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. There’s no need for takeout!
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the disclosure.
I’m a huge fan of gyros and shawarmas – delicious street food sandwiches with tender meat wrapped in pita. While both originated from the Turkish doner kebab, they’re quite different.
Gyros are Greek, typically made with pork or lamb and served with tzatziki and Mediterranean herbs.
Shawarma is Middle Eastern, made with chicken, lamb, or beef, and features spices like cardamom, cinnamon, and coriander. It’s traditionally served with tahini or garlic sauce.
I adapted this Chicken shawarma Instant Pot recipe from a stovetop version I’ve made for years after being introduced to Arabic food through family in the Middle East. Making it at home is healthier than takeout, with no fat dripping back into the meat from a rotisserie.
I love serving this with fresh vegetables, my Mediterranean Salad, and the garlic sauce I created (which I also use on fish tacos!)
My kids add French fries to their wraps, Istanbul-style – it’s surprisingly delicious, or try sweet potato fries for a healthier twist.
Stephanie says ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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.
Fun fact: If you love tacos al pastor, you’re already a shawarma fan—it was created by Lebanese immigrants to Mexico as an adaptation of shawarma! I love how world cuisines are all interconnected.
➡ Serve this recipe as part of a mezze platter with traditional sides like hummus, baba ganoush, roasted red pepper dip, Middle Eastern potatoes, Lebanese or Turkish green beans, or Lebanese lentils and rice.
Ingredients and Tips
🧂 Ingredients for Chicken Shawarma
💡 Chicken Shawarma Instant Pot Recipe Tips
⏰ Marination: My recipe calls for marinating for 2 hours to overnight, but I’ve made this without any advance marination, and the flavor is still great!
🍗 Chicken: I prefer to use chicken thighs, especially in the pressure cooker – they’re far more flavorful than breasts, which tend to dry out. However, my readers report good results with chicken breast, too.
🍳 Browning: I prefer to quickly sauté the chicken in a nonstick frying pan or cast iron skillet after it’s pressure-cooked, but you can skip this step. Just remove chicken with a slotted spoon, drain well, and place directly in pita or flatbread.
🌶️ Spice Mix: Make a larger batch of dry spices and store in a bottle in a cool, dry place. Saves time on busy nights!
🔥 Grilling Option: In the summer, use the same marinade and pressure cook whole boneless thighs for 10 minutes. Finish on the grill, slice into thin strips, and assemble shawarma. The grill gives it another dimension of flavor.
💧 Liquid: The recipe has enough liquid to come to pressure in my 6-quart Instant Pot. However, if your Instant Pot is prone to getting the burn error, add ¼ cup chicken broth or extra yogurt. Increase spices accordingly.
❓ FAQS
Double all ingredients but keep the cooking time.
It’s not essential to saute the chicken at the end, but it adds caramelization and flavor. If you have the time, it’s worth it.
Yes, you can use whole thighs or chicken breasts if you wish:
– whole boneless thighs – pressure cook for 9 to 10 minutes
– whole bone-in thighs – 12 to 13 minutes
– whole chicken breast – 8 minutes
– chicken breast (cut into bite-size pieces) – 4 to 5 minutes
Feel free to shred the chicken after it’s cooked.
If your Instant Pot is prone to getting the burn message, add an extra ¼ cup of broth before pressure cooking. Also, make sure to deglaze the Instant Pot so that no brown bits are stuck to the bottom of the pot before you pressure cook.
⏲️ How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma
- 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. Marinate for 2 hours to overnight.
- Transfer chicken to Instant Pot inner pot. Add bay leaves and stir to combine.
- Add ¼ cup chicken broth if your Instant Pot is prone to getting the burn message. I do not use any broth and my Instant Pot seals up just fine.
- Close the lid.
- Select Pressure Cook mode and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes.
- The display will go from On to 5:00. The float valve will go up after a few minutes. The display will count down to 00:00.
- Do a natural release of pressure or a 15-minute natural release. Once the float valve goes down, the lid can be opened.
- 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. Sauté the chicken till lightly browned, adding some of the sauce to deglaze and keep the chicken moist.
- Serve as a wrap or in a rice bowl. For a pita wrap, 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.
⏲️ Stovetop Chicken Shawarma
- Marinate the chicken for 2 hours to overnight.
