Shawarma Spice: What Goes Into It and How Two Recipes Compare

The word shawarma traces back to the Ottoman çevirme kebabı, “turned kebabs,” roasted on a spit. Shawarma spice is the ready-made blend for seasoning that meat, and it doubles as an all-purpose rub for chicken, beef, lamb and vegetables. There’s no fixed recipe. The two named versions here share a warm core of cumin, coriander, allspice, cloves and cinnamon, but one leads with allspice and adds cayenne while the other adds a little sumac for a sour note.

At a glance

Two named versions side by side

The two recipes use almost the same spices in very different proportions. Whelan’s leads with allspice and uses cayenne for heat. Ibrahim’s gives equal weight to cumin, coriander, paprika, ginger, cloves and black pepper, with a little sumac. She describes the result as rich and smoky with slightly tangy notes.¹ Neither one is “the” shawarma spice.

What each spice does

• Allspice and cloves carry the warm, sweet-pungent note. Allspice oil is 50 to 80% eugenol.³
• Cumin brings earthy depth. Its smell comes mostly from cuminaldehyde, 20 to 72% of the oil depending on the study.⁴
• Coriander, cinnamon and cardamom round out the warmth.
• Paprika and turmeric add color, and cayenne adds heat.
• Sumac adds a sour note. Gernot Katzer notes that Turkish döner is sometimes flavored with sumac powder, and describes sumac as tart and sour.⁵

Where shawarma comes from

People have roasted meat on spits since ancient times, but centuries ago cooks in the Ottoman Empire worked out a different, more specialized technique, according to a 2026 CNN report. The report cites the researcher Işın, who found 15th-century texts describing spit-roasted meats as çevirme kebabı, “turned kebabs.” The word çevirme later made its way into Arabic and English as shawarma. Ottoman-style spit-roasted meat spread across the Middle East and Europe, and the Greek gyro also takes its name from the verb “to turn.”⁶

The same report traces tacos al pastor to immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, many from the region that became Lebanon, who brought shawarma to Mexico. In Puebla, which has a large Lebanese community, restaurants served tacos árabes in the 1930s. Pilcher, quoted in the report, calls tacos al pastor as we know them today a product of the 1960s, with a Mexican marinade of pineapple, achiote and chiles.⁶

You’ll often read that the vertical spit was invented in the city of Bursa in the 17th century. The report we checked doesn’t mention Bursa, and we found no source for that date.

How to use it

• As a rub. Rub it into chicken, beef or lamb before roasting or grilling. Ibrahim suggests 1 tablespoon per 2 pounds of meat.¹
• In a marinade. Try stirring it into yogurt or oil with lemon and garlic for chicken.
• On vegetables. Both recipe writers suggest it for potatoes and other vegetables.
• In soups and stews. Ibrahim uses it there too.

Leite’s Culinaria suggests storing the blend airtight somewhere cool and dry for up to 6 months, and starting with spices bought within the last three months.² Neither recipe has salt, so season the meat separately.

Health

We found no source backing claims that shawarma spice fights cancer or food poisoning. For one of its ingredients, NCCIH says research doesn’t clearly support using cinnamon for any health condition.⁷

Related

• Gyro spices and Greek seasoning
• Baharat, za’atar and ras el hanout
• Spices for lamb
• Sumac and sumac substitutes
• Garam masala vs allspice