Most Delicious Homemade Shawarma Seasoning
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Make a big batch of homemade shawarma seasoning and use it to season all sorts of stuff like chicken, beef, and roasted chickpeas! It tastes just like the store bought shawarma seasoning but way better!
Shawarma seasoning that will make your heart sing!
This one has been a long time coming. Not only are the two of us big shawarma fans, we’re also picky shawarma eaters. That means just any old thing won’t do. It has to be the best. So it took some tinkering on my part when I set out to make the best homemade shawarma seasoning. And friends, it’s here! This is seriously amazing stuff.
What I love most about homemade seasonings is that you’re in the drivers seat, you have full control. And that control comes into play most when it comes to the amount of sodium in your seasonings. Stating the obvious here but store-bought seasonings are loaded with salt and/or sugar. But not our homemade version.
I’ve modeled this shawarma seasoning off of one that we absolutely love and I have to say, it’s pretty close to perfect!
Homemade shawarma seasoning in large batches isn’t difficult to make. You just grab fresh spices, combine them in a bowl and that’s it. With this recipe you’ll make enough seasoning for 21-23 lbs of meat. So it’ll certainly last you a while if you make the entire batch. Which, we go through easily in about 6 months. Have I mentioned we love shawrmas, because now would probably be a good time to do so.
Sometimes i’ll make a batch and split it with my mom and sis. I’ve mentioned this before but the little sister lives away from home and isn’t big on cooking. She’s always looking for easy things to meal prep so i’ll pass along homemade seasonings like this so she can meal prep stuff for the week. This shawarma seasoning is perfect to marinate chicken with. Just grill it up outdoors or on a grill pan and serve it with a big shirazi or greek salad and voila! Lunch in a flash.
I know it may seem like a lot of individual spices but if you’re passionate about your shawarmas, this is definitely a must try!
One last thing – when you want to prep the shawarma meat, combine 1 tablespoon of this seasoning with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and a little salt and let the chicken marinade for 10-20 minutes. For beef shawarmas like this bowl, let marinate for 1 hour or up to 24 hours. The flavors just really absorb right into the steak and it’s melt-in-your-mouth good.
Most Delicious Homemade Shawarma Seasoning
Make a big batch of homemade shawarma seasoning and use it to season all sorts of stuff like chicken, beef, and roasted chickpeas! It tastes just like the store bought shawarma seasoning but way better!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup ground all spice
- 1/4 cup garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons ground cloves
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons ground cardamom
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon salt
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or ziplock bag. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
- To marinate the shawarma meat: you'll need 2 tablespoons olive oil + 1 tablespoon white vinegar + 1/2 teaspoon salt. Allow chicken to marinate for 10-20 minutes and 1 hour to 24 hours for beef. Here's a recipe for my beef shawarma bowls we love to make with this seasoning. And here's one for chicken shawarma wraps.
Notes
- This makes enough to season about 21 pounds of meat. Use about 1 tablespoon of seasoning per pound of chicken or beef. The batch can even be made larger by simply doubling or tripling the recipe. You can also halve the recipe for a smaller batch.
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27 Comments on “Most Delicious Homemade Shawarma Seasoning”
Thank you. I mage it and it was great.
Any chance you could make a recipe for a smaller amount? It sounds amazing!
I’m excited to try this recipe! How strong is the clove flavor? My husband isn’t the hugest fan of it and I normally leave it out of recipes (but I love the complexity it adds!).
I didn’t think it was too strong but we like clove so that could be why! You’re welcome to cut back on the ground cloves by half or even less (or just leave it out) if you feel he wouldn’t like it!
Just came here to say that this will be my third time in three weeks making chicken shawarma with this incredible spice recipe! It’s absolutely delicious, and I’ve taken to making big batches of chicken with it so that I have leftovers for a few days.
Simply wonderful, thank you so much for the shawarma goodness!
How would this work to marinate a beef tritip roast?
I think it would work well! I’d marinate it for at least 4 hours and up to 12.
