Chicken Shawarma Salad

Since moving to Hamilton, we’ve been absolutely spoiled by the abundance of amazing traditional chicken shawarma, everywhere we look.

I’ve joked that there’s a shawarma place on every second block, but really? In some areas, it’s even more available than that!

Traditional shawarma is a super popular style of middle eastern cooking, with flavourful marinated chicken piled up on vertical rotating skewers, sliced off to order.

A key component to shawarma flavour is the garlic sauce that tends to *drown* the shawarma bowls we order. Add in the pickles and pickled turnips, and you have a delicious combo.

Garlic sauce is something that Hamiltonians are incredibly passionate about, and any time the subject comes up on the local reddit, you can be sure there will be a LOOOONG list of comments.

Oh, I love it here.

Chicken Shawarma Salad

Anyway, those shawarma bowls are not super reined in for the carbs, so I wanted to make a loaded salad that features those flavours, but in a more low carb format.

It differs a bit from a traditional shawarma recipe, both in execution (stove top vs spit roasted) and seasonings - I have to leave out the nightshades.

Rather than the garlic sauce, I made a garlic tahini dressing for this delicious salad, which rounds out the perfect combo of flavours and textures.

A bit of a warning though:

This healthy salad is not for the feint of heart; to say it’s “garlic forward” would be an understatement.

I like to think of it as “violently garlicky”, and I mean that in a good way. You will NOT be left wanting for flavour.

If you’re not a garlic fiend though? This is probably not the salad for you.

It’ll make your mouth water, sure... but maybe not in the right way, if garlic isn’t your thing!

Anyway, let’s get to it!

Ingredients

This hearty salad is a SUPER simple recipe, and you’ll definitely be able to find all the flavorful ingredients in almost any grocery store.

I tend to look at the salad ingredients as 4 groups - the base salad, the toppings, the lemon garlic tahini dressing, and the flavorful chicken recipe.

If you don’t already have pickled turnips on hand, I guess it’s more like 5 parts - I’ve got my recipe for pickled turnips at the end of this Ingredients section - it’s keto friendly!

Anyway, some notes for you:

Base Salad

I like to meal prep several days worth of salad base bowls on grocery day - some sort of fresh greens, along with some fairly neutral fresh vegetables - Usually shredded broccoli stems, carrot, green onions, cucumber, and radish.

1 batch makes 10 salads, so we’ve got a few days worth of base salads to adorn all kinds of different ways. (They tend to last 6-7 days in the fridge.

It’s a pretty slick way to get a lot of fresh veggies into our diet, and feels like SO much less work than making full salads individually.

See my Salad Meal Prep post for full details on how I do it.

Want to make this salad as a standalone thing?

You can use a base of salad greens, spring mix, baby spinach, peppery arugula, and/or romaine lettuce. I’d add some English cucumber and green onions in, for good measure.

Salad Toppings

Because the chicken and tahini garlic sauce are SO flavourful, I tend to go relatively simple with the other salad toppings on this on.

Generally speaking, I limit it to:

Pickled Turnips
Kalamata Olives
Red Onion
Pickles
Fresh Parsley

Other options include red pepper or cherry tomatoes (Which I’m avoiding, at the moment!). Feta cheese is popular on these kinds of salads, but I think it’s overkill in this case.

If you’re not watching your carbs - or not as strict as keto - you’ve got some additional options :

You can add a side of hummus or baba ganoush as different ways to balance the bold spicy flavors of the chicken.

For extra crunch, add some Roasted Chickpeas, and/or toasted pita chips.

Lemon Tahini Garlic Dressing

This simple garlic tahini dressing is the perfect compliment to the shawarma seasoning in the chicken, and comes together in just minutes.

You will need:

Tahini
1 Lemon (for both lemon zest and juice)
Garlic cloves
Olive oil (or Avocado oil)
Salt and Ground Black Pepper

If you’re not into tahini - or just happen to have them on hand - your favourite garlic yogurt sauce or Tzatziki Sauce are great alternatives, with this salad.

Shawarma Spiced Chicken

Starting out, I like to use boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe, as I prefer the texture and uniform-ness of it.

If you want even more juicy chicken, I recommend using boneless, skinless chicken thighs. 2-3 thighs per person should be good, depending on the size of the chicken thighs, and the appetites of those eating!

Aside from the chicken itself, there’s a bit of a laundry list of spices to season that tender chicken with:

Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Turmeric Powder
Dried Oregano
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cumin
Ground Cardamom
Ground Cloves
Salt
Smoked Paprika, optional
Crushed Chilies, optional

... as well as extra virgin olive oil and some lemon juice, to help carry those spices throughout the mass of chicken!

As a note - I have the smoked paprika and crushed red pepper flakes as optional, as I’ve been leaving them off of late.

I’ve been having issues with nightshades, and really... the recipe is still fantastic without them!

How to Make Pickled Turnips [Keto Friendly!]

2 pounds turnips
1 Small beet
3 Garlic cloves
2 ½ cups Water
⅓ cup Salt
2 Bay Leaves
⅔ cup white vinegar

Peel the turnips, cut into ½" thick slices, then ½" wide strips.

Peel the beet, cut into ½” thick slices.

Peel the garlic cloves, cut each garlic clove into thin slices.

Combine the turnips, beet, and garlic in a medium bowl.

In a medium pot, combine the water, salt, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, stirring until salt is fully dissolved.

Remove from heat, stir in the vinegar, and pour into the jars, placing 1 bay leaf in each jar.

How to Make Chicken Shawarma Salad

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is the pictorial walk through, with some more detailed information where necessary.

Shawarma Marinade

Trim chicken breasts, slice into thin slices - or bite-size pieces. Place into large bowl.

Mix together spices, add to bowl.

Using clean or gloved hands, mix well, rubbing spices into the chicken.

Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil, continue to mix until well distributed.

Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.

Tahini Garlic Dressing

Peel and crush the garlic, zest and juice the lemon.

Add the garlic, lemon zest, and lemon juice to a mini food processor, small bowl, or a stick blender vessel (as shown).

Blitz or whisk until well combined.

Measure the remaining ingredients into a mini food processor, blitz until thick, smooth, and well combined.

Season with some pepper and a pinch of salt, if needed.

Cover - or transfer to an airtight container - and chill until use, if you’re not using it right away.

Salad Assembly

Heat olive oil in a nonstick pan over medium heat.

Add chicken -any excess marinade and all - and cook over medium heat until chicken is fully cooked.

Remove from heat.

Arranged desired salad toppings over your base salad - or salad greens.

Note: I like to drain the pickles, olives, and pickled turnips on paper towel, to avoid colour bleed from the beets, and bringing too much brine into the salad

Top salad bowl with cooked Shawarma Chicken.

Serve immediately, with Tahini Garlic Dressing.

More Keto Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more low carb salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal? Look no further!

Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Chicken
Keto Taco Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad

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