Sheet Pan Shawarma Chicken with Potatoes

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Sheet Pan Chicken Shawarma with Potatoes and Onions

This sheet pan shawarma chicken takes advantage of the popular middle eastern shawarma spice mix to add flavor and dimension to your weekday sheet pan recipe.  This simple, easy and effortless recipe gets done in an hour. A Chicken Shawarma is hearty and healthy baked alongside roast potatoes, caramelized onions, lemon, and garlic.

My absolute favorite middle eastern food has got to be Shawarma followed by Falafel and then hummus. Do you remember my very popular recipe for Quick Homemade Shawarma Chicken or Shawarma Pockets? Here, the three foods that make for a quick lunch on weekdays are hummus, followed by falafel and then shawarma. The shawarma meat can be anything from beef, veal to lamb or turkey and chicken. Or even a mix of some of them.

So what is Shawarma? How to make shawarma homemade?

In short shawarma chicken is stacked meat on a horizontal rotating spit surrounded by a grill. Furthermore, meat is surrounded by fat which melts while grilling; keeping the meat moist and juicy.
But the main highlight of this shawarma meat is that it is heavily spiced with a special aromatic shawarma spice mix!!  And that is what makes shawarma even more special.

So while we won't stack our meats, or load it with fat nor grill it on a rotating spit that spice mix which is a star of this dish enables us to make shawarma homemade. And making a sheet pan shawarma version means making simple every day cooking more easy, full of flavor and healthier. Here we have replaced the saturated animal fat with good old olive oil.

Let's talk ingredients and substitutes (Save this recipe for later)

Chicken - I prefer to use chicken thighs and legs with bone on for baking. Call me old school but I believe that the bones add so much more flavor to a dish. Personally, we don't mind eating with bones on. In addition, its a lot more inexpensive to buy bone on than boneless.
Having said that feel free to use boneless chicken thighs. However, I would not recommend using breast. It cooks much faster so by the time the potatoes get done the chicken breast will be dry.
If you have only chicken breast and want to make chicken shawarma homemade? I highly recommend using my recipe for Quick Homemade Shawarma Chicken. It's another one of our family favorites and gets done in 20 minutes.

Spices - These spices are mostly used in middle eastern and Indian dishes. Now, I know that not all of us have a pantry full of spices. If you ask my husband he will tell you I have way too many spices!! But I'm big on cooking from scratch and love playing with spices and I love making my own spice blends. If you are like me and want to make your own, I have given you my recipe for shawarma spice mix below.

But if you don't have these individual spices on hand and still want to enjoy a good homemade Shawarma Chicken? Guess what?
There are plenty of good easy to use shawarma spice mixes in most supermarkets these days. NO! I won't judge. It's better than not having homemade shawarma - right?  Buy one of those and I promise you will not regret it. Look for a reputed brand you trust, that has a good range of spice mixes. I have used one in my recipe for Quick homemade Shawarma Chicken. I highly encourage you to look for that recipe.

• Potatoes - I highly recommend using baking potatoes. They hold their shape and get nice brown caramelized edges. When baking in the oven the potatoes will absorb not just the chicken juices but also some of that shawarma marinade, so you have very flavorful roasted potatoes.
• Onions - Who doesn't love caramelized onions? Use red onions and it will be the best thing you will eat with this dish. Don't like onions? Just omit them - no biggie.
• Lemon - Well, I know it's optional so feel free to omit but if you have never tried roasted lemon before - OMG - Please do try!!
• Garlic - Again, If you have not tried roasted garlic? you are in for a treat and no they are not garlicky. The roasting transforms them into this sweet delicious jam-like paste. Spread it over a slice of toast - absolute heaven!! Leave the skin on as the protect the garlic and prevent them from burning.

The Shawarma Spice Blend / Shawarma Seasoning Recipe

The shawarma spice mix differs slightly from region to region mostly in the quantity and number of spices used.  I like to try store-bought spice mix so I can try different variations.

Over the years I have come to define my own flavor and combination that works best for me, so I make my own shawarma seasoning recipe.  This blend works best for me and is one that will tantalize your taste buds. Absolute heaven!   In the recipe below I have used fresh ginger and garlic instead of powders because I always go with fresh ingredients when I can. You can find my Shawarma Spice Blend aka Shawarma Seasoning Mix here.

Though we cooked this in a sheet pan - look how fancy it looks when plated? The chicken gets a beautiful color from the spices, the onions are soft and sweet. The potatoes are perfectly roasted tender on the inside and crisp on the outside. That's a perfect lunch for me. Can you see those roasted garlic and lemon slices? That is heaven on a plate..... you have to try it to experience it.

Useful Tip and Tools

• Use a Sheet Pan large enough to space things out.
• Use separate Chopping board for chicken and veggoes
• And a sharp Kitchen Knife to chop everything
• Use separate Bowls to keep meat and veggies until they are ready to be cooked.
• Of course you can serve right out of the sheet pan or on to a Serving Platter as I have.

How to Make a Sheet Pan Shawarma Chicken with Potatoes and Onions (Save/Pin)

Marinate Chicken

• Preheat the oven at 200 C / 400 F
• Clean and skin chicken pieces. Remove any excess trimmings
• Season with salt, pepper and lemon juice
• Rub grated ginger and garlic into the chicken pieces
• Prepare spice mix blend - mix thoroughly
• Rub the spices all over the chicken
• Let chicken marinate while you prepare the veggies
• This chicken can be left to marinate overnight in the fridge as well.

Prepare Veggies

• Wash, peel and cut potatoes into bitesize pieces
• Cut onions and lemon into round slices - remove seeds from lemon slices.
• Separate garlic cloves from the bulb but leave the skin on.
• Grease the sheet pan with  2 tbsp olive oil to prevent sticking.
• Place potatoes on the sheet pan
• Sprinkle with salt and pepper to season.
• Next lay chicken pieces over potatoes
• Place onion and garlic slices all over chicken pieces.
• Sprinkle salt and pepper over onion and lemon slices.
• Drizzle remaining olive oil all over the ingredients.

Bake

• Bake in a preheated oven for 45 to 60 minutes
• Turning chicken and potatoes every 20 mins to encourage even cooking.
• When done - remove from the hot sheet pan to a serving platter if desired.

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7 Tips for Perfect Sheet Pan Recipes

1. Always use the right size pan for cooking. Too large and the meat will stew rather than roast giving you mussy veggies. Too small will not give even cooking
2. Line the pan with parchment for easy clean-up. Having said that, baking directly on the pan can give you crisp edges which some of us enjoy.
3. Layer moist meats or veggies on top of dry ones so the top will keep the bottom from going dry
4. Use veggies with similar cooking times or give the veggies that need longer cooking a head start.
5. Keep the veggies moist by spraying them with oil so they won't dry out.
6. Use the right cooking time for the right cuts of meat. Chicken breast usually cooks quicker than chicken thigh or red meats.
7. Not everything gets browned well on a sheet pan - if necessary sear the meat on the stovetop so you don't overcook just for browning.

Frequently asked questions

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