Thanks! for the lovely authentic Shawarma spice recipe which I’ve been trying to make. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out the way that it tasted when you get it from the food stall outside. I followed your recipe and made the Shawarma last night. It was delicious!! Instead of vinegar I added lemon juice and a little bit more chili powder to make it spicer. Hmmm!! Yummy!
Thinking of using yogurt the next time to marinate the meat and a lot more olive oil.
thanks for the recipe, loved th e flavour, most shawarma recipes add cumin and i dont like cumin ,also i make a chicken and herb rice with tumeric added could i add a half tsp of the shawarma spice to it ?
Glad you like the shawarma seasoning, Donna! You can certainly add some of the shawarma seasoning to your herb rice, which by the way, sounds delish! 🙂
This sounds like a very delicious spice blend, aromatic and full of perfume, and probably just the one I like. So why have I got into my head, that everything middle eastern needs a nice pinch of cumin.
Hi , I am just wondering what’s best to use for ground cardamom? Green or the black.one? ??? coz I recently called an indian store and asked if they have ground cardamom and asked me what do I prefer? Black or green. I was like , what? So what do you think should I buy? Green or black? ?? thanks and I really love to try your recipe.
You’ll need the green kind for this recipe!
I tried this today and I’m very pleased with the results, many thanks for the recipe.
I’m curious why you add salt when marinating it as well as putting it in the spice mix. Any reason to not just add another 3 1/2 tablespoons of salt to the spice mix?
Hey there! You can up the salt in your seasoning mix if you’d like, it shouldn’t be a problem. I prefer to add just a hint to the seasoning mix as it allows me more control when I’m using the seasoning in a recipe that may have other sources of sodium.
Just recently discovered your blog. This shawarma seasoning mix was absolutely delicious. I used it with chicken and served with pita. My entire family, even my very picky 4 year old grandchildren, loved this. Hooray! Finally got them to eat something with a little seasoning. The allspice gives this a wonderfully warm flavor that my grandchildren really liked. I have used a variety of seasoning mixes (harissa, baharat, blackened spice mix, etc) but they liked this the best. Thanks so much for sharing. This is a keeper. Next time will try with beef.
Would this be a good seasoning for burger patties ?
It sure would!
I made your Shawarma seasoning and marinated a chicken breast as you suggested and it was perfect! I substituted the chili pepper for half a tbs of cayenne pepper and it worked to perfection. Thank you very much for sharing your recipe, you have other great recipes that I will be trying but this one is fantastic.
Hi, is the chili powder the recipe calls for the same chili powder we use in Mexican cooking? Or does it refer to a different type of chili? Thank you!
Hi Nadia, any mild chili powder will work for this recipe. Generally, shawarma seasoning isn’t very spicy so a mild Mexican chili powder would work just fine. If you prefer spicier foods, feel free to add a spicier type of chili powder or even cayenne pepper! Hope you enjoy the seasoning! 🙂
Curious… no rosemary in the recipe… Is it unnecessary?
We just finished our shawarma seasoning bag straight from Isreal (in law went on a trip, I’m not that fortunate lol) & the bag had dried rosemary bits in it. It was AMAZING. I’m looking for a recipe & found yours! Would love your thoughts on whether it’s needed… luckily, we have plenty rosemary plants. Cant wait to try this out!
Hi Sarah! I think there’s no right or wrong answer with the rosemary. Each middle eastern country has their own take on shawarma seasoning and with each country, I’m sure you’ll find a little something added to the mix. My local grocery store that makes shawarma seasoning in-house doesn’t use it in their blend (I modeled my homemade version after theirs) but you can certainly add in some if you’d like! Or you can make the entire batch, divide out half and add rosemary to half and see which batch you prefer 🙂
How do I make the All spice? What specific type of all spice is thus?
In this case, allspice is a single spice (or ingredient) sometimes also referred to as Jamaican Pepper. It’s not a combination of spices like garam masala. Here’s a link to the product if you’re having trouble finding it in your area.
How important is the cardamon? Just wondering in case I can’t find it.
Cardamom adds that perfect flavor profile to shawarma seasoning, you can omit it if you’d like but I do think you’d miss out on some of that ‘authentic’ flavor. It’s easily available on Amazon if you’d like to order it online 🙂