Transform your weeknight dinner routine with these incredibly delicious and easy Chicken Shawarma Wraps! In just 20-30 minutes, you can bring the vibrant, aromatic flavors of the Middle East to your table. This recipe features tender, perfectly seasoned rotisserie chicken, warm and beautifully charred naan flatbreads, crisp fresh vegetables, and a quick, creamy homemade sauce. It’s a game-changer for anyone seeking a flavorful, satisfying meal without the lengthy preparation typically associated with authentic shawarma.
Effortless Chicken Shawarma Wraps: Your New Weeknight Favorite
Are you craving the rich, aromatic flavors of traditional Chicken Shawarma but find yourself short on time? Our recipe for these incredibly easy Chicken Shawarma Wraps is your perfect culinary solution! While these wraps offer a convenient, simplified approach, they masterfully capture the authentic taste and essence of classic shawarma in a fraction of the time. You’ll be delighted to discover that there’s no need for long marinating processes, allowing you to enjoy a genuinely flavorful meal that’s ready from start to finish in less than 30 minutes, making it an ideal choice for even the busiest weeknights.
This quick and simple meal has rapidly become a beloved staple in my household, and for good reason. It expertly blends ultimate convenience with an explosion of amazing flavors, guaranteeing a satisfying and memorable dinner every single time. The secret to its efficiency and deliciousness lies in its four main components: the incredibly versatile store-bought naan bread, the succulent and pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, a vibrant and refreshing three-ingredient fresh veggie mix, and an effortlessly prepared, tangy Tzatziki-inspired sauce. Below, we’ll dive deeper into each element, offering valuable time-saving tips, ingredient insights, and preparation secrets to help you whip up these fantastic Chicken Shawarma Wraps with absolute ease and confidence!
The Ultimate Time-Saver: Savory Rotisserie Chicken for Shawarma
The cornerstone of these lightning-fast Chicken Shawarma Wraps is undoubtedly the rotisserie chicken. This pre-cooked, often pre-seasoned wonder is a true culinary hero for quick meals, allowing you to bypass lengthy cooking times and have the meat component ready in mere minutes. Forget about the hassle of preparing raw chicken; simply shred the tender meat, and you’re already halfway to a delicious dinner!
To infuse that distinctive and complex shawarma-style flavor, we simply enhance the shredded rotisserie chicken with a special blend of aromatic spices. This step skillfully builds upon the existing seasoning of the chicken, elevating its taste to new heights without demanding hours of traditional marination. The result is a deeply flavorful chicken that tastes like it’s been slow-cooked with care. For the absolute fastest preparation, seek out pre-shredded rotisserie chicken at your local grocery store. Alternatively, if you purchase a whole rotisserie chicken, consider shredding any extra meat ahead of time and storing it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. This thoughtful foresight means your next batch of easy Chicken Shawarma Wraps will be even quicker to assemble, making it a perfect strategy for efficient meal prepping or satisfying those spontaneous weeknight cravings for authentic Middle Eastern flavors.
Crafting the Perfect Creamy & Tangy Shawarma Sauce (Tzatziki-Style)
No truly exceptional Chicken Shawarma Wrap is complete without a luscious, tangy, and cooling sauce to tie all the vibrant flavors together. Our quick homemade version, inspired by classic Tzatziki, is an absolute crowd-pleaser that not only comes together in minutes but actually tastes even better after it’s had a chance to chill in the refrigerator. This resting period allows the various flavors to meld beautifully, creating a more cohesive and delicious condiment. Prepping this essential sauce ahead of time is a fantastic strategy to save precious minutes when dinner time rolls around, ensuring a stress-free meal assembly.
Here are our expert tips for achieving a consistently perfect, restaurant-quality sauce every single time, ensuring it’s thick, flavorful, and wonderfully refreshing:
- Embrace Full-Fat Greek Yogurt: For a sauce that’s wonderfully thick, rich, and guaranteed not to become watery, always opt for full-fat Greek yogurt. Its superior creamy texture provides the perfect, substantial base for your sauce. My personal favorite, and highly recommended for its excellent consistency and robust flavor, is Greek God’s® plain traditional Greek yogurt.
- Thoroughly Drain the Cucumber: This step is paramount for a successful sauce! Cucumbers naturally contain a significant amount of water. If this excess moisture isn’t properly removed, it will undoubtedly thin out your sauce, leading to a runny consistency and a diluted, weaker flavor. After grating the cucumber, make sure to squeeze out as much water as physically possible using several layers of paper towels or a clean cheesecloth.
