Shawarma-spiced Roasted Chicken

Chicken Shawarma is a popular Middle Eastern street food that's featuring meat layered and cooked on a vertical spit. In this recipe, I am simply using the bold, heady Levantine mix of spices to marinate the chicken and roast them in the oven. Bone-in, skin-on chicken quarters are my favourite, but you can use skinless and boneless chicken thighs, or as the original recipe suggested, a whole chicken, just adjust the cooking time. Serve them with warmed pittas, some salads and a yoghurt-tahini sauce if desired. This recipe needs at least 2 hour of marinating time, but it's preferable to do it overnight.

	Shawarma Spice Blend
80 ml Extra virgin olive oil 30 g Flat-leaf parsley, plus extra chopped parsley leaves to serve 2 Garlic cloves 80 ml Freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus extra lemon halves to serve 1½ tsp Sea salt 4 Chicken quarters 3 Red onions, cut into 1 1/2 cm-thick rounds	3 tsp Cumin seeds 1 1/2 tsp Each coriander seeds, sweet paprika and sumac 3/4 tsp Each fennel seeds, black peppercorns and ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp Ground turmeric

For the spice mix, place all spices in a spice grinder and whiz until semi-ground.
To make the marinade, place olive oil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, salt and spice mix in a food processor and whiz until smooth, then transfer to a large shallow dish.
Add chicken quarters and rub them thoroughly with marinade. Leave chicken to marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight if time allows.
Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Arrange onion in a large round baking dish and place chicken legs on top. Pour over any remaining marinade. Roast for 45-55 minutes, basting chicken twice, until cooked when tested with a skewer. If the juices run clear, it’s ready. If not, slide back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes.
Stand, loosely covered with foil, for 10 minutes. Serve sprinkled with extra parsley and lemon halves alongside.

31 comments:

David M. Gascoigne, 6/6/25 13:56: We eat shawarma frequently and it is delicious!
Tom 6/6/25 13:59: ...I'd love to have this for dinner.
DEZMOND 6/6/25 14:10: Levant food is the one that suits me most as they are mostly vegetarian, glu and dairy free :) Plus they use lots of garlic....
eileeninmd 6/6/25 15:32: Hello Angie,
Sounds like another delicious recipe for chicken.
Have a great day and happy weekend.
Linda's Relaxing Lair 6/6/25 16:57: This looks so good, Angie!
Fran @ G'day Souffle' 6/6/25 17:03: Is the chicken served on Zucchini Noodles? Looks delicious!
ashok 6/6/25 19:02: Looking tasty
Brian's Home Blog 6/6/25 19:23: That looks fabulous to me too and I'm sure it tastes wonderful.
MELODY JACOB 6/6/25 20:30: This shawarma spiced chicken sounds incredibly flavorful. Marinating overnight is such a great tip for depth of flavor. My mouth is watering just reading this.
Shashi 6/6/25 20:57: Angie your Chicken Shawarma looks amazing! Its making my mouth water and taking me a trip down memory lane to my time in Abu Dhabi.
Christine 6/6/25 20:59: Looks so good
Lola Martínez 7/6/25 00:13: Pues no lo he probado pero creo que me gustaría.
J.P. Alexander 7/6/25 00:55: Gracias por la receta. te mando un beso.
Lowcarb team member 7/6/25 01:17: Yes, definitely a good idea to marinate overnight if you can.

All the best Jan
Veronica Lee 7/6/25 06:11: Another mouthwatering way to cook chicken!
Yumm! 😋
Anonymous 7/6/25 07:26: This sounds delicious. And I also prefer bone in and skin on chicken.
Anonymous 7/6/25 07:27: PS. The anonymous comment is from me.
Tandy (Lavender and Lime) https://tandysinclair.com
Królowa Karo 7/6/25 09:14: Delicious and colorful!
Ananka 7/6/25 11:39: Looks good and love the salad base :-D
Margaret D 7/6/25 12:24: That does look lovely, Angie.
ellie 7/6/25 13:20: Such a beautiful Dish! So great to see 💛💛💛💛
Caitlin'nMegan 7/6/25 13:21: You are always inspiring! as in What's for Dinner! Wonderful presentation! Thank you for the recipe ☀️☀️☀️☀️☀️
Frank 7/6/25 16:17: What an awesome idea, Angie. I really enjoy the taste of sharwarma but of course the spit isn't very practical for home cooks, lol.
Grace 7/6/25 23:30: Muy tentador! Evidentemente me doy cuenta cuánto me gusta la comida de Oriente y/o Mediterránea. Como ya te he comentado, en mi país debo adaptarme a los ingredientes que se venden aquí. Me pregunto si será viable usar las especies en polvo en lugar de granos? Creo sea lo que puedo conseguir.
Basta probar y saborear.
Qué tengas un muy agradable fin de semana!
Buena vida! :-)
Pattie @ Olla-Podrida 7/6/25 23:59: I haven’t had Shawarma since before my husband passed away and he will be gone nine years this month. This looks magnificent! I am totally going to make it. I’ve already saved this recipe to my CopyMeThat app.
My name is Erika. 8/6/25 03:34: I bet this is tasty. And it looks wonderful on the finished plate too.
Anonymous 9/6/25 02:31: I love how you roast the chicken on the onions — what flavor they will have! Love Shawarma, and love how simple this is! David (C&L)
Pam 10/6/25 20:32: Yum! I bet it has a ton of flavor.
gloriadelpilar_1994@yahoo.com 10/6/25 21:40: Delicious
David 11/6/25 03:33: Hi Angie, This Chicken Shawarma entree looks amazing. We both love shawarma and related types of eastern Mediterranean chicken, beef and lamb. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
Raymund | angsarap.net 12/6/25 02:04: Now you made me crave for these!