The Dinner: Chicken Shawarma

I first fell in love with shawarma - a Middle Eastern dish of thinly-sliced meat that is stacked in a cone and slow-roasted on spinning, vertical rotisserie - when I was studying abroad in Amman, Jordan. While not the most traditional pairing, me and my friends would spend late-nights eating delicious shawarma and french fries. Ever since, I’ve sought out shawarma in the U.S., but it’s honestly been difficult to find restaurants or fast-casual spots that do it well. It’s surprisingly easy to replicate in your home oven, however, and I encourage all of you to try it. While the homemade version can’t exactly replicate the taste you get from the traditional cooking method, it’s a quick, simple, and nourishing weeknight dinner that can be paired with rice, pita, roasted veggies, or salad.

There are a variety of chicken shawarma recipes online, but they mostly follow a similar formula. I highly recommend this one from NYT Cooking, but this recipe from Cooking Classy is basically the same and it doesn’t require an NYT Cooking Subscription.

IMPORTANT RECOMMENDATION: After the chicken is baked in the oven, allowed to rest for a few minutes, and sliced, throw the slices on a medium-hot skillet for a few minutes. Doing so will crisp up all the edges of chicken - giving that perfect shawarma texture to the meat. Bon appetit!