Chicken Shawarma Bowl

Middle Eastern street food meets easy weeknight dinner in this chicken shawarma bowl recipe! It’s packed with flavor and ready in 40 minutes.

If you’ve never had shawarma, you’re missing out. And if you have, you’re going to love this savory chicken shawarma bowl recipe!

There’s a local food truck here in Burlington that serves the best shawarma wraps – soft pita filled with savory chicken, french fries, pickles, garlic aioli, and hot sauce. We love these wraps so much that we decided it’s time we make a simple chicken shawarma rice bowl that we can easily enjoy at home.

The result? A flavor-packed dinner that comes together in under an hour, no vertical rotisserie required.

Why We Love This Recipe

Ingredients

• Chicken shawarma – Traditionally, shawarma is cooked on a vertical rotisserie and then carved right off the spit for serving. To replicate this at home, you’ll want to use partially frozen chicken breast so that you can slice it super thin before cooking on the stove. You’ll also need a good shawarma seasoning to marinate the chicken in. We like to use the shawarma spice blend recipe from Perry’s Plate (which includes traditional shawarma seasonings like paprika, cumin, coriander, and turmeric), but you can also find shawarma seasoning at some grocery stores and specialty markets.
• Crispy potatoes – Shawarma and fries go hand in hand, so we added crispy potatoes to this bowl. Russet potatoes work best, but any kind of potato will work in a pinch.
• Peppers and onions – Sautéed veggies add some extra flavor and nutrition to this bowl. We like to use bell pepper and yellow onion, but you could also use pepper varieties like carmen, cubanelle, or anaheim.
• Tomato – Diced tomato adds freshness to this otherwise savory bowl. We prefer roma tomatoes, but you could also use vine or sweet cherry tomatoes.
• Pickle relish – Pickles are traditionally served with shawarma since their tangy flavor helps to balance the richness of everything else. We found that dill pickle relish works best in this bowl compared to pickle chips, which were too large relative to the other ingredients.
• Jasmine rice – Steamed rice ties all the components of this bowl together. The floral notes in jasmine rice pair perfectly with shawarma flavors, but you can always swap this for other types of rice if you prefer.
• Garlic aioli – Our favorite shawarma wraps are doused in garlic aioli, so it’s our sauce of choice for this bowl! We like to make our own with roasted garlic and mayo, but you can use any store-bought option as well. Stonewall Kitchen makes the best roasted garlic aioli.
• Hot sauce – If you like a little heat, a simple cayenne hot sauce like Frank’s Red Hot goes well with the flavors in this bowl.

How To Make A Chicken Shawarma Bowl

There are a lot of components to prepare for this recipe, so timing is key. The good news is, you can easily have multiple things going on at once to make sure everything is ready at the same time.

1. Prep the potatoes – These will take the longest to cook, so start by slicing the potato into thin semicircles and then tossing it with olive oil. Cook in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat until crisp, stirring occasionally (but not too often) to ensure even browning. Season with salt and transfer to a paper towel lined plate or wire rack.
2. Steam the rice and marinate the chicken – While the potatoes cook, get the rice steaming on the stove and start marinating the chicken. Add the chicken to a bowl with olive oil, lemon juice, and shawarma seasoning and mix by hand to combine well, then set aside.
3. Sauté the vegetables – Once the potatoes are done, use the same pan to cook the peppers and onions. Sauté over medium heat until just softened, then season with lemon juice and a pinch of salt before removing from heat.
4. Cook the chicken – Finally, cook the chicken in a hot cast iron pan over high heat until cooked through, about 5 minutes or so.
5. Assemble and serve – Add a serving of steamed rice to a bowl along with chicken, potatoes, and peppers and onions. Top with diced tomato and pickle relish, then drizzle with garlic aioli and hot sauce. Serve immediately.

If you love the flavors of chicken shawarma, you’re going to love this bowl! Give our recipe a try and let us know what you think by rating, commenting, and sharing below.

Chicken Shawarma Bowl FAQs