Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets filled with homemade chicken, crunchy veggies and a very special yogurt sauce. It’s so simple and so flavorful!
It’s Fridayyyy! Also happy long weekend to my Canadian friends!
Who’s having fun with their life over the long weekend?
We have plans every day this weekend, which is a little unusual for us but we are very excited about them all, since they include things like road tripping to Ottawa, spending time with friends, visiting one my favourite spas, watching fireworks and eating the leftovers of these Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets.
Guys. Can’t stop won’t stop with these Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets!
All the textures! Flavours! Colours!
It’s making my mouth do a happy dance in the best possible way.
Making Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets
While it may seem like these pita pockets have a lot going on, they are actually pretty quick and easy to make.
Start with a quick marinade for the chicken. Grill it. While that’s resting, make the yogurt hummus sauce. Then just slice up everything you need for serving, and assemble. It’s quick and easy! Bonus? It’s a pretty healthy, well-rounded meal!
Shawarma Spices
The chicken shawarma spices is what transforms the simple grilled chicken breast to the flavor-packed Middle Eastern chicken shawarma. Already-mixed shawarma spices are available in Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern isles of your local grocery stores, and online
Yogurt Sauce
The yogurt sauce is another key here as well. It is that extra special touch that I love in these Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets. It’s cooling, herby and garlicy. It’s the perfect sauce to generously drizzle over your shawarma.
So, let’s wrap things up here. We’ve got the most flavourful grilled chicken, toasted pita bread (store bought keeps it easy), hummus and yogurt sauce, tomatoes, cucumbers, greens if you want them, onion and purple cabbage. Stuff it all up into the toasted pita pocket and you are ready to rock and roll your way to the most delicious homemade Middle Eastern feast.
Need More Middle-Eastern Recipes Inspiration?
Sweet Cheese Qatayef Asafiri – delicious, fragrant and beautiful Arabian pancake stuffed with sweet cheese filling and ground pistachios.
Mediterranean Dip Baba Ghanoush – super healthy and nutritious eggplant dip, light and smooth and so low on effort!
Moroccan Lamb Tagine – perfect warm casserole for a cold day.
Lula Kebabs – Simply mix the ground meat with herbs, spread it over the skewer and throw them on the grill!
Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pita Pockets
Ingredients
Chicken Shawarma
- 1 lb chicken breasts
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp crushed chilli flakes
- squeeze of lemon juice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Yogurt Sauce
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 4 tbsp hummus
- 2 cloves garlic pressed
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- salt/pepper to taste
Pita Pockets
- 4 fresh pita breads halved
- 2 medium tomatoes sliced
- 4 medium cucumbers sliced
- 1 cup purple cabbage shredded
- 1/2 medium onion sliced
- hot sauce (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag (or bowl). Marinate the chicken in the spice mix for at least of 1 hour.
- Fire up the grill and cook the chicken for 7 minutes on one side and 5 more minutes on the other side. Leave to rest covered loosely with foil while preparing the yogurt sauce.
- To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in the medium bowl and mix. Cover and put in the fridge until needed.
- Heat the pita bread slightly on a pan. Slice the chicken in strips and stuff the pita pockets.
- Top with vegetables and yogurt sauce. Optionally, top it off with some real hot sauce and enjoy!
I love the photos of the food, it looks delicious and healthy.
Thank you so much Harriet!
Hi Liliya, what a wonderful combination of spices, flavours and textures. Makes me want to make it right now – but I just finished breakfast… haha. I had never noticed that there are pre-mixed Shawarma spices – but I have a well stocked spice cupboard so will mix my own. Links you share to other recipes are also inspiring. Thx for this idea! Diane Kitchen Bliss | FBC
Thank you Diane!
I am looking so forward to trying your delicious looking recipe, Liliya! It looks so fresh and healthy, not to mention appetizing! Thanks for sharing your recipe for Grilled Chicken Shawarma Pitas. I will use gluten-free pitas to make this dish completely gluten-free for some family members. They will be so very happy! 🙂
Sounds like a good plan! Hope you enjoy them!
I love shwarma, but have never tried it at home. I have done donair though sonI’m not really sure why I haven’t tried homemade chicken shwarma. These handheld wraps look delicious, and would make a wicked lunch!
Thank you so much Markus!
That chicken looks and sounds so flavourful, and so does the yogurt hummus sauce! This is the perfect light but filling lunch! Hope you had a great long weekend!
Thank you so much Leanne!
What a great weeknight dinner idea! I do a lot of Greek style chicken grilling but maybe it’s time to introduce some new flavours!
Thank you Bernice! Hope you give this a try soon!
I just finished making this, and it was amazing!! The chicken was so flavourful , and the yogurt sauce was perfect! My mouth wants more, but my stomach is sooo full…. thanks for sharing this great recipie!