It’s been a while since I last posted a salad recipe. The last one was in goes to look it up holy cow, January 2016. (Also, that salad recipe is great, but the pictures are so old and ugly—go look at them if you want a laugh.) The reason for the lack of salads is that even though I love them, salad recipes just don’t do that well on the site. They’re consistently some of my least popular recipes in terms of traffic. BUT I figured it was time to give salad another go because I’ve been making today’s salad a ton lately, and I wanted to share it with you. I’m obsessed with it. And once you try it, I think you will be too. It’s Shawarma Salad! This recipe is my Pinterest-famous (pinned nearly 200k times) Chicken Shawarma recipe turned into a salad, and friends, it is so, so good. If you’re looking for a lighter dinner that is super satisfying and easy to make, you’ve come to the right place.
How to Make Shawarma Salad
This salad starts with chicken thighs marinated in a mix of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and turmeric and then cooked on the stove. After the chicken is done, you cook some red onions in the drippings until they are soft and slightly sweet with caramelized edges. Serve the onions and chicken thighs on crispy romaine with tomatoes and cucumbers, and top with a quick and easy creamy yogurt dressing. The yogurt dressing is just one container of unsweetened yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and salt and pepper, with just enough milk added to make it a drizzling consistency. It’s a great light and tangy dressing that can be used on tons of different salads.
This recipe makes about four servings (though if you really wanted to stretch it, you could probably marinate up to six thighs at a time). It’s fabulous as leftovers, so make it at the beginning of the week and have a salad dinner for a couple of nights, or even better, pack it up for work and make all your coworkers extra jealous with your beautiful meal prepped salads.
Meal Prep Chicken Shawarma Salads
How cute are these all dressed up as meal prep salads? Wouldn’t it feel good knowing you had a couple of these in your fridge for lunches this week? To pack these meal prep shawarma salads, I recommend these 7×5-inch Pyrex containers. They’re sturdy, stackable, dishwasher-safe, and you can bake mini cakes in them when you finish your salad. Add a little airtight container for your dressing, and you’re all set. Salads can be eaten right out of the fridge or transfer your chicken to a plate to reheat before eating.
Shawarma Salad Recipe Notes
I like to use chicken thighs here because they’re easy to cook and come out tender and juicy every time, but if chicken breasts are all you have, they’ll work too. Use the method from my How to Cook Chicken Breasts for Salads and Sandwiches post for best results. For a slightly richer dressing, you can add a bit of (delicious) fat by stirring a heaping spoonful of mayonnaise into the yogurt along with the milk. Finally, if you’re looking for more simple salad recipes, try this Carne Asada Salad, Asian Chicken Salad, and BLT Salad.
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