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Mains 1 Min Read

The Greatest Chicken Shawarma Salad

“The secret lies in the marinade: a fragrant blend of shawarma spices like baharat and sumac, all bound together with everyone’s favourite: mayonnaise.” — John Gregory-Smith

Ingredients


Serves 4

Chicken

  • 600g boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into ½” strips
  • Juice ½ lemon
  • 2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tbsp groundnut or neutral oil
  • 2 tsp baharat
  • 1 tsp Turkish pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp sumac, plus extra to serve
  • Salt and pepper

Dressing

  • 180g sour cream
  • 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

Salad

  • 2 romaine hearts, roughly chopped
  • 2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 1 cucumber, sliced into half-moons
  • 100g pitted olives, roughly chopped
  • 30 pickled jalapeños, finely chopped
  • Juice ½ lemon
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Make Chicken

  1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Chuck chicken into mixing bowl and add lemon juice, mayonnaise, tomato puree, oil, baharat, Turkish pepper flakes, sumac and heavy pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well and transfer to 12″ x 16″ non-stick or lined roasting tin. Spread out into even layer and roast in oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until cooked through, a little charred and super juicy.

Make Dressing

  1. Meanwhile, mix sour cream together with garlic and pinch of salt.

Make Salad and Assemble

  1. Put romaine hearts, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, jalapeños, lemon juice, olive oil and pinch of salt into massive mixing bowl and toss together.
  2. To serve, divide salad between four serving bowls. Mix chicken in roasting juices and top each bowl with big pile of meat, spooning over any remaining juices. Drizzle over dressing and add pinch of sumac to each.

Source

Excerpted from The Greatest Traybake Cookbook Ever by John Gregory-Smith. Copyright © 2026 John Gregory-Smith. Photographs by Martin Poole. Published by Penguin Michael Joseph. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved

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