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.
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 a Turkish street food, created during Ottoman times. But there are some important differences between shawarma and gyro.
Gyro (pronounced ‘yee-roh’) originated in Greece. Gyros are generally made from pork, lamb, and/or beef and are served with a cucumber yogurt sauce called Tzatziki (pronounced ‘zat-zee-kee’). Gyro meat is usually flavored with mediterranean spices like oregano, rosemary, thyme and marjoram.
Shawarma (pronounced ‘shwaar-maa’) 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 like 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 it healthier.
Instant Pot Shawarma can also be served with accompaniments like pickled cucumbers, hummus, and 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 inter-related.
Tips
Although the recipe states that you can marinate the chicken 2 hours to overnight, I’ve made this without any marination ahead of time and the flavor is still amazing.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you probably know that I prefer to use chicken thighs in general and especially in the pressure cooker. The flavor is much superior to chicken breasts, which dry out.
I like to quickly saute the chicken in a frying pan or cast iron skillet but you don’t need to do that; you can just remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and allow to drain well before placing directly in your pita or flatbread.
I mix up a larger batch of the dry spices and store them in a bottle in a cool dry place, and that way I can save time if I want to make this dish on a busy night.
In the summertime, I use the same marinade and make this Instant Pot chicken shawarma by pressure cooking boneless whole chicken thighs for 10 minutes, finishing on a barbeque grill, and slicing into thin strips before assembling the shawarma.
Although it might seem that there isn’t enough liquid for the Instant Pot to come to pressure, I’ve never had trouble building pressure in my 6 quart Instant Pot with this recipe. That being said, if your Instant Pot is picky about the quantity of liquid (eg. some newer model Instant Pots, particularly the 8 quart Instant Pots and burn messages), please add 1/4 cup of chicken broth or a little extra yogurt. You might want to increase the quantity of spices if you do that.
If you’re new to the Instant Pot
and aren’t familiar with how to use it, please read the Instant Pot DUO Beginner’s Quick Start Guide or the Instant Pot ULTRA Beginner’s Quick Start Guide first and then come back here to learn how to make this Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma.
Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma Ingredients
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma (Step-by-Step Instructions)
- In a large mixing bowl, combine coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, yogurt, garlic.
- Add chicken to the marinade and stir. Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight.
- Transfer chicken to Instant Pot inner pot.
- Add bay leaves and stir to combine.
Instant Pot DUO Pressure Cook:
- Close the lid and make sure steam release handle is in ‘Sealing’ position
- Press ‘Manual’ (or ‘Pressure Cook’) and ‘+’ or ‘-‘ until display reads ‘5′ (5 minutes).
Instant Pot ULTRA Pressure Cook:
Instant Pot ULTRA
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and adjust time to 5 minutes (00:05).
- Press ‘Start’.
- Instant Pot display will change to ‘On’.
- Once the Instant Pot is pressurized, the float valve will go up.
- The display will count down from 5 to 0; it will then switch to ‘Keep Warm’ mode and display ‘L0:00’ or ’00 00′ and begin to count up.
Instant Pot Natural Pressure Release (NPR):
-
- Allow the pressure to release naturally (NPR). The float valve will be in the down position. This may take 15 to 20 minutes.
- Press ‘Cancel’ and open the Instant Pot.
- Stir up the chicken.
- Using a slotted spoon, drain chicken well and transfer to a serving bowl, and discard the sauce.
- Optional: 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 shawarma sandwich:
- 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.
Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma
Ingredients
Chicken Shawarma
- 1/4 tsp coriander powder
- 1/4 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder or 3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves powdered
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup yogurt
- 2 Tbsp garlic minced
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs cut into 2 inch strips
- 2 bay leaves
- Chopped parsley for garnish
- pita to serve
- Toppings: lettuce, tomatoes
- Optional toppings: cucumbers, sliced onions, hummus, feta cheese, pickled cucumbers, french fries or sweet potato fries
Garlic Sauce / White Sauce
- 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt or whole milk yogurt
- 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/8 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp garlic minced
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper chopped finely (optional)
VIDEO
Instructions
Chicken Shawarma
- In a large mixing bowl, combine coriander, cumin, paprika, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, yogurt, and garlic.
- Add chicken to the marinade and stir. Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight if you have the time.
- Transfer chicken to Instant Pot inner pot.
- Add bay leaves and stir to combine. Close the lid and pressure cook on High Pressure for 5 minutes.
- Allow the pressure to release naturally. If you're in a hurry, do a 10 minute natural pressure release (NPR) i.e. allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes, and release remaining pressure using quick release (QR). [Read More: The Different Pressure Release Methods]
- Stir chicken and sauce.
