Tender Beef Shawarma (Quick Stovetop Method)

This tender restaurant-style beef shawarma has the perfect mix of spices and comes together in 10 minutes over the stovetop! I’m sharing all my secrets to making the perfect tender shawarma right at home!

How Beef Shawarma is Traditionally Cooked

Shawarma is a classic middle eastern street food that dates back all the way to the Ottoman Empire, in the form of a doner kebab. In today’s world, classic middle eastern Shawarma comes from the Levantine, and involves layers of meat stacked on a slowly rotating vertical spit.

Shawarma can be made with beef, chicken and lamb. The way its cooked is what makes it delicious: as the vertical spit rotates slowly, it cooks the outside of the meat which gets shaved off. You get perfectly juicy meat with a lot of texture and browning on the outside.

Shawarma is also known for its flavourful warm mix of spices, and it’s typically enjoyed in a sandwich as one of the most popular street foods in the middle east! You can find it on the streets of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt.

Beef Shawarma Spices

The secret to making authentic shawarma is all in the spice mix! I prefer to make my own spice mix rather than using store bought. But if you don’t keep these specific spices at home, feel free to purchase a store-bought blend.

Here’s what’s in my favourite shawarma spice mix, for the quantity in this recipe:

• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon clove
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients you’ll need for Beef Shawarma

The main components of beef shawarma are:

• The beef. I use flank steak but more on what other types of cut to use below
• The spice blend, using warm middle eastern spices, along with lemon juice and garlic.
• The tahini sauce. This is a sauce made from tahini, garlic, lemon juice and salt and its traditionally drizzled on beef shawarma
• Vegetables. This is all down to personal preference but I love tomato, cucumber, onions and pickles.

Tips to Replicate Restaurant Style Beef Shawarma At Home

Now we all obviously don’t have a vertical rotating spit at home. So this recipe is my personal take on the best tasting homemade beef shawarma that mimics the beloved street food.

Here are my key tips to getting the best beef shawarma:

• Using the right spice blend. It’s important to use a mix of classic warming middle eastern spices to replicate that classic flavour

• Cutting the beef into thin strips that are just the right size. Ensuring that the beef is cut into strips maximizes the surface area that will be exposed to the marinade, as well as cuts down the cooking time.

• Marinating the meat for 2 hours. This goes without saying, but marinating the meat will amp up the flavour. For this beef shawarma recipe, since there is lemon in the marinade, don’t exceed more than 2 hours of marinating, since the lemon can start to break down the meat.

Best Cuts of Beef for Shawarma

You can certainly use expensive cuts of beef like a rib eye and get great juicy and tender shawarma. But these more economical cuts work perfectly and still result in tender shawarma:

• Flank Steak is a long and thin cut of beef which has excellent flavour and marinates really well. It’s perfect for cutting thin and flash frying, just like in a stir fry.

• Skirt Steak is also long and thin, similar to flank steak. It’s also great for marinating and cooking at for short periods of time at high temperatures.

• Sirloin tip is another economical cut of beef that works really well for this cooking method, especially when marinated for 2 hours.

TIP: Ensure that you always cut the beef against the grain, which means against the direction the muscle fibers run. This results in a more tender bite!

How to Make Beef Shawarma: Step by Step

Beef shawarma is a recipe that only takes 20 minutes to make. A super simple set of steps:

• Start by mixing together the spices along with the lemon juice and crushed garlic.

• Next, cut the beef into thin strips, ensuring that you cut against the grain. Also thinly slice the onions
• Mix together the beef, onions and the marinade really well

• Cover and marinate the beef shawarma for 2 hours in the fridge. There’s no need to marinate it overnight, 2 hours is plenty.
• Heat a cast iron skillet (or a non-stick skillet) to medium high

• Using the olive oil, sear the beef shawarma, ensuring that you do not crowd the pan and spread the beef out as much as you can. You can add the onions too.
• Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until you develop caramelization on the beef. Remove and allow it to rest for a few minutes.

How to Make a Beef Shawarma Sandwich

There are key components to include in a beef shawarma sandwich. This starts with the tahini sauce. It’s a classic sauce served drizzled over the beef shawarma, and it’s just not the same without it.

To make the tahini sauce, just combine 1 cup tahini, juice of 2-3 lemons per preference, 1 crushed garlic clove, and salt to taste. It’s so easy to whip up!

I love to also include the following vegetables in the beef shawarma sandwich:

• Pickles (the pink turnips or regular dill pickles)
• Diced tomatoes and cucumber
• Diced onions
• Parsley

To wrap the pita, you can use Lebanese pita breads that are generally thinner. Wrap the pita bread around and enjoy!

You can also use the thicker Greek style pitas to create a pita pocket and enjoy the shawarma inside.

What to serve with Beef Shawarma

The best sides for beef shawarma are salads, potatoes or rice! Personally, I love it with Batata Harra or a classic crispy potatoes.

I also often serve it with either fattoush salad or tabbouli, along with hummus or baba ghanoush as side dips. This makes for a delicious middle eastern spread!

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