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№ 104 · Middle Eastern ·Levantine

Sheet-Pan Chicken Shawarma

Tempo

45 min

Picante

Dificuldade

Médio

Rende

4porções

Ingredientes

Chicken

1 kg

coxa de frango sem osso e sem pele (boneless, skinless chicken thighs) — if you can only get bone-in skin-on, debone and skin them, save bones for stock

Marinade

4 tbsp

olive oil

3 tbsp

lemon juice (about 1 large lemon)

garlic cloves, grated

2 tbsp

ground cumin

2 tbsp

paprika defumada (smoked paprika)

1 tbsp

paprika doce

1 tbsp

ground coriander

1 tbsp

ground turmeric

2 tsp

ground allspice (pimenta-da-jamaica em pó — Mundo Verde, Casa Santa Luzia) *(or middle-path: 1 tsp ground cinnamon + 1 tsp ground cloves + ½ tsp ground nutmeg)*

1 tsp

cayenne or hot paprika *(or ½ tsp Cepera Mexicano)* — omit for heat 1

1½ tsp

salt

½ tsp

black pepper

Tray

large red onions, cut into 8 wedges each

2 tbsp

olive oil

½ tsp

salt

To serve (assemble at table)

*Garlicky tahini sauce:*

4 tbsp

tahini

4 tbsp

water

2 tbsp

lemon juice

garlic clove, grated

½ tsp

salt

(Whisk; add more water until pourable — yogurty consistency)

*Plus:*

Warm pita bread (pão sírio) or naan

Sliced tomato, cucumber, red onion

Chopped parsley

Pickled turnip (nabo em conserva — Arab grocers) or pickled red onion

Lemon wedges

Optional: hot sauce (Cepera Sriracha works), sumac sprinkled on top

Modo de preparo

01**Marinate.** Mix all marinade ingredients in a bowl. Add chicken thighs, mix to coat thoroughly. **Marinate at minimum 30 minutes; ideally 4 hours; up to overnight.**
02**Preheat the EAF85** to **200°C on Convection/Turbo mode**.
03**Prep the tray.** Toss onion wedges with 2 tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp salt on the tray. Spread out so they're not stacked.
04**Add chicken.** Lift the marinated thighs onto the tray, nestling them between/on top of the onion wedges. Don't crowd. Pour any remaining marinade over the top.
05**Roast.** 200°C convection, **30-35 minutes** total. Halfway through (around 18 min), open and **flip the chicken** — the bottoms will be releasing juice; flipping gives more even color.
06**Final 5 minutes:** if the chicken isn't deeply colored on top, switch to **Air Fry mode** (or move closer to the top heat element if the AFO has settings) for the final 5 min. You want char-edged, glistening, mahogany-dark in patches.
07**Slice.** Lift chicken to a board. Rest 3 min. Slice across the grain into thick strips.
08**Make the tahini sauce while it rests.** Whisk in a small bowl as listed.

Sheet-Pan Chicken Shawarma

The sheet-pan reinvention of shawarma — boneless chicken thighs marinated in shawarma spices, roasted on a tray with red onion until edges char and centers stay juicy, served like a deconstructed wrap with garlicky tahini, pickled turnip, and warm flatbreads. Faster than a real spit but the flavors are right.

Heat: 2/5. From paprika and (optional) a touch of cayenne. Easy to dial down.

Tame it

Heat 1: skip cayenne entirely. Marinade still has plenty of flavor from the cumin and smoked paprika.
Heat 0: as above + halve the smoked paprika. Adds a chile-adjacent flavor without much actual heat anyway.

Sub: bottled chiles only

The cayenne is the only chile. Replace with ½ tsp Cepera Mexicano or skip.

Serving

Place on a big platter:

Sliced chicken in the center, hot
Charred onions around it
Tahini sauce drizzled over OR served alongside
Parsley scattered

Around the platter: warm flatbreads, tomato + cucumber + onion salad, pickled turnip, lemon wedges, sumac.

Let everyone build their own wraps. Or eat as a plate with rice on the side.

Notes

Coxa de frango com osso e pele works if you can't get boneless. Cook 40-45 min instead of 30-35; debone after roasting.
Don't skip the convection setting. Standard "bake" mode in the AFO won't crisp the same way — convection circulates the heat that gives the shawarma char.
Marinate long if you can. 4 hours is the sweet spot; overnight is fine. The ground turmeric needs time to penetrate beyond the surface.
Freezer kit version: combine the chicken + marinade in a 2-gallon zip bag, freeze flat. From frozen: defrost overnight in fridge (the marinade can't penetrate frozen meat), then cook as above. Add the onion wedges fresh on cook day.
Pickled turnip (the pink-purple Lebanese kind) is the secret ingredient that distinguishes great shawarma plates from "spiced chicken." Worth seeking out at any Arab grocer (Empório Árabe in SP). Or quick-pickle red onion: 1 sliced red onion + 1 small beet + ½ cup vinegar + ½ cup water + 1 tbsp salt + 1 tbsp sugar, in a jar 24 hours.
Sumac sprinkle at table: the dark-red, lemony-tangy ground berry. Sprinkled on the finished plate, it adds the citrus-tartness that distinguishes Levantine plates.
Wine: off-dry Riesling, Albariño, or just cold pilsner.