This Lebanese shish tawook recipes is full of amazing flavors and is grilled to perfection. These Middle Eastern skewers are made with marinated chicken breasts and served either wrapped in pita bread or with other Lebanese condiments and dishes.

If you are looking for an easy grilling recipe, or for a different chicken recipe that kids love, look no further. This Lebanese shish tawook recipe is perfect! Don't let the name scare you, it's basically just marinated chicken breast pieces with some yummy spices.

Jump to:

• Origins
• 🍗 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🥗 Serving suggestions
• 💭 Top tip
• ❓ FAQ's
• 🍽 Equipment
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

If you are not familiar with Lebanese food, check out this article "What is Lebanese Food -The Ultimate Guide to Lebanese Cuisine".

Origins

Chicken tawook (also spelled shish taouk, chich taouk, and chich tawook), is a delicious Lebanese skewered chicken recipe that originated in the Ottoman empire. These chicken kebabs are eaten all over the Middle East and are delicious and quite easy to make at home!

Why is it called shish tawook? Shish means skewer and tawook means chicken, so it's literally chicken skewers or grilled chicken skewers.

🍗 Ingredients

The ingredients for Lebanese chicken kabobs are:

• boneless skinless chicken breasts
• yogurt
• lemon
• fresh garlic cloves
• tomato paste
• ground cinnamon
• paprika
• salt
• crushed red pepper
• oregano
• ginger

These shish taouk spices are pretty basic, so hopefully you have them on hand.

🔪 Instructions

How to make chicken shish tawook at home is actually quite easy. You just need to allow a little bit of time for the chicken to marinate. So let's start by cutting the boneless skinless chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. You don't want the pieces too small, so make sure they are big enough to fit on the skewer.

If you cut the chicken too small it can get dry and tough as you grill it.

Place the cut chicken pieces into a large bowl. Measure out the yogurt in a separate bowl and mix in all of the spices and lemon juice until combined.

Pour the yogurt and spice mixture over the chicken and stir it until it is all coated. Put plastic wrap over the bowl of marinating chicken and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

You can marinate the chicken for up to 8 hours if desired, but you should definitely allow for a minimum of 30 minutes for this Lebanese chicken marinade.

After the chicken has marinated, skewer the chicken pieces onto metal skewers (I prefer metal, but you can use wood if that's preferable). Preheat the grill to medium heat and place the chicken skewers on the grill, or you could use Kebab rack for easier grilling.

Turn the skewers every 3 minutes or so. The total grill time for Lebanese chicken skewers is about 10-12 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165 ℉. Make sure not to overcook them or they will get dry!

Serve this recipe for shish tawook while it's hot and juicy! Serving suggestions below.

🥗 Serving suggestions

When it comes to how to serve shish tawook or what to eat with it, there are many different options. My preferred way of eating this is by making a shish taouk wrap with pita bread and serving it with various Lebanese dipping sauces and spreads and lettuce. Middle Eastern chicken is almost always served with various topping options.

My absolute favorite topping for shish tawook is this recipe for Mint Yogurt Sauce. Other amazing sauces for chicken skewers are:

• Toum (Lebanese Garlic Sauce)
• Tahini Sauce
• Lebanese Hummus
• Sumac Onions
• Lebanese Baba Ganoush
• Labneh

💭 Top tip

• Make sure not to cut the chicken up too small! The pieces should be about 1 inch squares so that it does not dry out on the grill.
• Use whole milk yogurt for full flavor and to keep chicken juicy

❓ FAQ's

What is the difference between shish tawook and shawarma?

Shish tawook and shawarma have several differences, one being the cut of chicken used and the other being the spices used.

Shish tawook is generally made with chicken breast pieces and individually skewered on a grill. Chicken shawarma differs because it is made with thinly cut marinated thighs and/or breasts that are layered together on a large rotisserie and grilled that way. Chicken shawarma is cut off the the rotisserie as it cooks and is served in small or shaved pieces.

The spices for chicken tawook are quite different as well. Lebanese chicken tawook is not made with Lebanese 7 spices (Baharat) like chicken shawarma is. You can check out the recipe for chicken shawarma spice blend <--here.

When it comes to shish tawook vs shawarma, it all depends on what you want and how much time you want to spend on it. Chicken tawook is a quicker and less time consuming recipe than shawarma.

Can I bake chicken tawook instead of grilling it?

Authentic shish tawook is grilled and not baked and will lack flavor if it is baked instead of grilled. However, I won't fault you if for some reason you are unable to grill it. If you choose to bake it in the oven, I recommend using skewer rack in a large pan, so that it will baked evenly.

How do you make Lebanese shish tawook juicy?

The last thing you want is dry and chewy chicken skewers (yuck!). Here are some tips to make juicy chicken skewers! Use whole milk yogurt for the shish tawook marinade and let it marinate for minimum of 30 minutes.

The other tip is to grill the chicken on medium heat. You don't want to burn them up in a high heat inferno on your grill. Lower and slower is the way to go, although since they are cut up in pieces, it doesn't take that long.

You can also check out these other popular recipes:

• Parotta Recipe- Indian Flatbread
• Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Watermelon Cucumber Agua Fresca
• Instant Pot Braised Beef
• Marinated Mozzarella Balls
• Lebanese Tabouli Recipe (Tabbouleh Salad)

🍽 Equipment

One thing that is absolutely necessary in this recipe are metal skewers (or wood if you prefer). Another piece of equipment that is actually quite awesome, especially if you do skewers often, is kebab rack which is perfect for the grill or for use in the oven.

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📖 Recipe