Why You Should Make Shawarma In a Loaf Pan

What Is Shawarma?

Shawarma is a Middle Eastern staple. It’s marinated meat — usually lamb, chicken, or beef — which is cooked on a vertical rotisserie. The meat is typically seasoned with a blend of spices and herbs, stacked together in a very compact way and then slow roasted on a slowly spinning vertical spit. The result is very tender and flavorful meat that can be enjoyed on its own, on top of a salad or, most typically, in a sandwich made complete with pita, pickles and a generous swipe of garlic sauce.

What makes shawarma unique is the mix of spices, which vary from region to region and can also vary based on personal taste. This mix often includes cumin, paprika, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, allspice, black pepper and salt. More important than the spices, is the use of fresh garlic and freshly squeezed lemon juice which help to add the pungent and citrusy flavor that shawarma is known for. For every pound of chicken, I use two to three garlic cloves — that’s how important the garlic is!

How to Make Homemade Shawarma

The actual shawarma recipe is quite simple: marinating chicken with the spices, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. What makes the recipe difficult to make at home is roasting it slowly on a vertical rotisserie. I’ve seen some very creative applications of this over the years by home cooks. For example, some home cooks will use a large skewer inside a metal plate that slowly cooks in the oven. It is then finished off by allowing it to tent with a small charcoal in olive oil to get that iconic deep smoky flavor.

To me, the thought of a vertical skewer in the oven that’s slowly roasting the marinated dripping chicken in my oven for a couple hours doesn’t feel approachable. And as much as I love that smoky flavor, I can’t see myself ever buying charcoal to incorporate into the recipe.

Over the years I’ve tried some easy homemade methods and the one I fall back on when I’m craving shawarma is this recipe that’s made with whole chicken thighs slowly roasted in the oven, which are then sliced and sauteed on a heavy bottom skillet with their juices. It’s what my mom always did because it was the easiest method and it involved some hands off slow roasting in the oven, along with high heat cooking on the stovetop.

That was my go-to method until I discovered loaf pan shawarma originally introduced by Nadia Hussain.

The Loaf Pan Shawarma Method

The idea of using a loaf pan is genius because you’re basically tightly packing marinated pieces of chicken thighs and breasts (if you’d like to mix the two), mimicking how it’s pressed into a vertical rotisserie. I love that this is a hands-off method that you can easily use to make dinner on a weekday but the result is impressive enough to serve guests on a special occasion. Unlike other methods that may require rotating a dish or cooking the chicken over the stovetop, there’s no rotating or sauteing required.

So, I adapted my signature Lebanese shawarma marinade to this modern loaf pan method and the result was something I literally wrote home about (well, FaceTimed my mom about!) The top marinated chicken thighs get perfectly charred during the full roasting period. And the chicken pieces below get nice and juicy from the drippings. My favorite part is flipping the loaf pan onto a cutting board and slicing the marinated chicken “loaf” into thin shawarma pieces.

Shawarma Made Modern

When it comes to recipes from my Lebanese heritage, I love to stay as authentic as possible to honor the traditional recipes that my family has passed down through the generations. But I’m also a millennial mom who works full time and is always chasing the next viral food trend, so I’m all about shortcut methods like this Loaf Pan Shawarma that can still deliver authenticity in a slightly more convenient manner. It’s truly hard to mimic a shawarma spit at home, so any homemade variation will have shortcuts and adaptations. And I’m all about this newly discovered shortcut that puts the oven, instead of me, to work!

Related Links:

Healthy Weeknight Dinners

Our Best Chicken Thigh Recipes

The Best Loaf Pans, Tested by Food Network Kitchen