How To Make Delicious Homemade Beef Shawarma

Food and Drinks Lebanese food
2/13/2021

Shawarma is another popular Middle East delicious street food that has become widely known all over the world! And the good news is that shawarma meat is easy to make at home, it does not need special equipment.

What is Shawarma?

This famous & favorite street food from the Middle East in all recipes is essentially highly marinated meat (or chicken), superimposed on a vertical grill or grill where they are slowly roasted for days until it is perfectly tender and extra tasty! To serve it, thin layers of meat are shaved with saliva and stacked in a hot pita pouch with lots of fresh ingredients and a good fillet of tahini sauce enjoy it with your family.

You do not need a special brooch or spit to do it at home. In this simple homemade flavorful shawarma recipe, you just need a large frying pan or a cast iron grill frying pan. And to make sure we get as close as possible to the texture and authentic taste of veal shawarma, cut the meat very finely and mix in the tempting shawarma seasoning with a little garlic, onion, lemon juice and olive oil.

Shawarma Seasoning

You may not have special equipment to make authentic shawarma as they do on the streets of the Middle East, but you can get closer to the flavors using the right spices! This shawarma seasoning makes all the difference, and you may already have these spices at hand (but if not, check out our online store). What's in it?

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground clove

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Shawarema Ingredients

For spices Shawarma

1 tablespoons ground cumin

1 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon sweet Spanish paprika

¾ teaspoon ground turmeric

½ tablespoon ground clove

½ teaspoon ground clove

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For Shawarma & marinade

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ mug white wine vinegar

kosher salt and black pepper

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 medium yellow onion, cut in half and sliced

1 lemon

1 ½ lb steak flap beef fillet or flank, cut very finely against the grain into pieces of bite

To serve with

4 pita loaves, half (8 pockets of pita)

1 Homemade Tahini sauce, follow this recipe Tahini sauce

Salad of 3 ingredients, (or tomatoes and cucumbers in slices, and chopped parsley)

pickled cucumbers, as an option.

What kind of meat to use for meat shawarma?

On the streets of the Middle East you will find chicken shawarma, beef shawarma (or a combination of beef and lamb) stacked on top of each other. But all kinds of meat can be used to make shawarma at home. In this recipe, I used 1 ½ pounds of beef flap steak, which is not an expensive cut of beef and has enough fat for taste. The flank fillet will work here too, although the flap meat has a little more marble, which makes it more juicing and tender. If you have the budget and want to go crazy on a meat rib steak that will work too.

Instructions for cooking

At the bottom of the large bowl, add shawarma spices. Add olive oil, vinegar, zest and lemon juice. Using a spoon, mix to combine. Using a chef's knife, cut the flap fillet against the grain into thin slices of bite size (not more than ¼ inch thick).
Add the sliced meat to the bowl. Season with kosher salt and black pepper. Add garlic and onion. Using a pair of tongs, mix very well to ensure that the meat is well covered with the marinade. Set aside to marinate at room temperature for a few minutes (or, if you have time, cover and refrigerate for a few hours).
Heat a large frying pan or cast iron frying pan over high heat. Using a couple of tweezers, add the pieces of meat, spreading them as much as you can. Cook over high heat for 8-15 minutes, until the meat is completely cooked. (If you like less liquid in your pan and more charcoal in the meat, you probably cook it for about 15 minutes. And if your frying pan is not large enough, cook the meat in batches).
During cooking meat, prepare pita pockets and fasteners. Make my 3 ingredients Mediterranean salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley. Make the tahini sauce. And prepare your pickled cucumbers, if they are used.
Gather the shawarma sandwiches nicely. Open your pita pockets and load them with beef shawarma, salad, and finish with a generous drizzle of tahini sauce.

How to make shawarma: Step by step

Prepare shawarma spices and marinade Take a large bowl to mix and mix the shawarma seasoning (listed above) with ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ cup white wine vinegar and zest and juice of one lemon.
This makes your marinade for meat. Cut meat Finely cut the meat against the grain (this is especially useful if you use a steak or flank fillet, which can be chewed if cut incorrectly). Pieces of meat should have a good bite size (about 3 inches), but most importantly, they should be thin enough to get the best texture.
Marinate the meat Put the sliced meat in the large bowl the marinade. Season well with a large pinch of kosher salt and black pepper, then add fresh garlic and onion slices. Using tweezers, give a good boost to the set to make sure the meat is well coated. At this stage, you can leave it to marinate at room temperature for a few minutes (about 20-30), or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 hours.
Cook beef shawarma I like to use a large cast iron pan or frying pan, but if you don't have one, any large frying pan will work. Heat the frying pan over high heat and, using the tongs, add the meat. Spread the meat so that most of it touches the warm surface as possible (and if you need it, do it in batches). Cook 8 to 15 minutes, turning over and throwing occasionally (if you like less juice and if the meat is more charred, you risk going 15 minutes)

How to serve Shawarma

Shawarma sandwiches or wraps. What you need for this is a little hot pita bread (divided in half to create pockets). Load each pita pouch with cooked beef shawarma, my lazy 3-ingredient Mediterranean salad wrapped (which is basically a tomato and cucumber salad with parsley), and finish with a large drizzle of tahini sauce. If desired, add a few pickled cucumbers or thin slices of preserved lemons, entirely optional.

Bowls for dinner If you're looking to cut carbohydrates, try something like I did with my Shawarma chicken salad bowls. Take a few bowls (or plates), spoon a little beef, add a Mediterranean salad of your choice (tabouli is excellent), then add a little hummus on the side