Chicken Shawarma Nachos
Crisp pita chips topped with shawarma-spiced ground chicken, crumbled feta and diced red onion, then drizzled with lemony tahini sauce.
- Original yieldYield
- 4 servings4 servings
- PrepPrep time
- CookCook time
- TotalTotal time
Published Updated
Original recipe: 4 servings
The story behind the recipe
Spiced ground chicken is piled over pita chips, with a lemon-tahini drizzle over and between them. Crumbled feta adds salty pockets, with raw red onion and cilantro scattered on top. It's a sharing dinner that needs sturdy bread and people ready to eat it.
Borrowing the seasoning of shawarma
Shawarma is meat roasted on a turning spit and shaved into thin pieces. In her home chicken shawarma recipe, Maureen Abood describes that preparation and a spice mixture including cumin, coriander, turmeric and garlic. Here those kinds of warm spices season ground chicken in a skillet, a quick route to a topping you can scatter across chips.
Cumin gives the blend an earthy warmth, coriander a lighter citrus note, and cinnamon a small sweet-smelling accent without making the chicken sugary. Commercial blends choose different proportions, so the label is more informative than the word “shawarma” alone. The homemade option in the notes gives you a simple alternative from individual spices.
Ground chicken spreads the seasoning across many small pieces. It also makes a practical nacho topping: you can pick up a chip without dragging a whole strip of chicken off its neighbor. The skillet browns and cooks the meat before the tray goes into the oven; the short bake brings the assembled dish together.
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Tahini, without the heavy spoonful
Tahini is ground sesame paste. Straight from the jar it's too concentrated and thick to distribute lightly over a whole tray, so lemon and water turn it into a dressing. The first splash can make the paste tighten. Keep whisking through that stage until it becomes smooth and pourable, as the method describes.
The lemon matters as much as the consistency. It cuts through the rich sesame and gives the chicken a sharp finish. Feta contributes plenty of salt already; piling on more cheese would obscure some of that balance and weigh down the chips.
Choose pita chips that can carry a spoonful of topping without immediately breaking. Soft pita would make a different meal, and very thin crisps don't have much tolerance for warm chicken and sauce. Even sturdy chips soften as they sit, so this is a tray to finish when everyone is at the table.
Scatter the onion widely. A little raw bite is welcome alongside the spiced meat; a large mound on one chip is less appealing. The same goes for the drizzle: narrow ribbons leave plenty of crisp bread to pick up.
Make it your wayOriginal: 4 servings
Original recipe: 4 servings
Ingredients
For 4 servings. Quantities are shown as written.
Source measurement convention: Metric. Explicit unit definitions take precedence; unconfirmed measures must be checked before conversion.
Original quantities for 4 servings.
- Ground chicken450 g
- Olive oil15 mlAuthor measures: 1 metric tbsp (1 metric tbsp = 15 ml).
- Shawarma spice blend (ground cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon)15 gAuthor measures: 1 metric tbsp (1 metric tbsp = 15 ml).
- Kosher salt3 gAuthor measures: 1/2 metric tsp (1 metric tsp = 5 ml).
- Thick, sturdy pita chips200 g
- Crumbled feta cheese75 g
- Red onion, finely diced50 g
- Pure sesame tahini paste60 ml
- Freshly squeezed lemon juice30 ml
- Warm water (to thin sauce)30 ml
- Fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (for garnish)10 g
Measurement notes
Measurement notes
Original ingredients
- 450 g ground chicken
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
- 15 g (1 tbsp) shawarma spice blend (ground cumin, coriander, paprika, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon)
- 3 g (1/2 tsp) kosher salt
- 200 g thick, sturdy pita chips
- 75 g crumbled feta cheese
- 50 g red onion, finely diced
- 60 ml pure sesame tahini paste
- 30 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 30 ml warm water (to thin sauce)
- 10 g fresh cilantro leaves, chopped (for garnish)
Equipment
12-inch non-stick or cast-iron skillet
Rimmed baking sheet
Instant-read meat thermometer- Small whisk
Instructions
Heat the oven and start the chicken
Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F). Set a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Add the ground chicken, breaking it up with a wooden spoon.
Season and cook the chicken
Season the chicken with the shawarma spice blend and kosher salt. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the chicken is browned and cooked through. Verify with an instant-read meat thermometer that the internal temperature reaches at least 74°C (165°F). Remove from heat.
Whisk the tahini sauce
In a small bowl, prepare the tahini sauce: whisk together the pure sesame tahini paste, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and warm water. The mixture will initially seize and thicken, then turn pale, smooth, and pourable. Adjust with an extra splash of water if needed.
Layer the chips, chicken and feta
Spread the thick pita chips in an even layer across a large rimmed baking sheet. Spoon the cooked shawarma chicken evenly over the chips and scatter the crumbled feta cheese across the top.
Bake the nachos
Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 5 minutes, just until the pita chips are toasted and the cheese is warmed through.
Add the sauce and fresh toppings
Remove from the oven. Drizzle the lemon tahini sauce generously over the nachos, scatter with the finely diced red onion and chopped fresh cilantro, and serve immediately.
Estimated calories 570 kcal
Nutrition portion: 1/4 of recipe · Original yield: 4 servings
Source & assumptions
Ingredient-based estimate using CoFID 2021, USDA SR Legacy (2018), representative labels for Bart Shawarma Spice Blend. About 570 kcal per nutrition portion (1/4 of the recipe). Uses representative raw ground chicken, pita chips, tahini and a commercial shawarma spice blend. The spice blend is an energy reference; the recipe’s listed spice mixture remains unchanged. Actual ingredients and preparation affect the estimate.
Recipe notes
Original recipe notes
These notes describe the original recipe. Quantities mentioned here do not change when you adjust servings.
Pita chip selection: Use thick, kettle-cooked style pita chips rather than thin deli crisps, which can turn soggy under warm meat.
Shawarma spice blend: Choose a premixed blend with cumin, coriander, garlic and turmeric. As an alternative to the 15 g premixed blend, combine 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp turmeric, and 1/8 tsp cinnamon. Use this whole homemade mixture to season the chicken. Its flavor and strength will differ from a premixed blend.
Variations: Add diced Persian cucumbers, pickled turnips, or kalamata olives alongside the red onions for extra crunch and tang.
Read the scaling guide. Times, temperatures and equipment need their own consideration. Open the recipe tool to review and correct individual amounts.
Recipe details
- Cuisine
- Other / International
- Browse category
- Snacks & Dips
- More details
- chicken shawarma nachospita chips