Chicken shawarma wings are exactly what they sound like: crispy chicken wings with shawarma seasoning. They bake in the oven for about 45 minutes and only need three ingredients: wings, shawarma seasoning, and salt.
These baked chicken wings are just as crispy as fried chicken wings without dredging or any sort of coating. Yay!
Mediterranean Shawarma Wings
Chicken shawarma, characterized by a gigantic rotating skewer of layered marinated chicken, is one of my favorite ways to eat chicken. Also, I LOVE chicken wings. What happens when these two things collide? Mediterranean shawarma wings!
Ingredient Notes
- Chicken wings and drumettes: Some grocery stores (like in Abu Dhabi), don't separate the wing from the drumette in the chicken wing packs. If your wing comes fully attached, you will need to cut the wing at the joint.
- Chicken shawarma seasoning: I buy my chicken shawarma seasoning from the store, however, you can make your own shawarma seasoning at home pretty easily.
How To Make Shawarma Wings
Set the oven to convection 400℉ (205℃). If your oven doesn't have a convection fan, set the oven to 425℉ (220℃).
Wash and pat dry the chicken wings and drumettes.
Add the chicken shawarma seasoning and salt. Mix the chicken wings with your hands evenly coating all surfaces of the wings.
On a large baking sheet, add a layer of parchment paper. Add the chicken wings and drumettes with the fattiest side facing up. Don't overcrowd the baking sheet. Otherwise, the wings won't crisp up.
Place the baking sheet in the middle of the hot oven for 40 minutes, or until they are crispy. Do not turn the wings over throughout the baking process. Serve with a side of toum garlic sauce, butter roasted potatoes, or homemade french fries.
Tips and Tricks
Do not add fat or liquid to the wings. The trick for crispy baked wings is to cook the wings at the right temperature with only a dry rub. The drier the wings, the more crispy they get in the oven. The wings don't need added fat either because they already have a lot of fat from the wings' skin.
Cook butter roasted baby gold potatoes at the same time. The butter-roasted baby gold potatoes cook at the same temperature as the wings so that they can be cooked in the same oven. The cook time is different (at 25 minutes), so the baby gold potatoes can not share the same pan as the wings.
When I make this recipe, I get the wings in the oven, then work on the butter-roasted potatoes. Once the butter-roasted potatoes are in the oven, I work on the toum garlic dipping sauce. Everything from start to finish takes about 45 minutes. You can also find toom at the grocery store!
📋 Recipe
Chicken Shawarma Wings
Ingredients
- 4 pounds chicken wings about 25 to 30 wings
- 2 tablespoon dry shawarma seasoning
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400 ℉ (205 ℃) convection. See note 1.
- Wash and drain the chicken wings. Pat dry the chicken wings and drumettes. Add to a large bowl.
- Measure out the shawarma dry seasoning and salt to taste. Mix the shawarma seasoning and salt into the wings and drumettes using your hands.
- On a baking sheet, add a layer of parchment paper. Place the wings and drumettes onto the parchment paper with the fatty side facing upwards.
- Put the wings and drumettes in the middle of the oven for about 40 minutes or until the wings have reached the desired crispiness.
Notes
- If your oven doesn't have convection, heat to regular bake at 425 ℉ (220 ℃).
- The nutritional facts do not include the toum dipping sauce or roasted potatoes.
- Storage: I don't recommend reheating these wings because they will be soggy. I also don't recommend freezing these wings after cooking. This recipe is best to make the day it's eaten within 30 minutes to an hour of coming out of the oven.
- Variations: Experiment with your own variations.
- Chili flakes - Add some chili flakes for spice.
- Plain salt and pepper - If you would like bare wings, just salt and pepper them.
- 7 spice + garlic powder - If you don't have chicken shawarma seasoning, you can substitute 7 spice and garlic powder.
- Cajun seasoning
Nutrition
FAQs
No need to flip the chicken wings when baking them in the oven. Just make sure that the fattiest side is facing up.
It is better to bake wings uncovered so they can crispy up in the hot oven and have a texture similar to fried chicken wings.
Set the oven to convection heat at 400℉ (205℃) and bake for 40 minutes. Bake at 425℉ (220℃) if not using the convection bake and using just the regular bake function of your oven. Convection bake uses a fan to circulate the air within the oven, cooking the food faster.
If you are unsure if the wings are fully cooked, take a meat thermometer and measure the chicken wings just as they come out of the oven. The thermometer reading should be greater than 165℉ for safe consumption.
Jason says
Phenomenal alternative to frying wings. I’ll be baking wings from now on after seeing these can be made so many ways with dry seasonings.
Lily says
My favorite way to eat wings now is baking them! They are so much more flavorful