Your search for a delicious, restaurant-quality meal is now over! This Tender Middle Eastern Style Beef Shawarma will become the only star of your wildest food dreams.
Made of golden tortilla bread with lots of overnight deeply marinated Beef Shawarma, chopped tomatoes, some pickles, and tahini sauce, this beef shawarma will leave your guests impressed and asking for seconds. Ah! Don’t forget to add the onion sumac.
Making this authentic Beef Shawarma at home might seem rocket science, but it doesn’t have to be. To replicate the authentic texture and flavor, you simply need to pick your favorite juicy beef, follow my recipe, and witness the power of Middle Eastern charm.
Nothing Can Beat the Taste of This Beef Shawarma
A Plate or a Wrap?
Beef Shawarma, Shawerma, or Turkish doner is a popular Middle Eastern dish traditionally served as a tortilla bread wrap or shrak sandwich. It is usually enjoyed with fresh tomatoes, pickles, onions, and tahini sauce. Those extra adds-in take your meal to a whole different level.
However, you can still impress your loved ones with a colorful and well-decorated platter made up of beef shawarma slices, tomatoes, and cucumber pickles. Don’t forget to serve it with a bowl of sumac onion, French fries, or rice. Yummy!
Served on a plate or as a sandwich, this Beef Shawarma recipe is definitely a hit! Everyone on your table is going to be a big fan.
The Middle Eastern Delight
Tips for the Best Middle Eastern Beef Shawarma
It is best to marinate your meat overnight or early in the morning. Your Beef Shawarma will be ready in less than 30 minutes.
In general, the longer the Shawarma marinates, the better it tastes. But be careful not to over-marinate, or else the meat flavor might not be as good as it is supposed to be.
The secret key in this recipe is using the right kind of juicy meat in order to get a tender Beef Shawarma. I used beef meat in my recipe, but feel free to use lamb or any other mix.
Play a fair and square game with your loved ones’ heartstrings by serving both meat and chicken shawarma. To do so, refer to my Authentic Middle Eastern Chicken Shawarma recipe and enjoy.
I like to pour tahini yogurt sauce when making Beef Shawarma as mentioned in the recipe, but you can use all tahini instead. It is completely up to you.
Onion Sumac is a must in this recipe, don’t skip it.
Let the cooked beef rest for about 5 minutes before cutting it into thin slices.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Mayo works as a tenderizer, along with yogurt and lemon juice.
This is because your meat is not well coated with the marinade sauce.
You can absolutely marinate pre-sliced beef meat, then cook them according to the instructions.
You need to discard the sauce before cooking.
For best results, marinate the beef for at least 24 hours. If you’re in a rush, you can marinate for a minimum of two hours.
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Ingredients
Beef tenderloin/tri-tip/flap meat
To marinate the meat, you’ll need:
Plain yogurt
Tahini
Mayo
Shawarma spices of choice
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Sumac
Garlic paste
Salt
Black pepper
Seven spice
Aleppo pepper or paprika
Ginger
Olive oil
Lemon juice
To prepare the Tahini yogurt sauce, you’ll need:
Tahini
Yogurt
Salt
Lemon juice
Water
For the Sumac onions, you’ll need:
Onion
Sumac
Lemon juice
Salt
Steps to Prepare
To start, add the beef sections to a big bowl, then add the ingredients of the marinade sauce made of plain yogurt, tahini, mayo, shawarma spices of choice, garlic powder, onion powder, sumac, garlic paste, salt, black pepper, seven spice, Aleppo pepper or paprika, ginger, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Mix until well combined, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
Once the marinating process is done, discard the sauce and cook on high heat.
Now, let it rest for 5 minutes before chopping.
Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt tahini sauce. Whisk in tahini, yogurt, salt, and lemon juice. Add water for a thinner consistency, and your tahini sauce is ready.
To make the sumac onion, cut the onions into short wings then add salt, sumac, and lemon juice.