- Choose the Right Cucumber: Not all cucumbers are created equal, especially when it comes to sauce making. For the best flavor and ideal texture in your Tzatziki-style sauce, always use English or Persian cucumbers. These varieties are known for being less watery and possessing a more concentrated, crisp flavor compared to standard garden cucumbers, which can often be too watery and bland.
- Fresh Lemon is Non-Negotiable: The sauce truly thrives on the bright, zesty notes of fresh lemon. You’ll need both its finely grated zest and its freshly squeezed juice to achieve that vibrant, authentic taste profile. Do yourself a favor and skip any bottled lemon juice; it simply cannot compare in freshness, aroma, or intensity. When zesting, be mindful to avoid grating the bitter white pith located just beneath the yellow peel, as this can introduce an undesirable taste.
- Save Time with Pre-Minced Garlic: While the aromatic punch of freshly minced garlic is always fantastic, store-bought pre-minced garlic is a brilliant and convenient time-saver for this sauce. It allows you to get dinner on the table even faster without making a significant compromise on flavor.
Fresh & Crisp: Essential Veggies for Your Chicken Shawarma Wraps
While your perfectly seasoned rotisserie chicken is heating up and its rich aromas begin to fill your kitchen, seize the opportunity to quickly assemble a vibrant and refreshing quick veggie salad! This fresh component isn’t just an add-on; it provides a crucial cool crunch and delightful counterpoint that perfectly balances the warm, savory chicken and creamy sauce. It introduces layers of texture, color, and flavor to every bite, transforming your Chicken Shawarma Wraps into a truly dynamic and well-rounded meal. The combination of crisp, fresh vegetables ensures that your wraps are not only incredibly delicious but also wonderfully light, refreshing, and satisfying.
- Red Onions: Thinly sliced red onions are indispensable, offering a sharp, piquant flavor that beautifully cuts through the richness of both the chicken and the sauce. If you typically find raw red onion too strong or pungently sharp for your palate, there’s a simple yet effective trick to mellow its intensity: just soak the slices in a bowl of cold water with a small pinch of salt for approximately 10-15 minutes. After soaking, drain them thoroughly before incorporating them into your salad. This process significantly softens their bite without diminishing their essential, vibrant flavor.
- Tomatoes: Sweet, juicy, and ripe tomatoes are an absolute must for these Chicken Shawarma Wraps. Cherry tomatoes are my top recommendation due to their delightful burst of flavor and ideal bite-sized nature when simply halved or quartered. However, any ripe, juicy variety of tomato that you prefer can be perfectly diced and used. The inherent freshness and slight acidity of the tomatoes add a delightful sweetness and a much-needed juicy element to the wrap.
- Cucumbers: For a consistent, high-quality vegetable experience throughout your entire wrap, I always recommend using the same types of cucumbers in the salad as you would for the sauce – crisp and firm English or Persian cucumbers. Their firm texture and mild, refreshing flavor integrate seamlessly into the veggie mix, providing a perfect, satisfying crunch that complements the other ingredients without ever overwhelming them.
The Perfect Vessel: Soft and Charred Naan Flatbreads for Your Shawarma
The choice of bread can truly elevate or diminish a wrap, and for our sensational Chicken Shawarma Wraps, naan flatbreads are simply an unbeatable choice. My family absolutely adores naan bread, and its distinctive soft, chewy texture coupled with its slightly smoky flavor (especially when charred) makes it an exceptional foundation for a wide variety of creative and satisfying dishes. We frequently harness its versatility in innovative ways, such as crafting a delightful, quick crust for a speedy Pesto Pizza or fashioning a robust and flavorful shell for delicious Ground Beef Naan Tacos. Its remarkable adaptability and inherent deliciousness truly make it an indispensable pantry essential for convenient and creative cooking.
When it comes to selecting the ideal naan for these particular wraps, I enthusiastically recommend Stonefire® mini naan. Their perfectly proportioned size is absolutely ideal for individual Chicken Shawarma Wraps, ensuring they are easy to handle, delightfully portable, and a joy to eat without any mess. However, if mini naan isn’t readily available at your local grocery store, please don’t fret! A standard-sized Stonefire naan flatbread can be effortlessly cut in half, providing two perfectly sized wraps that are just as delicious.
