Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma

Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma is a quick and easy homemade pressure cooker version of shawarma that’s healthy, requires very little hands-on time and delivers a delicious punch of bold flavor.   Make a chicken shawarma wrap with pita bread or make a shawarma rice bowl.  Serve with hummus, garlic sauce, tahini sauce or hot sauce, and pickles, lettuce, tomatoes , onions, french fries.

Introduction

I’m a huge fan of gyros and shawarmas. Both are street food sandwiches made out of succulent meat wrapped in flatbread or pita and both have a common ancestor: the doner kebab which is Turkish street food, created during Ottoman times. 

But there are some important differences between shawarma and gyro.

Gyros originated in Greece. Gyros are generally made from pork, lamb, and/or beef and are served with a cucumber yogurt sauce called Tzatziki. Gyro meat is usually flavored with Mediterranean spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme, and marjoram.

Shawarma has its origins as a Middle Eastern / Arabic street food and is made from chicken, lamb, or beef. It’s served with a tahini sauce (made from sesame seeds) or garlic sauce.  Shawarma meat has very different spices from gyro meat – it’s flavored with spices like cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and coriander.

This delicious chicken shawarma pressure cooker recipe is adapted from a stovetop shawarma recipe I’ve been making for many years.  I have family living in the Middle East and was introduced to Arabic food during my visits there.

I feel that my recipe is healthier than what you’d get at a shawarma fast food place because when you make chicken shawarma at home, you don’t get that fat dripping back into the rotisserie meat as you do from a takeout place.

I like to eat Instant Pot chicken shawarma with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and/or onions.  Often times I make this Mediterranean Salad that I like to serve on the side or to fill the shawarma with, instead of lettuce and tomatoes.

The garlic sauce / white sauce recipe that I’ve included in the recipe card is my own concoction that I just kinda made up! I serve it with all kinds of foods including Mexican fish tacos or carnitas.

My kids like to add french fries into the shawarma wrap like some of the street-food doner kebabs we ate during a visit to Istanbul.  It’s actually quite good!  You could substitute sweet potato fries to make them healthier.

Instant Pot Shawarma can also be served with accompaniments like pickled cucumbers, hummus, tabbouleh, or fatoush (Middle Eastern salads).

Another way of eating the chicken shawarma is as part of a shawarma rice bowl, arranging the toppings side by side.  You might like to try using my recipe for Instant Pot rice.  If you use the Pot-in-Pot method, you could make both chicken shawarma and rice at the same time.

And here’s a tidbit of trivia for you if you’re a fan of Mexican food: Tacos al Pastor was introduced by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico and is an adaptation of shawarma!  It always fascinates me how the foods of the world are so interrelated.

If you’re new to the Instant Pot and aren’t familiar with how to use it, you might find it helpful to first read one of the following guides and then come back here to learn how to make this recipe.

• Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot DUO EVO PLUS Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot DUO NOVA Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot DUO GOURMET Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot DUO CRISP Beginner’s Manual
• Instant Pot PRO Beginner’s Manual

Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma – Ingredients List

More details in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post

How to Make Chicken Shawarma in the Instant Pot (Step by Step Instructions)

1. Marinate chicken
2. Add chicken to Instant Pot
3. Add remaining ingredients
4. Pressure cook
5. Release pressure
6. Brown chicken
7. Simmer to thicken

Marinate chicken

• In a large mixing bowl, combine coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, yogurt, and garlic.
• Add chicken to the marinade and stir.  Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.

Saute chicken and mushrooms

• Transfer chicken to Instant Pot inner pot.
• Add bay leaves and stir to combine.

Instant Pot Duo Pressure Cook 5 minutes

• Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in Sealing position
• Press Manual (or Pressure Cook) and + or – until the display reads ‘5′ (5 minutes).

Instant Pot Ultra Pressure Cook 5 minutes

• Close the lid.
• Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust the time to 5 minutes (00:05).
• Press Start.

Pressure Cooking Process (Duo and Ultra)

• Instant Pot display will change to On.
• Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
• The display will count down to 0; it will then switch to Keep Warm mode and display ‘L0:00’  or ’00 00′ and begin to count up the number of minutes since pressure cooking completed.

How to Naturally Release Pressure (NPR) on the DUO and ULTRA

• Allow the pressure to release naturally (NPR).  The float valve will be in the down position.  This may take 15 to 30 minutes. [Find out more about the pressure release methods and how and when to use them. ]
• Press Cancel and open the Instant Pot.

Brown chicken

• Stir up the chicken.
• Using a slotted spoon, drain the chicken well and transfer it to a serving bowl, and discard the sauce.
• Heat some oil in a  frying pan or cast iron skillet.  Saute the chicken till lightly browned, adding some of the sauce to deglaze and keep the chicken moist.

Assemble the pita

• Lightly heat the pita to make it pliable.
• Spread garlic sauce / white sauce on the pita.
• Add your choice of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions.
• Add chicken on the vegetables.
• Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
• Optional toppings: feta cheese, hummus, pickled cucumbers.
• Roll the pita up tightly.

Some Instant Pot Chicken Recipes