Finally, line up the tortilla bread or shrak if available, layer some chopped tomatoes, pickles, and sumac onion, then drizzle the tahini sauce.
Wrap tightly, press in a panini press until golden, and enjoy.
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Must-Try Recipes:
Restaurant Style Butter Chicken (cheat version)
Authentic Middle Eastern Chicken Shawarma
Traditional Palestinian Musakhan Recipe
If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate it and leave a comment below! I would love to hear about your experience. You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Tender Middle Eastern Style Beef Shawarma
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef tenderloin/ tri tip/flap meat
For marinade:
- ¼ cup plain yogurt
- 1½ tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons mayo
- 1 tablespoon shawerma spices of choice
- 1½ teaspoons garlic powder
- 1½ teaspoons onion powder
- 1 tablespoon sumac
- 1½ teaspoons garlic paste optional
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon 7 spice
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or paprika
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
For the tahini yogurt sauce:
- 1 cup tahini
- ½ cup yogurt
- Salt to taste
- lemon juice to taste
- Water to thin to desired consistency
Sumac onions
- 1 large red onion chopped into short wings
- 1-2 tablespoons sumac
- ½ lemon squeezed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a big bowl, add the beef sections then the ingredients of the marinade sauce: plain yogurt, tahini, mayo, shawarma spices of choice, garlic powder, onion powder, sumac, garlic paste, salt, black pepper, seven spice, Aleppo pepper or paprika, ginger, olive oil, and lemon juice.
- Mix until well combined, then cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to meld.
- Once the marinating process is done, discard the sauce and cook on high heat.
- Let it rest for 5 minutes before chopping.
- Meanwhile, prepare the yogurt tahini sauce. Whisk in tahini, yogurt, salt, and lemon juice. Add water for a thinner consistency and your tahini sauce is ready.
- To make the sumac onion, cut the onions into short wings, then add salt, sumac, and lemon juice.
- Line up the tortilla bread, or shrak if available, layer some chopped tomatoes, pickles, and sumac onion, then drizzle the tahini sauce.
- Wrap tightly, press in a panini press until golden, and enjoy.
Notes
- You can use all tahini instead of tahini and yogurt.
- Be careful not to over-marinate, the meat flavor might not be as good as it is supposed to be.
- Onion Sumac is a must in this recipe, don’t skip it.
- Let the cooked beef rest for about 5 minutes before cutting it into thin slices.
This is sooooo amazing! If you follow the recipe just make sure you get good tender beef. My husband loved it and he doesn’t even like beef shawarma
We had this one and the chicken one the other day. AH-MAY-ZING!!! I love love love the marinade, it makes the beef so tender. If i could rate it a 12/10, i would
Hello
I have a quick question. Marinating the beef for 42-72 hours would be fine? Probably make it more tender? Also when I was at the store today they didn’t have any tortilla bread? What would be a good substitute to grab when go back since I forgot to grab kebab skewers. Thank you for your time
hi, marinating for 48hrs is okay, I wouldn’t go longer. If you have shrak that works. lavash too- but its dry and breaks quickly. If you like pita, you can use that as well
Perfect! Thank you Fatima. I hope you have a good weekend and happy new year.
These where such an amazing hit! Everything was so juicy, tender and aromatic. I loved it. The neighbors loved it. Will be making again.
Absolutely amazing. Made both this one and the chicken.
Oh my god! I saw this recipe and I immediately told my mom to make it. She did and it was absolutely delicious. Mashallah your recipes are so goood. Your recipes never fail. Y’all when in doubt making food use her recipes trust me ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Sooo this is the best beef shawarma ever !!!! It rivals the best place I’ve ever had (Al-basha) it’s really tough but i think it’s even better. That being said, it’s seriously incredible, definitely make with the onions and tahini yogurt sauce or you’ll miss out… warning: we kept going back for more they are addicting !!!
How do you cook the meat? Is it grilled? Or cooked on the stove? Would love to try it! Thanks
Hi! stove top 🙂