Making Mealtime Meaningful: Discover how we're giving back with the 12T Cares program →

Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma

A full, flavorful meal in just 20 minutes.

hearts
When you share or print a 12 Tomatoes recipe,
you're making mealtime meaningful.
100% of the Share to Care sponsor fees fund meals for families in need. Learn More
CLICK ANY LINK BELOW TO JOIN OUR CAUSE!

Chicken Shawarma is an easy thing to love. It’s SO flavorful and succulent, but if you’re not lucky enough to have a shawarma shop right down the street, it might not be in your regular rotation. The good news is that you can totally recreate it right in your own kitchen and you don’t even need a spit or rotisserie to do it. This Chicken Shawarma is as flavorful as any restaurant version, but the sheet pan method makes the preparation super simple and the extra veggies we’ve thrown in mean you get a complete (and healthy!) one-pan meal.

The key to this is largely in the seasoning of the chicken, which involves a quick mixture of yogurt, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, and coriander. That’s only four spices, but they’re robust ones and they’re totally necessary for that signature shawarma flavor. You don’t need to let the chicken marinate for too long, just let it hang out while you chop your veggies and it’ll do its job just fine.

Speaking of veggies, there are a couple in here that you might not expect from a traditional shawarma experience, but shawarma on a sheet pan isn’t exactly traditional anyway. In the interest of having a well-rounded one-pan meal, we’ve got zucchini and bell peppers making an appearance on the sheet pan so that you can really go ahead and call dinner done as soon as you pull it out of the oven.

Those veggies do release quite a bit of liquid in the oven, so feel free to drain some off halfway through the cooking time to avoid braising all of your ingredients. Everything will cook through in twenty minutes, but this is a versatile meal where you can let things hang out in the oven a little longer to get more color or you can swap out some veggies for whatever you might have on hand.

Now, normally you might see shawarma with a garlic sauce or tahini or some combination of the two, but I’m partial to tzatziki so I’ve given you my favorite version here. I love that cool combination of yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, garlic, and dill over the spiced chicken. Pile it in a pita or just on a plate… either way, it’s a scrumptious meal that’s easy to make and even easier to enjoy.

Yield(s): Serves 4

30 minutes

hearts
When you share or print a 12 Tomatoes recipe,
you're making mealtime meaningful.
100% of the Share to Care sponsor fees fund meals for families in need. Learn More
CLICK ANY LINK BELOW TO JOIN OUR CAUSE!
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
  • 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1 teaspoon coriander
  • 2 large bell peppers, thinly sliced
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • For the tzatziki sauce:
  • 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 cups grated cucumber
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh dill
  • Juice from one lemon
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • Kosher salt, to taste
Preparation
  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of the yogurt, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, coriander, and salt. Add chicken in and toss until fully coated. Let sit while you chop your vegetables..
  3. Arrange chicken, bell peppers, onion, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
  4. Bake until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender, about 20 minutes. (Check on it halfway through the cooking time; if too much liquid has accumulated, drain off the excess and return to oven.)
  5. While chicken cooks, make tzatziki:
  6. In a clean kitchen bowl or between your palms, squeeze out any extra moisture from the cucumber over the sink. Transfer to a medium bowl.
  7. Add yogurt, olive oil, dill, lemon juice, garlic, and salt to the cucumber and stir until well combined. Let sit at least 10 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
  8. Serve chicken and veggies in pita bread or over rice topped with tzatziki and enjoy!

Subscribe to 12 Tomatoes