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These easy and healthy chicken shawarma bowls pack in all the flavors of your favorite takeout chicken shawarma plate. Drizzle with homemade lemon garlic tahini sauce and enjoy!
I’m always looking for easy, healthy weeknight meals that make everyone in my family happy! This is hard to achieve with kids, which is why I love the “build your own” bowl dinner. This way, everyone can pick and choose the ingredients they want, and I know it’s all healthy.
These healthy, protein-packed bowls are Paleo, Whole30, and dairy-free, truly something for everyone! Topped with delicious shawarma sauces like my homemade lemon tahini or Whole30 tzatziki, this delicious recipe will top your meal rotation in no time!
How to Make Chicken Shawarma Bowls
This Middle Eastern dish is typically made with thinly-sliced garlicky chicken or lamb served on pitas with sauce. The term “shawarma” or “shawerma” means “turning” in Arabic. The meat was typically stacked and cooked on a vertical rotisserie. For my version, it’s all about the marinade! The combination of spices, lemon, and olive oil marinated on chicken thighs or chicken breasts gives you tender, juicy chicken with tons of amazing flavor.
Ingredients for Shawarma Bowls
Chicken: For this recipe, you can use chicken breasts or chicken thighs. Chicken thighs are darker meat, so the fat tenderizes the chicken and creates a delicious flavor, however, chicken breasts will also work!
Spices: Some people buy a pre-made shawarma spice mix, but if you have the spices on hand, it’s super easy to make your own.
My shawarma marinade combines salt, turmeric, cumin, paprika, coriander, crushed red pepper, ground cloves, and cinnamon with minced garlic, sliced onions, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Homemade Tahini Sauce: Authentic chicken shawarma dishes typically come with delicious sauces like tahini and tzatziki. My homemade lemon garlic tahini is super easy to make and just includes a few ingredients. Combine tahini paste, minced garlic, lemon juice, water, and salt, and drizzle!
You can also check out my easy Whole30 Tzatziki Sauce if you want to top your bowls with that as well.
Sheet Pan Cooking Method
This recipe is great because your oven does all the work! Simply place your marinated chicken, onions, and any extra marinade on a lined baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes at 425F.
Remove from oven, and serve the cooked chicken in bowls with greens, cauliflower rice, diced cucumber, and tomato with a drizzle of the tahini sauce. Enjoy!
More Easy Whole30 Chicken Recipes
Healthy Chicken Salad with Grapes
Healthy Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Baked Butter Chicken Meatballs
Mary’s Tips & Tricks
How to Serve Chicken Shawarma Bowls: Serve the cooked chicken in bowls with greens, cauliflower rice, diced cucumber, and tomato with a scoop of my Whole30 Tzatziki Sauce & a drizzle of the tahini sauce. Enjoy!
Storing Leftovers: Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
Meal Prep: These chicken bowls are the perfect meal prep meal. Make a big batch on Sunday, make individual bowls, and store in meal prep containers. Serve warm or cold with a dollop of tzatziki and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
FAQs
Can I freeze chicken shawarma? Yes! Store in a freezer-safe, airtight container. Defrost overnight in the fridge and heat in the microwave for 3-5 min, or in the oven on 350F for 15-20 min.
What else can I make with leftover chicken shawarma? If you’re not eating Whole30, use leftover chicken to make chicken shawarma wraps. Find your favorite gluten-free pita bread or wrap, stuff it with the contents of the bowls, and serve with tzatziki or tahini sauce. Chicken shawarma wraps for the win!
What other sauces can I serve with chicken shawarma bowls? The most popular chicken shawarma sauces are tahini and tzatziki sauces. In this recipe, I include my homemade lemon garlic tahini, but check out my Whole30 Tzatziki Sauce for added flavor and creaminess.
How many calories are in chicken shawarma? For one delicious and filling chicken shawarma bowl, it’s just 469 calories! The perfect lunch or dinner meal.
If you try this dish and love it, a star rating and review below would mean the world! Don't forget to share your creations on Instagram - I love seeing what you make!
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Recipe by: Mary’s Whole Life
Photos by: Casey from The Mindful Hapa
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Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma Bowls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into thin strips
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- ½ cup olive oil
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1.5 tsp turmeric
- 1.5 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp coriander
- ½ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Lemon Garlic Tahini Sauce
- ½ cup tahini paste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 clove minced garlic
- ¼ cup water
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Add the chicken strips and sliced onion to a large resealable plastic bag or shallow baking dish.
- Combine the olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and spices in a bowl and whisk. Pour the marinade over the chicken and onions and toss to coat. Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. Overnight is ideal!
- Preheat your oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Dump the chicken and onions (along with any marinade) onto the baking sheet and spread out in an even layer. You don't want any pieces of chicken overlapping so they cook evenly!
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- While the chicken is baking, prepare the lemon garlic tahini sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix using a hand-held immersion blender. Alternatively, you can blend them up in a regular blender or pulse in a food processor until smooth. Add water if needed to get it to your desired consistency!
- Serve the cooked chicken in bowls with greens, cauliflower rice, diced cucumber, and tomato with a scoop of my Whole30 tzatziki sauce & a drizzle of the tahini sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
All nutrition facts are an estimate and automatically calculated. While I fact check them using My Fitness Pal, please note that they may not always be 100% accurate and depend on ingredients used. Weigh your total and divide by the number of servings for the most accurate grams per serving size.
AMAZING flavors! I could literally drink the tahini sauce, it’s so good. One note, is that my chicken cooked much faster than the 25-30 min so just keep an eye on that if you have a “hot oven”.
These are phenomenal and so easy!!!!
Will definitely add to our go to weeknight dinner recipes!!
We made this today for our lunch and it was perfect! Very easy and tasty. I had never tried shawarma chicken before and it had a great taste! Our goal has been to make more simple lunches instead of resorting to take out. This was a great fit for that goal!
This was SO good. My family has loved your meals that we have tried so far. Thank you, thank you!
I am so glad my twin sister introduced me to your website. Looking forward to trying more recipes.
I was in the middle of making the marinade yesterday when my twin sister texted me and asked if I had any quick chicken thigh recipes that I’d suggest making. I sent her this link.
We both ended up with the same dinner on the table – even though she lives in the midwest and I live on the east coast, So fun!
It was a hit with all of our littles and especially our husbands. (My husband spent 6mo in Israel so that’s a HUGE complement.) Thanks for another 5-star recipe, Mary.
(PS: For any other readers, my oven runs hot so 15 minutes was perfect for my strips at 425°!)
Compliment! iPhone autocorrect 🤦🏼♀️
I love it! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review, Amy!
This was AMAZING! Very tasty & easy to make.
Thank you, Morgan!
Made this for dinner yesterday and it was amazing! We had the leftovers today and it was even better, especially the tahini and tzaziki sauces. We served it with cauliflower rice, greens and cucumbers.
Awesome, thank you, Rachel!
Holy Moly! This was AMAZING!!! The whole family loved it! We served with rice and tzatziki, but you could easily use cauliflower rice or even make it into a wrap.
Thanks Katelin!! I am so glad you all loved it!
This recipe was really easy and full of flavor. I marinated chicken thighs overnight and left out the red pepper seeds just in case it would be too spicy for the kids. I didn’t have tahini on hand so made a garlic sauce instead. Will definitely be making this again!
Awesome, thank you Susan!
This meal was so easy to prep and the flavors are incredible! Perfect for meal prep. Looking forward to my lunches this week!
So glad! Thank you, Cynthia!