A marinade of delicious shawarma spices mixed with yogurt make grilled chicken strips deliciously tender. This Grilled Chicken Shawarma is flavorful and delicious and super simple to make for any night of the week.

Have you heard of Raw Spice Bar? No, this is a review for them. That’s later on this month. They contacted me about trying out their products and possibly hosting a giveaway. Again, stay tuned later this month.

It is not a secret that I’m a total spice snob. Seriously. I buy the whole spice and grind it myself. I’ve been making my own spice mixes for fajita seasoning, taco seasoning, Tuscan spice blend, Greek seasoning, and garam masala. You guys really need to make your own spice and herb blends. It’s SO much better.

This Grilled Chicken Shwarma is flavorfully delicious and super simple to make for any night of the week.

Now, I’ve tried a few food subscription boxes before. I have not really been impressed with the quality/quantity as compared to the price. Hatchery is okay, but the products were just too small for me. Love with Food? That one was okay. Because of my dietary requirements I couldn’t a lot of the items. Graze? Same thing. Now, I really did like Graze, but was tired of having only dried fruit in the low fat option.

This is why I JUMPED at the chance to try out the Raw Spice Bar subscription. The cost is pretty minimal. The spices are small batch blends that are ground just before shipping. That’s what I’m talking about! Can you say UBER fresh? When herbs and spices are that fresh, you can truly taste the difference. Plus, when they’re that fresh you don’t need as much to pack a flavor punch.

You really do need to grill shawarma for it to be amazing! Broiling, it’s just not good enough. Broiling doesn’t give those nice charred bits of marinade making the dish just that much more delicious. Roasting? That’s okay and is probably better than broiling, but you miss the char you get from grilling. It’s like the obsession I have with burned bits of barbecue sauce that I talk about in my Mustard Barbecue Chops post here.

Those charred bits in this recipe are super concentrated, yogurt marinated bits of delicious goodness. Made even more delicious by toasting my herbs and spices before I grind them. No, that’s not in the directions. I toasted the spices when I make a spice mix. I should turn this shwarma into a spice mix post. Maybe later on this month. Stay tuned.

I turned a coffee grinder turned spice grinder. Toasting spices releases the essential oils that are dormant which are released during grinding. This makes for more potent and aromatic spice blends. You really should try it.

Granted, this spice blend will flavorful and delicious. It’s not necessary to toast your herbs and spices. Remember when I said I was a spice snob? This is the spice snob in my coming out. Just try it once and let me know how it turns out. I bet you’ll be able to taste an amazing difference.

Just look at that amazing color! You know it’s going to taste pretty amazing with color that looks like that. Actually, for the most part, that’s from the turmeric and the paprika. Oh, and the coriander, the cinnamon, the garlic; pretty much all of it! And it taste just amazing as it looks.

And mad props to the yogurt. Yogurt does the best job of marinating chicken. The theory being the calcium in the yogurt (or milk) activates enzymes that start to break down the proteins in the meat. Don’t you just love science? All this time, vinegar marinades have been more popular, but vinegar, in my experience, just starts to cook the meat. While I love the flavor of a vinegar marinade, I don’t use it tenderize meat; just flavor it.

The grilled chicken has concentrated shawarma spices on it. Even if it’s not cooked perfect, the yogurt tenderized chicken stays tender even it’s over cooked. That’s another benefit of marinating chicken in yogurt.

Just look at that tasty meal! I served the chicken with some tasty, cucumber couscous and nutty, roasted Brussels sprouts. If you start the sprouts while the chicken is marinating then start the couscous while you cook the chicken, you can easily make this a tasty, weeknight meal.

4 servings

Grilled Chicken Shawarma

Name: Grilled Chicken Shawarma
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 1 pound chicken breast tenders; 1 cup nonfat, plain yogurt; 2 teaspoons coriander; 2 teaspoons cumin; 2 teaspoons paprika; 1 teaspoon garlic; 1 teaspoon turmeric; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Delicious shawarma spices are mixed with yogurt to marinate tender chicken strips before grilling. This Grilled Chicken Shawarma is flavorful and delicious and super simple to make for any night of the week.

Ingredients

1 pound chicken breast tenders
1 cup nonfat, plain yogurt
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Instructions

Place the chicken in a shallow dish.
Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl with a wisk until blended. Pour over the chicken, turning to coat. Marinate at least 30 minutes or overnight.
If using wooden skewers, soak before threading the chicken tenders onto the skewers.
Preheat grill to medium-high. Cook chicken 2 to 3 minutes per side or until cooked through and no longer pink in the middle.
Serve with flat bread and grilled zucchini (or couscous and roasted Brussels sprouts).