2-ingredient Chicken Shawarma for Passover brings popular Israeli street food right to your table!
This simple, one-pan recipe uses just two main ingredients (chicken and shawarma seasoning) for a quick, flavorful holiday meal.
(Note: some kosher authorities consider some of the ingredients in the seasoning to be kitniyos (kitniyot), so please check with your own kosher authority.)
Shawarma is a wonderful Middle Eastern street food.
Nothing compares to the amazing taste of the meat that comes right off the skewer, especially when combined with the pita fillers, such as Israeli salad, hummus, tehini, pickles, etc.
However, it is not always simple to find shawarma where one lives or to just pop out when one has a taste for it. It’s even harder to find it kosher on Passover!
Therefore, with this Chicken Shawarma for Passover recipe, you can enjoy the taste of shawarma in your home!
A little about Israeli cuisine
Some people complain about cultural appropriation in cuisine when food from one country is attributed to another country.
However, national cuisine in itself is often a mingling of food from a variety of cultures, often due to a change of ruling countries and a shifting of borders.
When people move from country to country, they will take their cultures with them, and their descendants may adapt their traditional cuisine with that of their new home.
When one lives in a melting pot, such as the US or Israel, it is just unrealistic to expect that food from a particular culture won’t mingle with that of other cultures.
“Israeli cuisine” is mostly Middle Eastern (as opposed to Eastern European) food that was brought to Israel by Jews when they fled or were expelled from Muslim countries and moved to Israel mostly after the declaration of the State of Israel (collectively known as Mizrahi Jews).
Recipes were passed from generation to generation, and although decades have passed, the foods are still known by the culture they came from, and everyone seems to have their own way of making them.
That said, there are many variations of pretty much any “Israeli” recipe because of background, custom, or even just taste. When choosing a recipe, one has to know what actually constitutes a main ingredient—what makes the dish what it is—and what is left up to individual taste.
A Little About Shawarma
Shawarma is a Middle Eastern meat dish that is a popular street food.
Shawarma’s origin is from the Doner Kabab from Turkey, whose modern cuisine developed from the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans combined the adopted traditional dishes of the countries they ruled.
The Greek version of a shawarma is a Gyro.
Both names (doner and gyro) indicate turning or spinning, and in fact the name shawarma comes from the Turkish form of the Arabic word for turn or spin.
Shawarma is made from different types of meat that can be used together to create it. These include lamb, turkey, chicken, and beef.
While, for the most part, pork is not eaten in the Middle East, the gyro is often made of chicken or pork.
The different types of seasoned meat are sliced and skewered in tight layers on a vertical rotisserie or spit with layers of fat at the top. The skewer rotates vertically and slowly near a heat source, and the fat melts over the meat, giving the meat a wonderful flavor as it lightly roasts on the outside.
Shawarma is a popular street food in the Middle East, and it seems that every country has their own traditional way of eating it.
In Israel, it will normally be served in a pita or in a laffa (an Iraqi flatbread that is part of Israeli cuisine) together with a variety of additions, such as tahini, hummus, pickles, Israeli salad (diced cucumbers and tomatoes), French fries, pickled cabbage, and more. Everyone just puts in what they like.
Of course, for Passover, one would eat it on a plate with their favorite sides or in a matzo sandwich!
Tips for making Passover Chicken Shawarma at home
- Note that some kosher authorities consider some of the ingredients in the seasoning to be kitniyos (kitniyot), so please check with your own kosher authority.
- The shawarma can be put in the oven and baked until ready, but I like using a frying pan and stirring for more control.
- The dominant taste of shawarma seasoning is the cumin. Everyone seems to have their own taste as far as the seasoning is concerned, so feel free to add more of it (or just more cumin) if you like it that way.
- I use fat instead of oil when I can to replicate the fat used on the rotisserie and add more while cooking if I feel the mixture is not greased enough, but oil is fine, and to each his own (I personally don’t eat the shawarma with the extra oil or fat, but my sons – who don’t care about calories – like it that way).
- When chicken is used to make shawarma, it is the dark meat of the chicken, and that is why chicken thigh fillets are called for. However, in a pinch, if you don’t have chicken thigh (or if you don’t like it), you can substitute strips from another part of the chicken.
- Feel free to use leftover chicken for this recipe–just make sure it is not too dry, or the shawarma pieces may fall apart (yes, that did happen to me). It will still taste good but won’t look as appetizing.
2-Ingredient Chicken Shawarma for Passover
Easy and delicious chicken shawarma from scratch, kosher for Passover
Ingredients
- 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thigh, sliced into small strips
- 2 tablespoons (or more if desired)* of Shawarma Seasoning
- schmaltz or oil (kosher for Passover)
- Oil or fat for frying
Instructions
- Place the shawarma seasoning mix in a bowl, add the chicken strips and coat well.
- Grease a frying pan well and heat.
- Place the strips in the frying pan and stir as it cooks. (Add more oil or fat if needed).
- Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until turkey strips have cooked through.
Notes
* Some kosher authorities consider some of the ingredients in the spice to be kitniyot (kitniyos), so please check with your own kosher authority.
MAKE SURE ALL INGREDIENTS ARE ALWAYS KOSHER FOR PASSOVER.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 193Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 140mgSodium: 301mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 28g