- Sauté the chicken in a heavy-bottomed skillet until the chicken is browned, about 10 minutes.
See the recipe card below for detailed instructions.
Instant Pot Chicken Shawarma
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken Shawarma
- ¼ teaspoon coriander powder
- ¼ teaspoon cumin powder
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder or 3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves powdered
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup yogurt
- 2 tablespoon garlic minced
- 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs (1 kg) cut into 2 inch strips
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoon olive oil (for stovetop version, or for optional browning of Instant Pot version)
- 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
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt or whole milk yogurt
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- ⅛ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon garlic minced
- ½ jalapeno pepper chopped finely (optional)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ¼ teaspoon coriander powder, ¼ teaspoon cumin powder, ½ teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon cardamom powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ cup lemon juice, ¼ cup yogurt, and 2 tablespoon garlic.
- Add the 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs to the marinade and stir. Refrigerate for 2 hours to overnight if you have the time.
Instant Pot Instructions for Shawarma
- Transfer chicken to Instant Pot inner pot.
- Add 2 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 but recommended: Heat 3 tablespoon olive oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet. Saute the chicken till lightly browned, adding some of the reserved sauce to deglaze and keep the chicken moist.
Stovetop Instructions for Shawarma
- Preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add olive oil. Add the chicken with the marinade to the pan. Saute for about 10 minutes, or until chicken browns.
- Transfer chicken to a serving dish.
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.
Nutrition
Thank you for visiting Paint the Kitchen Red. All photos and content are copyright protected. Please don’t use any content without prior written permission. If you’ve made this recipe and would like to share it with your friends, please link back to this recipe. Thank you!
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.
Did you know that the best way to support your favorite bloggers is to comment and rate recipes, and share on social media? If you loved this recipe, please comment and give it a five ⭐ rating in the comment section below. If you’re a pinner, pin this post using the Pin buttons at the top and bottom of this post and in the recipe card above. Thank you for your support!
Andy says
I’ve had an IP (6qt crisp w//extra air fry lid) for three years and have made a lot of your recipes, which are so perfectly sequenced and explained that they come out amazing every time even if I have no prior experience with that dish. This is the first IP recipe I’d like to try where the recipe does not call for any liquid in the pot, and it makes me a bit anxious. The official IP instruction book recommends a minimum liquid content for the pressure-cook setting, since it’s the moisture which allows the pot to pressurize. Could you speak to that issue? I often use your recipes as “training wheels” so that after the first time I can start adapting the techniques and tweaking things for other cooking. How do we know when we need liquid to pressurize and avoid burns, and when we can get away without it?
Neena Panicker says
Hi Andy, I can see why you might be nervous. I always tell people to follow the recommendations with the manual especially when they’re first starting out. However, you really can get away with less liquid (Unfortunately some IPs tend to have issues with the burn message.). In this recipe, you get 1/2 cup of liquid from yogurt and lemon juice, plus the chicken will release some liquid. Since you are apprehensive about it, to be extra cautious, maybe you can follow the recipe and add 1/2 cup of broth. The flavor may be diluted a bit, but you can reduce the liquid after cooking. If that works for you, next time, reduce the broth to 1/4 cup. Thank you for reaching out, and I’d love to get an update on how it worked out for you.
Dee says
This is the best recipe for instant pot shawarma with the best marinade and blend of spices.
Neena Panicker says
Dee, thanks for commenting and I’m so glad you like the recipe!
Lily says
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 says
I’m so glad you chose to try out my recipe! Thank you for the kind words – very much appreciated!
Laura says
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 says
Laura, thank you! I’m so glad you liked it. I love the flavors of this recipe too.
Stephanie says
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 says
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 says
Could this be adapted into a freezer meal to prep in advance? If so any suggestions?
Paint the Kitchen Red says
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 says
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 says
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 says
This is delicious. I will definitely make it again!
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Glad to hear it, Nina. Thank you for commenting.
Candace says
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 says
Candace, thank you for your question. No, you would keep the cooking time the same if you double the recipe.
Dhanya says
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 says
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 says
I’ve made this a few times and everyone loves it. It’s replaced our favourite oven shawarma recipe.
Paint the Kitchen Red says
Linda, that’s so great to hear! I love the how moist the chicken is with this method.
Amanda Becerra says
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 says
Thank you, Amanda. I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipe 🙂