Easy and delicious shawarma sauce two ways! This gives you the option of having a yogurt based sauce or a tahini based sauce, both of which go great with homemade shawarma (and a bunch of other things)
What is shawarma?
A very ubiquitous Middle Eastern street food. Shawarma is thinly sliced meat that’s cooked by roasting in a turning vertical rotisserie. It’s full of exotic spices, and therefore full of flavor.
It’s reminiscent of Greek gyros, or Turkish doners, down to the fact that it needs a really tasty (but simple) sauce to complete it.
I have a great homemade recipe for chicken shawarma that’s oven baked, easy and delicious! This is the perfect accompaniment to that.
What is shawarma sauce made of?
Shawarma is either chicken or meat. Usually chicken shawarma is served with a garlic sauce (toum), and meat shawarma is served with a tahini sauce.
Toum is a delicious emulsified spread made with garlic that’s whipped until fluffy and thick with vegetable oil. It’s really hard to make! I haven’t perfected it yet- I actually just tried making this once at home and it was a complete fail. Therefore, I have the perfect, easier and lighter hack.
How to make homemade shawarma sauce:
For the garlic sauce:
Combining yogurt with garlic gives a tangy creaminess with a hint of heat from the garlic.
I use a mix of plain yogurt and labneh to get a really nice sour edge, but if you can’t find labneh, the perfect substitution is using greek yogurt in place of the plain yogurt and labneh mix. A hint of white vinegar, salt to taste and a good squeeze of lemon juice completes this!
You can whisk the ingredients together vigorously or blend them briefly in a food processor just to get a nice uniform consistency.
For the tahini sauce:
This is as easy as mixing together tahini, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and just enough water to thin out as needed. It’s better to use room temperature water so it combines better. You can just whisk the ingredients together with a fork and that’s it!
What to serve shawarma sauce with?
Well, obviously, shawarma, like the recipe I’ve mentioned.
You can also serve this drizzled on roasted eggplant, salads, sweet potato fries, so many things really!
Shawarma Sauce
Ingredients
For the yogurt sauce:
- 1 small container plain yogurt 170g (8 oz)
- 2 tbsp labneh or, omit labneh and replace plain yogurt with Greek yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- squeeze lemon juice
- salt to taste
- pinch black pepper
For the tahini sauce:
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1/2-1 lemon or lime squeezed
- 2-3 tbsp room temperature water
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
Instructions
For the yogurt garlic sauce:
- Mix together the yogurt and labneh, or just greek yogurt, crushed garlic, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. You can whisk, or use a little blender. Refrigerate until ready to use.
For the tahini sauce:
- Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, water and salt. Add more water if you need to thin the sauce further. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
If you liked this recipe, you might like:
Did you make this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images! Don’t forget to pin for later!
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