Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips
I hope you're ready for this, right after I finished cooking this I took my seat like the Queen that I am and asked my husband to present this to me. I have my reasons, it is my absolute pleasure to always present him with beautiful platters of food. Not only do I love and enjoy cooking but I've said it time and time again, it is my form of therapy.
I guess I just wanted to see how it feels to be in his place, I also wanted to get a good feel of what this would look like when presented at a dinner party to my guest's. This beautiful tower of meat was everything I had imagined and you may have heard the saying good things don't come easy, but this was beyond good and super easy.
It's also a show stopper, so a definite delight to present to your dinner party.
When I say you're in for a treat, you really are with this Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips, appealing to both the eyes and the heart, fulfilling and tasty, just perfect for a night in with family, friends and guests.
Looks can be deceiving with this dish! To get such perfection, you may think it needs hours of preparation and so many steps to follow, but in actual fact, it's honestly one of my easiest recipes. I love it because of how easy it is to prepare and put together!
A Beauty and a Beast
The trick to an exquisite Tavuk Döner Kebab
This Tavuk Döner Kebab is an absolute masterpiece! The concept of how it is put together and served is amazing and such a cool, new idea.
No matter what you do, there is absolutely no way of your chicken doner going into the oven and coming out thoroughly cooked right through to the center like a traditional doner, so, here's the trick... and my absolutely favourite tasty trick! Once your doner is out of the oven and cooked really well on the outside, slice through 2 or 3 layers of chicken, targeting those extra grilled, sizzly, crispy bits with that charcoal grilled crinkly crunchy texture... am I describing them right? I'm sure you know what I mean :)
Cut those pieces off, then put the doner back into the oven, this time at very high heat for a good 5 to 10 minutes, until it starts to sizzle again. Take it back out, cutting these pieces of and putting it back in the oven at full blast, again and again...
Keeping it fresh with Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips wraps
What do you end up with this trick? Not only will this make sure your chicken is thoroughly cooked, you also make sure you don't get soft chicken, and your family, friends and guests will be getting fresh-out-the-oven chicken doner every time, ready to make your shawarma wraps and eat them hot and crispy, there and then!
Picture this with me.. family and friends, all sitting round the dinner table and you bring out this Chicken Tavuk Doner beast, charcoal grilled in all the right places and just sizzling, ready to be eaten.
This is actually the first time I put this dish together and it turned out perfect, me and my husband loved it and were mesmerized with how it looked coming out of the oven, before we even got tasting!
An absolute masterpiece
Setting up your skewers
Like I said, looks can be deceiving when it comes to this Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips. It looks as though i've sat for hours in the kitchen trying to master how to arrange the chicken pieces together onto the skewers and get them to stand up straight, but it very surprisingly didn't!
In literally a few minutes, you end up with your standing tall Eiffel Towel Chicken Doner ready for the oven.
Start by soaking your skewers in water for about 30 minutes. I used full chicken thigh slices which were quite spread out when flat, so what you need to do is start with one piece and skewer from each end. Of course, the skewers will start to fall left, right, and center to begin with but once you start to skewer 3 or 4 pieces, it will start to hold upright.
Skewer all the chicken pieces up to the top and hold together the top of the skewers with a good chunk of kitchen foil, scrunched up, firmly in place, and there you have it!
Turn This Dish Into Your Very Own Dinner Party
The Tavuk Döner Kebab itself is a show stopper! A yummy and easy dish to make, all you have to do is marinate your chicken, set it up and pop it in the oven, so why not go all out with a few easy side dishes, ready for a top job dinner party?
I am actually thinking of inviting a few friends round soon and will be making these recipes alongside this Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips:
- An absolute favorite Loaded Hummus with Shawarma Ground Beef
- My cheesy spinach dip, Spanakopita Dip
- Turkish pastry, Spinach Basil Feta Borek
- Persian Aubergine and Dried yogurt dish, Kashke Bademjoon
- A taste of Turkey, Lahmacun
- Some Arabic Eggplant Dip, Mutabal
And of course a tray full of lots of fresh vegetables - cucumbers, carrots, celery, apples, broccoli, anything that can be used for the dip. A special tortilla chips mix would go perfect too, cut up tortilla chips ahead of time, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and pop in the oven (before your Chicken Tavuk Doner goes in) for 5 - 10 minutes.