Quick Tip: About Naan Bread
Naan is a traditional leavened flatbread, which holds a significant place in the cuisines of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. It shares some textural similarities with pita bread but is typically distinguished by its softer, chewier texture and often a wonderfully bubbly, slightly blistered surface, traditionally achieved by cooking it in a scorching hot tandoor oven. Its rich historical background and remarkable versatility have cemented its status as a staple in many native cultures and make it an absolutely fantastic choice for these quick and flavorful Chicken Shawarma Wraps.
While the entire concept of these convenient Chicken Shawarma Wraps undeniably revolves around speed and ease, there’s one extra step that is absolutely worth the minimal additional minutes: charring the naan. This simple technique, which is surprisingly quick, imparts a delightful smoky flavor and creates a beautiful, slightly crispy texture around the edges of the bread. This subtle enhancement elevates the overall sensory experience of the wrap, adding a layer of depth that truly makes a difference. The great news is that charring the naan is incredibly easy to accomplish and can be done efficiently while your homemade sauce is chilling in the refrigerator or your seasoned chicken is warming through, making it a seamless and rewarding addition to your cooking process.
How To Perfectly Char Your Naan: Elevating Flavor and Texture
Achieving that perfect, appetizing char on your naan is a simple yet impactful step that adds a remarkable depth of smoky flavor and an appealing visual and textural dimension to your Chicken Shawarma Wraps. Here’s a detailed guide on how to get it just right:
- Begin by lightly spraying both sides of your naan flatbreads with a good quality olive oil cooking spray. This crucial step not only helps prevent the naan from sticking to the heat source but also promotes a more even char and crispness.
- If you have a gas stovetop, carefully place each naan directly over a medium-high gas burner flame. Using a pair of sturdy tongs, flip the naan every 15-20 seconds. Keep a close eye on it, watching for dark, beautifully bubbly, and slightly blackened spots to appear across the surface. This indicates that the naan is charring perfectly. This entire process should typically take about 30-40 seconds per naan, so work quickly and attentively.
No Gas Stove? No Problem! Here’s how to warm naan in the oven for a soft, pliable finish:
If you don’t have access to a gas stove, you can still achieve warm, soft, and pliable naan that is perfect for wrapping. While this method won’t create the smoky char, it will ensure your naan is wonderfully soft and flexible.
- Preheat your oven to a gentle 200°F (95°C). This low temperature warms the naan without making it dry or hard.
- Stack your naan flatbreads into a neat pile, then wrap them snugly and completely in aluminum foil. This helps to trap moisture and heat, keeping the naan soft.
- Place the foil-wrapped naan packet in the preheated oven for approximately 5 minutes, or until they are thoroughly warmed through and feel soft and pliable to the touch.
More Delightful & Easy Dinner Recipes for Busy Lives
If you loved the incredible simplicity, vibrant flavors, and sheer convenience of these Chicken Shawarma Wraps, then you are absolutely in for a treat! We understand the challenge of preparing delicious meals on busy days, which is why we’ve curated more of our favorite quick and easy dinner ideas. These recipes are specifically designed to make your weeknights more delicious, less stressful, and always satisfying:
- 15-Minute BBQ Chicken Sandwiches: A lightning-fast and tangy sandwich that’s perfect for those evenings when time is truly of the essence.
- Vibrant Mediterranean Wraps with Sun-Dried Tomatoes & Pesto: A fresh, lively, and incredibly flavorful wrap packed with sun-drenched Mediterranean goodness.
- Speedy Margherita Pizza on Naan: Another wonderfully creative naan-based meal that transforms pizza night into a quick, gourmet experience.
- Creamy Pesto Pasta with Broccoli: A comforting and richly flavored pasta dish that comes together quickly for a satisfying meal.
- Asian Chicken Tacos with Zesty Mango Slaw: Expertly utilize rotisserie chicken for these delightful sweet, savory, and tangy tacos.
