Crispy Chicken Shawarma That Beats Takeout

Hey everyone, yia sas, kekalos tēstete to another episode of Dimitra's Dishes. Today we're taking classic chicken shawarma and we're turning it into something even more delicious. We are going to be making crispy chicken shawarma wraps. This recipe went viral just a little while ago. I'm showing you my version of it. These wraps are filled with bold spices, juicy chicken, some melty cheese, and that delicious garlicky shawarma sauce. They're so simple to make, so they're perfect for a quick and easy weeknight dinner. Let me show you how I make them. Okay, so I have two pounds of boneless skinless chicken thighs. I love using skinless chicken thighs over any other cut of chicken because they stay really juicy. So I do prefer it and I highly recommend that you use these. Make sure that you put them into a baking dish that is safe to go under the broiler. So we're not doing glass at this point because glass will shatter and if you want to use the air fryer instead I'll make sure to add the step-by-step instructions in the blog post so you can do that instead of the broiler. So the chicken is going in the pan. Drizzle some olive oil on top and I like to squeeze the juice of a lemon into it and then I have five or six garlic cloves that are grated. Those are going to go in and now we're going to season it. So about two teaspoons of salt or season it to your liking. Two teaspoons of sweet paprika. I wouldn't go for smoky paprika at this point but if you like smoky flavor in your shawarma you can use that. It just doesn't really go with anything else in my opinion. Two teaspoons of ground cumin, one teaspoon of sumac. It really brightens it up and it makes it fresher tasting compared to all those warm spices that are going to be in there. A quarter teaspoon of turmeric, a teaspoon of ground coriander, one teaspoon of allspice, some freshly cracked black pepper, and some crushed red pepper flakes. If there's a spice in here that you don't like you can just feel free to leave it out and either substitute your own favorite spice or just leave it out completely. We're going to toss everything all together so that way the chicken is coated with all that flavor and then I have an onion over here. I'm just going to cut it in half and then slice it, add it to the pan. This is going to go under the broiler for 20 minutes. Halfway through you can flip the chicken over so that way both sides cook evenly. Once it comes out of the oven we're going to let it rest for a little bit. In the meantime we can make the shawarma sauce. So I'm not making the traditional garlic sauce that you get at shawarma shops. I really prefer this one. This one is lighter and in my opinion it's so much better. We're going to begin with some mayonnaise. So about a quarter cup of mayonnaise. I'll add some grated garlic to it and then plain yogurt. So a cup of plain yogurt. I know this looks like more. I'm making a little bit extra. I'm using plain yogurt over greek yogurt. The greek yogurt is going to make the sauce thicker and I like it to be at a more pourable consistency so that's why I'm using the plain yogurt. If you want it thicker feel free to swap that out for some greek yogurt and then the juice of half a lemon. Whisk everything all together and the sauce is ready just like that. Now we're just going to chop up our chicken. So we're going to take the chicken and just thinly slice it, add it back into the pan and mix it around with the onions and all that sauce that's in there, the juices and the spices. It's just going to coat the chicken. You can taste the chicken at this point and see if it needs a little more salt and if it does you can season it really well. Now it's time to assemble the shawarmas. So I'm using tortillas today. You can use pita bread if that's what you prefer. We're going to take one tortilla and put a slice of cheese in it. Use your favorite cheese. I'm using gouda cheese today. Top it with as much of the chicken as your heart desires. Top that with some of the sauce. I like to go a little heavy on the sauce and then some shredded lettuce. So I'm using romaine lettuce. At this point you could add more things to it like pickles or you can do pepperoncini peppers. Pickled red onions are also really good in here. I'm keeping it pretty basic and now we're just going to pan fry it. So I have my cast iron skillet heating over medium heat. I'm going to add some butter to the pan. Lots of these viral recipes add more flavorings and seasonings but I really prefer the butter. It adds plenty of flavor and then the chicken is so bold and flavorful that you don't really need to season the bread as well but if you do you can definitely take some of the sauce that's in the pan and just brush the outside of the tortilla. We're going to pan fry this for about five minutes on each side until the tortilla is nice and crispy and golden and then it's ready to serve. You really don't need anything else with this. These are delicious and crispy and just so good. And there you have it. Tender spicy marinated chicken that's still juicy and delicious and it's wrapped up in a crispy. You can use pita or tortilla. It's so simple to make just like you saw. If you want to make the chicken in the air fryer you can totally do that. I'll post the method on the blog post so you can definitely check it out and use your air fryer instead of the oven. I hope you guys give this recipe a try. If you do definitely let me know how it comes out in the comment section down below and if you switched it up in any way let me know how to how you did it as well. The spices can be interchanged so if you don't like something leave it out and use your favorite spice or just leave it out completely. Let's do the taste test and I like to add some more creamy garlic sauce. There's so much flavor in this. I hope you guys give this a try. The chicken is still really juicy that's why I love to use the boneless skinless chicken thighs for this. If you're using breast be careful not to overcook it. Make sure that you have a thermometer to check the internal temperature. Once it reaches about the 162 mark take it out and it'll continue to cook a little bit as it sits outside. That way the breast meat will stay nice and juicy. This is perfect for meal prep because you can make a bigger batch of chicken and just make the wraps as you need them. I hope you guys give this one a try. The exact measurements and the printable recipe is on the website DemetriusDishes.com. Thank you so much for spending time with me today. I'll see you all next time. Yia sas!