An Absolute Show Stopper, the highlight of the night
Ingredients
- Boneless Chicken Thighs
- Lemon and Herb spice
- Paprika
- Cumin
- Onion Powder
- Garlic Powder
- Pul Biber (Aleppo Red Pepper)
- Black Pepper
- Salt
- Olive Oil
- Sweet Pepper Turkish Paste
- Yogurt
Step by Step
Start by marinating the chicken in the oil, yogurt and spices. It is best to leave your chicken marinated for a couple of hours, or even overnight if you can.
Skewer one chicken piece at a time from each end. Once 2 or 3 chicken pieces have been skewed, your skewers will hold upright.
Continue skewing all your chicken, all the way to the top of the skewers to create your doner masterpiece. Hold the top of the skewers together with a good chunky of kitchen foil.
Remove all the racks in your oven and leave only the lowest rack just so that the base of your doner doesn't touch the oven. Put your Chicken Tavuk Doner tower in the oven at 180 degree to cook.
Once its cooked well on the outside, start cutting through the layers of your doner removing the charcoal cooked pieces and put it back into the oven at full blast to continue cooking.
Serve and definitely enjoy! :)
Top Tips
With this Tavuk Döner Kebab and Chips Recipe, let me give you a few of my top tips, i'm sure they will go a long way!
First and most importantly, don't make my mistake and take into consideration the height of your oven before you start skewing the chicken. If you have a smaller oven with not much height, you can skewer more to the sides, so you end up with a fatter doner body, only shorter in height. This will require putting the doner back into the oven more times to thoroughly cook it, but it's well worth it!
Another top tip to do with prepping, there are many things you can do to save time and exaggerate the taste. If you know you will be using all your meat or chicken for this particular recipe, you can marinate it, flatten the meat in a plastic bag and pop in the freezer, ready for when you need. Take it out a day before to defrost and start skewing :)
A side of Chips
I personally used red potatoes with my Tavuk Döner Kebab because I think they fry really nicely. With chips, you can make as many as you want really so there's no limit on the number of potatoes but simply, peel them and chop them to any size you want.
I cut mine into 1cm x 1cm to get them almost chunky in size and soak the fries in cold water for a good 30 minutes. During these winter weathers, tap water is ok :)
Drain the chips and leave them to drip completely. Heat the oil until smoking hot and only when smoking, drop the potatoes in and that's how you get the superb, nice and crunchy, perfect side of Chips.
If you do make this recipe, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It's my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you are all making.
Click here to watch a step-by-step video guide for this recipe.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments, or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I'd love to hear from you :)
Recipes You Must Try
This Chicken Tavuk Doner with Chips dish is an absolute show stopper and the perfect dish for family and friends.
- 2 kg boneless chicken thighs
- 2 tsp lemon and herb spice
- 2 tsp paprika
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp pul biber (aleppo pepper)
- 2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp sweet pepper turkish paste
- 4 tbsp yogurt
Start by marinating the chicken in the oil, yogurt and spices. It is best to leave your chicken marinated for a couple of hours, or even overnight if you can.
Skewer one chicken piece at a time from each end. Once 2 or 3 chicken pieces have been skewed, your skewers will hold upright.
Continue skewing all your chicken, all the way to the top of the skewers to create your doner masterpiece. Hold the top of the skewers together with a good chunky of kitchen foil.
Remove all the racks in your oven and leave only the lowest rack just so that the base of your doner doesn’t touch the oven. Put your Chicken Tavuk Doner tower in the oven at 180 degree to cook.
Once its cooked well on the outside, start cutting through the layers of your doner removing the charcoal cooked pieces and put it back into the oven at full blast to continue cooking.
Serve and definitely enjoy!
I'm Nelly, the recipes I share here are inspired by the people, cultures and places beloved to me. Peanutswirls represents my love for food, cooking and hosting. I hope to share with you a taste of the Middle East influnced by my upbringing in the West.
I can't wait to see what we cook together.
