Quick Healthy Chicken Shawarma Wrap Recipe

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Cooking With Anadi

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Shawarmas are a staple street food in Mediterranean cooking, but they’ve gained tons of popularity across the world! When I came to Canada, if I needed a quick fix for lunch or dinner, the shawarma stops were a go-to. Believe it or not, shawarmas aren’t made with many ingredients, and they sure can be a really healthy meal option if you’re making them at home!

I loved eating the shawarmas at the shops, but I really wanted to try them myself, as I tend to do with lots of fast food dishes. I really had a desire to replicate the exotic spices. Believe it or not, they’re common spices we tend to use every day!

Eager to make my own shawarma, I did some research. I had come across Mark Bittman’s infamous Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma recipe. This recipe uses chicken thighs for the protein. The thighs are baked in the oven, and then you finish cooking them on a pan to get them even crispier. I tried that out and loved it! I even adapted this recipe for my own shawarma chicken, as you can see in my Homemade Juicy Chicken Shawarma Sandwich recipe!

Now unfortunately we don’t all have the time to put in that level of effort! As much time as I love to devote to cooking, I’ll be honest with you and say that I would not follow that recipe for lunch! But that shouldn’t mean you don’t eat something delicious for lunch. I was craving my traditional juicy chicken shawarma sandwich recipe, and thought of a shortcut version in this healthy chicken shawarma wrap that I’ll be sharing with you today so that I could still have that delicious chicken without the hassle! The traditional recipe is more rotisserie-style chicken, but here we’re going with pan-seared chicken shawarma. Read on to find out more!

How to Make Quick Healthy Chicken Shawarma Wrap?

Tools Needed

• Large bowl
• Cutting board
• Chefs knife
• Nonstick pan
• Spatula
• Tongs

Ingredients for Healthy Chicken Shawarma Lunch Wrap

This ingredient list is surprisingly short, perfect for lunch time! Here’s what you’ll need:

• Onions
• Chicken breast
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Greek yogurt
• Lettuce
• Cherry tomatoes
• Lemon juice
• Cinnamon
• Turmeric
• Ground cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Red chili flakes
• Pita bread (store-bought or homemade)

Marinate the Chicken Shawarma

Chop your chicken breast into cubes and add the cubes into a large bowl. Add the diced onions, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, cinnamon, turmeric, cumin, chili flakes, salt and pepper.

Cook the Chicken

Add the marinated chicken and onions straight into the preheated non-stick pan (no need to add additional oil). Arrange the chicken pieces in a single layer on the pan.

Cook on one side without moving the chicken for 4-5 minutes, this will help give the chicken an even sear. Then, turn the chicken pieces and cook the other side, another 3-4 minutes, or until the chicken is no longer pink.

Mix the chicken and onions well and turn off the heat. Optionally, you can add any leftover marinade to the pan as well and simmer it for 1-2 minutes.

Toppings

Quickly warm up the pita breads for 15-20 seconds. Top each pita with 1 tbsp Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup lettuce. Evenly distribute the shawarma chicken, top with cherry tomatoes and wrap the pita bread tightly.

Is This Quick Chicken Shawarma Lunch Wrap Healthy?

Yes, it is! Although it may seem like I’m using a lot of olive oil, it’s necessary to get that juiciness and have all the excellent spices shine through. However, by using chicken breast instead of chicken thighs, we are reducing the fat content in this recipe, compared to the traditional recipe. With the chicken and Greek yogurt, this chicken shawarma lunch wrap is packed with protein! We’ve got some veggies in our wrap to get some vitamins. You could choose to use a whole wheat pita bread if you’re looking for the extra fiber.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes This a Shawarma

Shawarma is a cooking method before it is a recipe. Traditionally, seasoned lamb or beef — chicken came later — is stacked onto a vertical spit, turned slowly against a flame for hours, and shaved off in thin strips as the outside crisps. That is also why shawarma and gyros look so similar on the plate: both are spit-roasted meat served in flatbread, one Levantine and one Greek. Almost no home cooks have a rotating spit in the kitchen, which is exactly the problem this version solves. One chicken breast is cut into one-inch cubes, marinated in the same family of spices, and seared in a pan, so the chicken dish you end up with tastes like the real thing in twenty minutes instead of a day.

The spice mix here stays deliberately short: a pinch of cinnamon, a quarter teaspoon of turmeric, half a teaspoon of ground cumin, two minced garlic cloves, two tablespoons of lemon juice, a tablespoon of olive oil, and salt, black pepper and red chili flakes to taste. If you happen to have sumac, a pinch over the finished chicken adds the sour, faintly fruity note that shawarma counters often have. And where a shop would hand you a garlic sauce — toum, that whipped garlic and oil emulsion — this wrap keeps things simple with plain Greek yogurt, since the garlic is already doing its work in the marinade.

Getting the Sear Right

The chicken goes into a preheated non-stick skillet over medium heat with no extra oil — the tablespoon already in the marinade is enough, and the onion gives up moisture as it softens. Arrange the cubes in a single layer. That instruction is the one that matters most: crowd the pan and the chicken steams in its own juices instead of browning, so if your skillet is on the small side, cook it in two batches rather than piling it all in. Then leave it alone for four to five minutes before touching it, turn the pieces, and give the second side another three to four minutes until no pink remains. Any marinade left in the bowl can go into the pan at the end and simmer for a minute or two.

A few swaps are worth knowing before you start. Chicken thighs are juicier and far more forgiving if you overshoot the timing, and chicken tenderloin works too but cooks faster, so check it early. If you would rather cut the breast into strips than cubes, that is fine — just keep them a similar thickness so they finish at the same time. Out of fresh garlic? Roughly half a tsp garlic powder stands in for the two cloves. And the same marinated chicken is very good threaded onto skewers and cooked on a grill if you already have one going.

Serving It, and Making It Ahead

Pita is the default here, but any flatbreads you like will hold this filling — naan is softer, flour tortillas are thinner and wrap more tightly. Warm whichever you use for fifteen to twenty seconds first so it folds instead of cracking. Beyond the shredded lettuce and halved cherry tomatoes the recipe calls for, thinly sliced red onion, cucumber and a little fresh parsley all belong in a shawarma wrap, and a spoonful of hummus alongside — or hot sauce, if the chili flakes did not go far enough for you — rounds the plate out. You can also loosen the plain Greek yogurt with a squeeze of lemon into a proper yogurt sauce to drizzle rather than spread.