Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma Wraps with Tahini Sauce are infused with the intense flavors of the Middle East, where shawarma is a popular everyday food. Authentic Shawarma is spit-roasted for hours, but this quick air fryer version captures those delicious shawarma flavors and can be on your table in under 30 minutes.
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Traditionally, Shawarma is made by marinating chicken, beef, or lamb in spices and lemon juice and roasting it on spits. Fluffy flatbread wraps the meat along with crunchy fresh vegetables, tahini sauce, and other condiments. This Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma Wrap captures the flavors of the dish in a quick and easy air fryer version.Â
For this chicken shawarma wrap, flavorful juicy chicken shawarma and crunchy, fresh veggies are wrapped in warm flatbread with a drizzle of a tasty lemon-sesame sauce made of tahini paste and lemon juice. Best of all, you can use an air fryer to whip up this recipe in no time at all!
Air fryer shawarma wraps are a fun way to mix up your meal prep routine and try something new. They deliver that delicious chicken shawarma taste in a quick, healthy, and nutritious package.
From muffin pans and racks that fit inside your basket to oil sprayers, tongs, skewers, racks, and more, these are the accessories we use the most with our air fryers.
Why You’ll Love These Air Fryer Shawarma Wraps
These Air Fryer Chicken Shwarma Wraps make a delicious and healthy, nutritious meal. And they’re so quick and easy to make, I’m positive they’ll earn a spot in your regular rotation. My family eats these at least once a month, and I’m willing to bet your family will clamor for them that often, too.
The chicken shawarma recipe is infused with heady middle eastern seasonings—garlic, cumin, paprika, cloves, cinnamon. The salad adds freshness and crunch. And the sublime tahini lemon sauce provides richness and even more garlick-y, lemon-y flavor.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the complete list of ingredients with quantities and detailed prep and cooking instructions, please see the recipe card that appears at the end of this post.
The list of ingredients for this chicken shawarma recipe is a little long, but it consists of mostly basic, easy-to-find ingredients. You can shorten the list by substituting a store-bought (or homemade) shawarma seasoning mixture for the cumin, paprika, cloves, turmeric, and cinnamon. Here’s what you need:
- Skinless, boneless chicken breasts—You can substitute boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Whichever you choose, thinly slice the meat so that the marinade can really penetrate it.
- Olive oil—An essential ingredient in any Middle Eastern recipe.
- Pita bread, naan bread, or other flatbread—Middle Eastern style flatbread or pita bread is ideal here, but Indian naan bread is a great stand-in.
- Garlic—Lots of garlic!
- Fresh lemon juice—Both the chicken marinade and the tahini lemon sauce benefit from a splash of citrus.
- Cumin—Ground cumin gives earthy flavor.
- Paprika—Adds color and an earthy sweetness.
- Ground cloves—For a bit of heat.
- Ground turmeric—Adds beautiful yellow color and a mustard flavor.
- Cinnamon—Along with cloves, gives the marinade a kick of heat
- Tahini paste—This middle eastern sesame paste is rich, creamy, and full of nutty flavor.
- Parsley–Chopped fresh parsley brightens the salad.
- Tomatoes—Tomatoes give the salad sweetness and a beautiful splash of color.
- Cucumber—I like to use small Persian cucumbers for this, but English cucumbers are fine too. If they are very seedy, you may want to remove the seeds before dicing.
- Red onion—You can substitute any sweet onion you like.
- White wine vinegar—If you don’t have white wine vinegar, feel free to substitute red wine vinegar. The only real difference will be in a hint of color in the latter.
How to Make Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma
For the complete list of ingredients with quantities and detailed prep and cooking instructions, please see the recipe card that appears at the end of this post.
- Air Fryer Shawarma Chicken Wraps are quick and easy to make. You can marinate the chicken overnight if you want, but if you cook it straight away, the whole meal can be ready in under 30 minutes. Here’s how:
- Combine the marinade ingredients and add the chicken. You can cook it right away, but for the best flavor, I recommend letting the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight (the longer the better).
- Make a tray with aluminum foil, folding up the sides to contain the juices from the marinated chicken. Put the tray in the air fryer basket and then put the chicken in the tray in a single layer, if possible.
- Cook chicken in the air fryer to cook it through. You want it to brown a bit and caramelize on the outside.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the tomato, cucumber, and onion salad and the lemon tahini sauce.