- Transfer chicken to a serving dish using a slotted spoon, draining well.
- Optional: heat oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet. Saute the chicken till lightly browned, adding some of the sauce to deglaze and keep the chicken moist.
Garlic Sauce / White Sauce
- Combine all ingredients for garlic sauce / white sauce in a medium bowl.
- Whisk together until smooth and set aside.
Chicken Shawarma Assembly
- If necessary, lightly heat the pita to make it pliable
- Spread garlic sauce/white sauce on the pita
- Add lettuce and tomatoes
- Add your choice of optional toppings
- Add chicken on top
- Garnish with chopped parsley
Notes
- This recipe was tested with a 6 quart Instant Pot.
- Instead of using lettuce and tomatoes, try substituting this Mediterranean Salad.
- See the blog post for more detailed recipe tips.
Nutrition
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I am not a certified nutritionist. I provide my best estimate of nutritional information merely as a courtesy to my readers. If you depend on nutritional information for dietary or health reasons, I suggest using your favorite online nutrition calculator to confirm the nutritional value of this recipe based on the actual ingredients that you use.
If you loved this recipe, please give it a 5 Star rating in the comment section below and please share it on social media using the social media share buttons at the top and bottom of this post. Thank you so much!
You might also like to try these Instant Pot Recipes:
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 |
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|---|---|---|
| Instant Pot Lamb Biryani | Mediterranean Salad | Instant Pot Vietnamese Banh Mi |
Lily
This is genuinely one of the best recipes I have ever made. It tastes exactly like what I get at the shawarma shop! I broiled the chicken for a few minutes and added pickled turnip to the wrap. I’m borrowing a friends Instant Pot and this alone has convinced me to buy one! I’ll be keeping this one on regular rotation. Thank you, Neena!
Paint the Kitchen Red
I’m so glad you chose to try out my recipe! Thank you for the kind words – very much appreciated!
Laura
Great recipe! Ended up drizzling olive oil on the cooked chicken and popping in the oven to broil, 5-6 minutes on each side. So impressive and easy, thank you!!!!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Laura, thank you! I’m so glad you liked it. I love the flavors of this recipe too.
Stephanie
This is absolutely delicious. Don’t skip the pan browning at the end – it really helps and the flavor intensifies as you deglaze the pan.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Stephanie, thank you for the feedback – I’m thrilled to hear you loved the recipe – I love the browning of the chicken too!
Theresa J
Could this be adapted into a freezer meal to prep in advance? If so any suggestions?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Theresa, I’ve not frozen this particular recipe before but if I were to do it, I’d pressure cook and freeze the chicken and sauce and saute before eating. Let me know if you try it out.
Jackie
Loved this recipe!! So flavourful and easy to make. I did not have cardamom or coriander and it was still delish! Did not have pitas so I used soft taco shells and that worked just as well. Had lots leftover so we had it a second time served over jasmine rice along with the seasoned broth. Also delish!!
The garlic white sauce as well was very yummy!
Absolutely will be making again. Pretty sure this will be a staple instant pot dinner.
Another side note….I did use boneless, skinless chicken breasts and it was extremely tender.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Jackie, thank you so much for your comment. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe and were able to make your own substitutions.
Nina
This is delicious. I will definitely make it again!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Glad to hear it, Nina. Thank you for commenting.
Candace
The flavour was wonderful! It was enough for dinner for 5 of us. If I were to double this recipe, would I need to add time to the instant pot?
Paint the Kitchen Red
Candace, thank you for your question. No, you would keep the cooking time the same if you double the recipe.
Dhanya
Hi Neena,
I finally got down to trying this today, and the chicken was fabulous. I was tired after grinding some of the while spices and prepping the chicken, so I didn’t make the white sauce. The chicken was nice and flavorful and was nice even plain with ghee rice. Thank you!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Hi Dhanya, great to hear from you. I appreciate you taking the time to comment and let me know that you liked the recipe. The white sauce adds extra flavor but not essential 🙂
Linda
I’ve made this a few times and everyone loves it. It’s replaced our favourite oven shawarma recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red
Linda, that’s so great to hear! I love the how moist the chicken is with this method.
Amanda Becerra
Great recipe! I don’t think I will pan fry again (just to save time and cleaning) but I could totally see doing this on the grill one day. I have an 8qt IP, I added the 1/4 cup chicken stock just in case but probably didn’t need to. I served with taziki sauce, feta, onion, tomato, and cilantro. Definitely a keeper and a great meal prep recipe!
Paint the Kitchen Red
Thank you, Amanda. I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe 🙂