This Street-Food Classic Will Become an At-Home Favorite with This Simple Recipe

Every time I pass by a restaurant or street cart and see thick, juicy cuts of meat getting sliced from a vertical skewer, I can’t resist to place an order. Beef shawarma is one of those things that I love to eat, but never thought I could enjoy in my kitchen … until now. 

For the third episode of her Ramadan series, @mxriyum gave us her homemade beef shawarma recipe and ideas on how to plate it. It’s easier than I imagined, and this is a recipe that I can’t wait to try out. Here’s how she does it:

Thinly slice 7 pounds of beef sirloin tip and place in a bowl. Add cinnamon, salt, black pepper, hot sauce, sumac, shawarma spice, vinegar, and vegetable oil to make the marinade. Make sure the meat is completely covered with the marinade before sealing it with plastic wrap and leaving it in the refrigerator overnight to soak up all of the juice. 

You can cook the meat in a skillet or order a real-deal skewer stand online to do it just like the pros. Just make sure to cut the beef into strips if you decide to go the skillet route. If you use the skewer, however, you can place some fat between the layers and then top with half an onion.

Next, cover the meat with foil and bake at 550°F until it is cooked, usually between an hour and an hour and a half. Mariam plated her shawarma with hummus, yellow rice, salad, fries, and tahini sauce, but until she shares those recipes with us, you can pick up this roasted garlic hummus or give this herby tahini ranch recipe a try.

While this is a super-easy recipe that packs on the protein, there is one part I’m sure I’ll find extremely challenging: waiting for the skewer stand I ordered to arrive after watching the video.