Poultry
Lebanese chicken shawarma with toum
AI-generated serving image
This image was created with the help of artificial intelligence and serves as visual inspiration or a serving suggestion. The actual result may vary depending on the ingredients, quantities and preparation used.
Spiced chicken strips, pickles and tomatoes meet toum, a bold egg-free garlic emulsion, inside flatbread. This explicitly adapted home version uses a frying pan rather than a vertical rotisserie.
Timing
- Preparation: about 30 minutes, including about 15 minutes during marinating
- Marinating: 4–12 hours
- Cooking: about 20 minutes in two batches
- Total time: about 4 hours 35 minutes to 12 hours 35 minutes
Estimated nutrition
per serving · Calculated for 4 servings.
- Energy
- ≈ 755 kcal
- Protein
- ≈ 42.5 g
- Carbohydrates
- ≈ 32.7 g
- Fat
- ≈ 48.6 g
The nutrition values are estimates based on the ingredients and quantities used. Actual values may vary depending on the product, portion size and preparation.
Calculation basis
Item weights and household measures are estimated. Unless specified: milk with 1.5% fat, cream with 30% fat and Gouda cheese. Optional ingredients, small amounts of seasoning and separately listed side dishes are excluded. For imprecise entries, the amounts below and comparable reference products are assumed. For alternatives, the first listed ingredient is used. Cooking losses have not been measured.
Skinless chicken meat is the comparison reference. Includes the full yogurt marinade and all toum, including 150 ml oil; discarded marinade is therefore conservatively counted.
Quantity assumptions and ingredient mapping
- 700 g boneless skinless chicken thigh meat · ≈ 700 g · Assumed quantity / reference product
- 4 thin Arabic flatbreads, about 240 g total · ≈ 240 g · Assumed quantity / reference product
- 100 g pickled cucumbers · ≈ 100 g · Assumed quantity / reference product
Individual missing fat values were supplemented with documented comparable values from Matvaretabellen or BLS; these values are estimates too.
Matvaretabellen: Mattilsynet · Santa Maria
Food data: Max Rubner-Institut, BLS 4.0 (2025), CC BY 4.0. Calculated and rounded for this recipe. BLS 4.0 · CC BY 4.0
Ingredients
- 700 g boneless skinless chicken thigh meat
- 100 g plain yogurt
- 50 ml lemon juice, divided
- 10 ml neutral oil for frying
- 30 g peeled garlic, divided
- 150 ml neutral oil for toum
- 20 ml ice-cold water for toum
- 7 g salt, divided
- 2 g ground cumin
- 2 g ground coriander
- 2 g sweet paprika
- 1 g ground allspice
- 0.5 g ground cinnamon
- 1 g black pepper
- 4 thin Arabic flatbreads, about 240 g total
- 200 g tomatoes
- 100 g pickled cucumbers
Instructions
- Do not wash the chicken. Pat dry and cut into strips about 1 cm wide. Mix with yogurt, 25 ml lemon juice, 10 g finely grated garlic, 5 g salt and all the spices. Cover and refrigerate for 4–12 hours. Thoroughly clean hands, board and knife afterwards.
- During marinating, make the toum: purée the remaining 20 g garlic with 2 g salt in a small food processor. Add 150 ml oil drop by drop initially, then in a very thin stream. Alternate small additions of remaining lemon juice and ice water until a white creamy emulsion forms. Cover and refrigerate immediately.
- Wash the tomatoes and thinly slice them and the drained pickles. Keep chilled until assembly.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high to high heat. Scrape off excess marinade and discard the remaining raw marinade. Divide 10 ml frying oil between two batches and cook each for 6–8 minutes. Brown the chicken and cook fully: at least 70 °C in the centre for 2 minutes. Keep the first batch hot.
- Briefly warm the flatbreads in a dry pan. Divide the toum between them, add chicken, tomatoes and pickles and roll firmly. If desired, toast seam-side down in the dry pan for 1–2 minutes.
Tips
- Toum needs a small bowl in which the blades actually reach the garlic. Adding oil too quickly can split the emulsion. A large processor is unsuitable for this small quantity.
- The full quantity of toum is intended for the four generously filled wraps and is included in the nutrition calculation.
You can also find this recipe in Svens Feierabendküche. Look inside the book · View on Amazon ↗
