawarma. It's easy to make and lower in fat than toum (using a lot less oil to make it). You could, of course, also use traditional Lebanese toum, tarator (tahini sauce) (though more typical with beef shawarma and falafel), hummus, tzatziki sauce (technically Greek but still delicious), or a simple yogurt and garlic sauce.

A platter of sliced chicken and a platter of toppings including veggies, pickles, and garlic sauce.

How to make it

To make the marinade, in a bowl or zip top bag combine ground cumin, ground coriander, kosher salt, ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, plain yogurt, extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh lemon juice (PHOTOS 1-2).

Before and after whisking together chicken shawarma marinade in a metal bowl.

Add the chicken and coat evenly with the marinade (PHOTOS 3-4).

Before and after coating chicken thighs in marinade in a metal bowl.

Cover the bowl or zip the bag, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours (overnight).

Stovetop Cooking Method:

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the chicken in a single layer and cook for 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the chicken over, cover, and reduce heat to medium. Cook for approximately 4 to 5 minutes on the second side.

Grill Cooking Method:

Preheat the grill to medium heat and lightly grease the grates. Grill the chicken with the grill lid covered/closed for about 5 to 7 minutes per side.

Oven Cooking Method:

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and lightly grease with oil spray. Arrange the chicken in a single layer and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Transfer the cooked chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Cooked chicken shawarma thighs on a white cutting board.

After resting, slice the cooked chicken and transfer to a platter.

Sliced chicken shawarma on piled high on a white rectangular plate.

To make chicken shawarma wraps, top each pita bread with a generous schmear of your sauce of choice, top with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and sliced chicken shawarma. Roll/wrap and enjoy.

Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

A chicken shawarma sandwich wrapped in foil on a wooden board.

How to roll your pita wraps

Although you could simply top your pita flatbread with sliced chicken shawarma and other filling ingredients and roll it up, there is a more traditional way to roll these wraps.

First lay your pita on a work surface with the bottom (less dark side) facing up. Split the pita around the top half by either tearing with your fingers or using a knife. Fold that half down, but don't open up the entire pita.

In the interior opening of your pita, schmear your sauce.

Thick white sauce spread inside a pita flatbread which has been opened halfway.

Generously layer on the lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles, and chicken shawarma.

A half-opened pita flatbread filled with lettuce, tomato, red onions, pickles, and sliced chicken.

Fold the flap back over the filling and then pull the filling down into the pocket using your hands tightly gripping over the bread (no need to pull it all the way down, but just a bit to compress it).

The flap of pita bread folded over the filling to start to roll it up.

Then start rolling the entire pita starting from the bottom.

A partially rolled up pita wrap on a wooden board.

Expert tips

Use an instant read thermometer to ensure the chicken isn't undercooked or overcooked. It should have an internal temperature of 165°F in the thickest part. Also, let it rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing to maximize juiciness.

Store leftover chicken shawarma in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave (using 30-second intervals) or in a skillet with a splash of water for moisture.

My local Middle Eastern deli uses 12-inch pitas for their pita wraps, and that's what I used in these photos. You'll yield 4 large chicken shawarma wraps with 12-inch pitas. If you use slightly smaller pitas, like 10-inches, you can yield about 6 sandwiches.

For a more secure bundle, wrap the bottom half of your sandwich in foil, peeling the foil away as you eat.

Closeup of the cross-section of a half-eaten hand-held chicken shawarma sandwich.

After trimming some excess fat, marinating, and cooking my boneless skinless chicken thighs, I yielded about 620 grams of sliced chicken shawarma. This was enough for 155 grams of chicken shawarma in each of 4 large wraps or about 103 grams of chicken in each of 6 medium wraps. How much you fill your wraps (regardless of the size of the actual pita bread), is of course a matter of personal preference. This is just a helpful guide.

In the Middle East, chicken shawarma is typically served with garlic sauce, fries and pickles. Pickled turnips are traditional and delicious. See if you can find a brand that uses beets for natural coloring instead of using artificial food dye.

In additional to turning chicken shawarma into a delicious pita-wrapped sandwich, it's also very common to serve it as a plate. To make a chicken shawarma plate, serve the sliced shawarma with rice and salads such as tabbouleh. Of course don't forget the dipping sauce!

Rice, quinoa tabbouleh, sliced chicken, lettuce, red onion, tomato, pickles and white sauce on a plate.

FAQs

How do you pronounce shawarma?

Phonetically, shawarma is pronounced shuh-WOR-muh in American English, but more traditionally in Arabic the emphasis is on the first syllable as such: SHUH-wor-muh.

What is the difference between a gyro and shawarma?

Although they are very similar, there are several notable differences between a gyro and shawarma.

A gyro (pronounced YEE-row) is Greek and usually features either lamb, beef, pork, or chicken. The meat is cooked on a spit and then shaved off (unlike souvlaki which features skewered pieces of meat). The seasonings are a more Mediterranean inspired such as oregano and thyme, and the preferred finishing sauce is tzatziki.

Shawarma is Middle Eastern (notably popular in Lebanon) and usually features lamb, beef or chicken. It's marinated for longer in a more complex mixture of spices and is finished more traditionally with Lebanese sauces such as toum or tarator.

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