One sure fire way to create an easy Arabic recipe is to use your slow cooker. They aren’t as popular in the Middle East as North America – in fact they can be hard to find at all. But, I love them!
I’ve been using my slow cooker a lot lately especially to create this easy chicken shawarma recipe. MarocBaba finally said to me at the end of last week, “Ok enough with that machine now!” It makes my life so much easier, and I am rarely disappointed. Not to mention the kids have not rejected a single meal. When I have combed the internet for new freezer and slow cooker meal ideas I found a few things that were troubling;
- There’s a lot of slow cooker soup recipes. If I served soup as a meal I’d get a lot of sad faces.
- Lots of freezer meals include pasta, something we eat very little of.
- Pork, lots and lots of pork.
There are some Moroccan tajines that I’ve tried in the slow cooker and while the taste is ok, the sauce doesn’t reduce and have the same flavor. I’ve always wanted to take Middle Eastern and Moroccan recipes and make them even easier.
Traditionally the chicken in a shwarma sandwich is spit roasted and shaved to fill a sandwich. I have neither a spit nor the patience to slow roast and shave it. Shwarma in the slow cooker is delicious and won’t make you sweat all day tending the spit.
Slow Cooker Chicken Shwarma
The flavors of chicken shwarma without the need of a roasting spit. Make it in your slow cooker or instapot.
Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 1/2 Tbsp cumin
- 3 cloves garlic chopped finely
- 1 Tbsp ginger
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- chili pepper (to taste, add more if you like heat, omit if you don't)
- juice of 1 lemon
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- water
Instructions
1. Trim chicken breasts of any excess fat. Place in a bowl and add the sumac, salt and pepper garlic, turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger, cardamom and chili pepper (optional).
2. In the bottom of your slow cooker add the vegetable oil and add the chicken.
3. Pour the lemon juice on top and add enough water to almost cover the chicken.
4. Cook on low heat for 4 hours, until the chicken is falling apart, keep on warm until just before serving
5. A few minutes before eating, transfer the chicken and liquid to a large pan. Shred the chicken with forks, and turn the heat to high.
6. Watch the chicken as the liquid reduces. You will want all of the liquid to be reduced, and the chicken to just slightly begin drying up. At this point it's done.
Notes
Serve the shwarma in warm pita bread. Condiments you may want to also include are Arabic garlic mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and other mezze style dips.
Bonus Recipe!
I made this for a get together over the summer and served it with my super fast version of Arabic garlic mayo. The traditional version is a slow process of emulsifying whole garlic cloves with olive oil. Not many of us have time for that. So instead make it this way.
- 2/3 cup sour cream or plain thick yogurt (like Greek yogurt)
- 1/3 cup mayo
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
Whisk it all together. You can add more garlic if you’d like, or less but this should have a strong garlic taste. If you’d like it thinner use olive oil to get the consistency where you’d like it.
Want more Middle Eastern chicken recipes? I got you covered!
I hope you’ll love this recipe as much as my family did! I have since made this for a few different times for events and gotten feedback from others who LOVE this recipe. Make it tonight!
PS if you’re looking for a good machine I love this one that is a slow cooker and pressure cooker in one.
See some more of our favorite (inspired) Middle Eastern slow cooker recipes:
Slow Cooker Beef and Green Bean Tajine
Slow Cooker Moroccan Tagine Lamb Roast with Mandarin and Pine Nut Rice
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Cheryl says
Is the sumac a “necessary?” 🙂
Amanda Mouttaki says
No but it does add some flavor. I would add some lemon juice for a little punch.
Jennifer says
Bone-in or boneless chicken breasts? Thanks!!
Amanda Mouttaki says
You can use either just would need to clean the bone in if using – I prefer boneless just for ease.
Visiit says
I had Shwarma only in the shop but after this step by step recipe i prepared it by myself really amazing. Thank you for giving this recipe.
Stephanie says
This is truly one of the best recipes I have ever tried from Pinterest! Made the chicken and the garlic sauce and served with naan. A fantastic meal that I can’t wait to make again. Thanks for sharing!
Amanda Mouttaki says
YAY!! This is one of our favorites at my house!
LuAnn says
Making this for dinner tonite, will post results later. Can’t wait to try it!
Amanda Mouttaki says
can’t wait to hear the results!
Carrie says
Just to confirm — is that fresh ginger, or ground?
Amanda Mouttaki says
ground ginger!
Kayla says
Salam sister. I just moved to Morocco a few months ago and there are so many recipes I want to cook in a crock pot but I don’t know where to find one here. Do you know where I can?
Amanda Mouttaki says
You might try at GIFI or even Marjane/Carrefour – have seen them there!
Anne-Marie says
I made this yesterday while I was off busy with the kid and came back to such wonderful smells! We loved this recipe and it was just what I was looking for. Thanks!
Amanda Mouttaki says
Love to hear that!
April says
Love another slowcooker recipe! I finally convinced my husband to let me make his bisara in it! I was able to use my immersion blender directly in the crock-bowl. The garlic was able to cook slowly and was amazingly richer flavor than my usual stovetop version.
A.F. says
How would I make this w/ lamb instead? Also, I don’t have a slow cooker so I don’t know anything about them (my mom never had one either or any relatives) so I wonder, are they really worth it? I hate cooking and am wondering, if u buy a slow cooker (I would prob need a 4 person one) do u really get your money’s worth? Is it actually worth it?
Amanda Mouttaki says
I would just use smaller pieces of lamb and follow the same directions. You may need to cook it a little longer just depending on how tough the meat is. I personally think having a slow cooker is well worth the investment. You can usually find them on sale and at thrift stores for $10-20. It makes life a lot easier for me and I love cooking!
Laura says
Looks fantastic!
Alejandra says
This looks great. I’ve been looking for a shawarma recipe. I never thought about making it in a slow cooker. This will be great for weekends when I just don’t fell like cooking!!