Print Recipe
Quick & Easy Chicken Shawarma Wraps
Chelsea Lords
20
10
30
4 servings
Video
Equipment
- Large skillet
- Box Grater or Microplane (for cucumber)
- Tongs (for charring naan)
- Mixing Bowls
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
- 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup hot water
- 3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
- 8 mini Naan I love Stonefire
- 1/2 large red onion diced or thinly sliced
- 2 cups diced English cucumber or Persian cucumbers
- 2 cups diced cherry tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley optional
- 1/2 cup grated English cucumber or Persian cucumber
- 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt full-fat
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1-1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 large lemon zested and juiced
- 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- 1. Prepare the Tzatziki Sauce: Begin by grating your English or Persian cucumber using the large holes of a box grater or a microplane. Line a small bowl with several layers of paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and place the grated cucumber on top. Firmly squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible from the cucumber – this is a critical step to prevent a watery sauce. Once thoroughly drained, transfer the cucumber to a medium mixing bowl. Zest your lemon to yield about 1/2 teaspoon of zest, then juice it to get 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Stir the lemon zest and juice into the bowl with the drained cucumber, along with the plain full-fat Greek yogurt, minced garlic, red wine vinegar, and olive oil. Season generously with salt and pepper to taste (I typically add 1/4 teaspoon salt and a generous pinch of pepper). Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate the sauce until you are ready to serve; chilling allows the flavors to deepen and meld beautifully.
- 2. Combine Chicken Seasonings: In a small, separate bowl, combine all the chicken seasonings: ground cumin, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt, pepper, ground turmeric, and chicken bouillon powder. Stir these aromatic spices together thoroughly until they are well mixed and uniform.
- 3. Cook the Chicken: Heat the 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the minced garlic and stir continuously for about 30 seconds to a minute, until it becomes wonderfully fragrant. Immediately add the prepared chicken seasoning blend to the skillet and continue to stir for 1 minute, allowing the spices to toast and release their full aromas. Reduce the heat as necessary to prevent the spices from burning. Mix in the tomato paste until it is well incorporated and forms a cohesive paste, then pour in 1 cup of hot water. Stir constantly until the mixture is combined and smooth. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to a rapid simmer and cook for 2-4 minutes, or until the sauce has slightly thickened and reduced. Finally, add the shredded rotisserie chicken to the skillet and toss gently to ensure it’s fully coated in the rich, flavorful sauce. Taste the chicken and adjust seasonings to your preference, adding additional salt or a squeeze of fresh lemon juice if needed (I often add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice at this stage for an extra boost of brightness). Remove the skillet from the heat.
- 4. Prepare the Veggie Salad: In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the diced or thinly sliced red onion, sliced cucumber, and diced cherry tomatoes. If using, add the chopped fresh parsley. Season with just a pinch of salt and pepper, then toss gently to combine all the fresh ingredients, ensuring an even distribution.
- 5. Char the Naan: Lightly spray both sides of each naan flatbread with olive oil cooking spray. If you have a gas stovetop, carefully “grill” the naan directly over an open flame, using tongs to flip it every 10-20 seconds until it’s slightly charred and beautifully bubbly on both sides (refer to Note 1 for an oven warming method if you don’t have a gas stove). Once charred to your liking, set the naan aside.
- 6. Assemble and Serve: Place the warm, perfectly charred naan bread onto individual plates. Generously top each naan with a hearty portion of the seasoned rotisserie chicken, followed by a spoonful (or two!) of the fresh, crisp veggie salad. Finish your masterpiece with a generous drizzle of the chilled Tzatziki-style sauce. Serve your delightful Chicken Shawarma Wraps immediately and savor every flavorful bite!
Recipe Notes
Storage Tips: For optimal freshness and to prevent sogginess, it’s best to store the leftover Chicken Shawarma Wraps components separately. The seasoned chicken and fresh vegetables should be stored in individual airtight containers in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Keep the Tzatziki sauce in its own separate airtight container to maintain its creamy texture and prevent it from thinning out other ingredients. When you’re ready to enjoy leftovers, gently reheat the chicken on the stovetop or in the microwave, warm the naan as described above, and then assemble fresh. While the chicken and sauce can be frozen in airtight containers for longer storage, the fresh vegetables and naan are best enjoyed fresh or from short-term refrigeration.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving
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Calories: 511kcal
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Carbohydrates: 18g
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Protein: 55g
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Fat: 26g
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Saturated Fat: 5g
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Cholesterol: 172mg
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Sodium: 842mg
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Potassium: 675mg
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Fiber: 3g
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Sugar: 8g
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Vitamin A: 1601IU
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Vitamin C: 52mg
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Calcium: 96mg
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Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximation only. Actual values may vary based on specific ingredients and preparation methods.
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