Description
These chicken shawarma bowls are loaded with bold flavor, spiced chicken, fresh veggies, and a creamy white sauce. Delicious, healthy dinner!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Chicken
- 2 lbs. chicken thighs (skinless, boneless)
- 1 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 yellow onion, cut into half-moon slices
Rice
- 3 cups basmati rice
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric
White Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (kewpie works well!)
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (use lemon from marinade)
- 1 tsp. caraway seeds
- pinch of turmeric
- sprinkle of cayenne
Serving
- 1 romaine lettuce heart
- 2 cups sliced cucumbers
- sliced grape tomatoes
- prepared hummus
- pickled red onions
- crushed pita chips
Instructions
- Mix up chicken marinade. In a large glass bowl, combine the zest from lemon, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, cumin, paprika, turmeric, and cinnamon. Add chicken into bowl, toss together to coat chicken, cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cook rice according to package instructions. Add turmeric before cooking for yellow rice.
- Spread out onions onto the sheet pan and top onions with marinated chicken thighs.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and has reached an internal temperature of 175 degrees F. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing against the grain. (About 3/4-inch wide slices)
- While the chicken is baking, prep other ingredients for your bowls.
- Mix up the white sauce. In a small bowl, stir together mayonnaise, lemon juice, caraway seeds, and a pinch of turmeric and cayenne pepper.
- Thinly slice romaine. Thinly slice cucumbers into half-moon shapes. Slice tomatoes.
- Assemble bowls. Scoop rice into shallow bowls. Top with sliced chicken and onions. Then add toppings as desired.
Notes
- You will probably have extra rice, it’s a lot but I’ve found our family struggles to find the sweet spot between 2-3 cups raw rice! Two is never enough and three is usually too much.
- Storage: Store leftover chicken thighs in an airtight container for 2-3 days. Reheat chicken in a 350 degree F oven or in a hot skillet until warmed through for best results. You can microwave, but it can toughen the texture of the chicken.
- Ingredient notes: Use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. You could use chicken breasts, but the thighs stay so much juicier, which is why I use them here. If you do use breasts, be very careful not to overcook them as they dry out quickly. I prefer to use Persian or English cucumbers, which have a thinner skin that doesn’t require peeling. If you use a traditional cucumber, give it a peel and scoop out any excess seeds with a spoon. Lightly salt the cucumbers for the best flavor!
- Prep ahead: Mix up the marinade (or mix up the spice portion of it even further in advance). Make pickled red onions if using a few days in advance; these keep for a few weeks in the fridge. Make white sauce up to a day in advance.
- Special tools: A microplane zester is helpful here, and a shawarma spice mix can also cut down on individual spices if you don’t stock them all.
- Nutrition: Nutrition facts are an estimate.