- Warm the naan either in the oven or in a toaster.
- Once the chicken is done, assemble the wraps by adding chicken, salad, and sauce to each.
- Serve immediately.
The Tahini Sauce
The simple Tahini Lemon Sauce is easy to make and uses just a few ingredients. But don’t be deceived by its simplicity—it is loaded with flavor and pulls the whole dish together. It’s creamy, rich, tart, and garlicky and it really makes the sandwich.
What to serve with them
These Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma Wraps are a meal in and of themselves. There’s flatbread or pita bread, fresh veggie salad, chicken, and tahini lemon sauce. To make it even better, serve chicken shawarma with other condiments like Harrissa Paste, Zhoug Sauce, and Tzatziki.
You can make a quick tzatziki or garlicky yogurt sauce with cucumbers by combining plain Greek yogurt with shredded cucumber, minced garlic, salt, and fresh dill or other herbs.
Tips for Success
- For the best flavor, marinate the chicken overnight. The longer you marinate it, the more flavor you’ll infuse into the meat. But if you’re in a rush, you can get lots of flavor with just 15 to 30 minutes of marinating time.
- If you like some heat in your shawarma wrap, add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the marinade and/or drizzle some Harissa Paste or other hot sauce in your wrap.
- You can make the tahini lemon sauce up to 5 days ahead of time, or keep leftovers in the refrigerator for that long.
- Store any leftover chicken in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Store the pita bread, salad, and sauce separately and assemble the shawarma wrap just before serving.
My favorite air fryers
There are numerous air fryers on the market these days that work great and come at affordable prices. Any of them will work with all your favorite air fryer vegetable recipes. Here are my favorites.
COSORI MAX XL AIR FRYER
This large basket-style air fryer from Cosori is super popular and it’s not hard to see why. It has a capacity of 5.8 quarts, so it is great for cooking medium-size batches of food. It has a nonstick basket, which makes cleanup easy. The price for this air fryer is great, too. It sells for around $120.
NINJA FOODI DIGITAL AIR FRY 13-IN-1 AIR FRYER COUNTERTOP OVEN
I love this air fryer oven! I love that it has a larger capacity than my basket air fryer, so I can often cook things in one batch instead of two. It also goes up to 450°F while most basket air fryers go up to 400°F. I also like the stainless-steel basket.
The ingenious low-profile, flip-up design of the Ninja Foodi air fryer oven also makes it easier for me to find room for in my tiny kitchen.
More air fryer chicken recipes you’ll love
If you love making chicken in your air fryer, try this other great air fryer chicken recipes: Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken, Air Fryer Sesame Chicken, Air Fryer Kung Pao Chicken, Air Fryer Buttermilk Fried Chicken, Air Fryer Fried Chicken Sandwich, Air Fryer Salt and Pepper Chicken, and Air Fryer BBQ Chicken Wings.
Air Fryer Chicken Shawarma Wraps
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 1½ pounds skinless boneless chicken breast (about 3 breasts), sliced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 cup diced cucumber
- 2 tablespoons minced red onion
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the tahini sauce
- ½ cup tahini paste
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ½ teaspoons parsley dried
For assembly
- 4 rounds of pita bread naan bread, or flatbread, heated in the oven or toaster
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the seasoning mix for the chicken: olive oil, lemon juice, minced garlic, cumin, paprika, ground cloves, turmeric, cinnamon, salt, and pepper and mix well. Add the chicken and toss to coat. You can proceed with the recipe and cook immediately, or let the chicken marinate for anywhere from 15 minutes to overnight (cover and refrigerate if marinating for more than 15 minutes.)
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F for 5 minutes (if you plan to marinate the chicken, wait until you are nearly ready to cook to do this step.)
- Line the air fryer with aluminum foil creating a tray with raised edges to contain the marinade. Place the chicken in the aluminum tray.
- Cook at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160°F.
- While the chicken is cooking, make the salad mix. In a small bowl, toss together the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, olive oil, wine vinegar, fresh parsley, and salt and pepper.
- In a separate small bowl, make the lemon tahini sauce. Combine the tahini paste, warm water, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, salt, and dried parsley. Mix until smooth and well combined.
- Once the chicken is done, assemble the wraps.
- Divide the chicken among the warm naan breads, top each with some of the salad, and drizzle the tahini sauce over the top. Fold up and serve immediately!
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