Meals

Chicken shawarma crispy rice salad

Name: Chicken shawarma crispy rice salad
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 6 thighs chicken thigh; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 1/2 tsp turmeric; 2 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp paprika; 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp black pepper; 2 cups cooked cooked white rice, day-old works best; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 cucumber cucumber, diced; 1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved; 1/2 small red onions, thinly sliced; 3 small reduced sodium dill pickles, chopped; a handful fresh mint, torn; a handful fresh parsley, chopped; 2/3 cup whole-milk greek yogurt; 2 tbsp tahini; juice of 1 lemon; 2 cloves garlic, grated; 1/4 tsp salt

Fifty million views can't all be wrong: turmeric-spiced chicken thighs over a crunchy salad of cucumber, tomato, herbs, and oven-crisped rice, pulled together with a lemon-tahini yogurt dressing. Mostly vegetables and lean protein — the crunch just makes you forget that.

Time: 55 min (25 prep + 30 cook)
Servings: 4
Per serving: 544 kcal
Protein: 37 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

Chicken

6 thighs chicken thigh600 g
1 tbsp olive oil14 g
1 1/2 tsp turmeric3 g
2 tsp ground cumin4 g
2 tsp paprika4 g
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander3 g
1 tsp salt5 g
1/2 tsp black pepper1 g

Crispy rice

2 cups cooked cooked white rice, day-old works best400 g
1 tbsp olive oil14 g

Salad

1 cucumber cucumber, diced200 g
1 1/2 cups grape tomatoes, halved200 g
1/2 small red onions, thinly sliced60 g
3 small reduced sodium dill pickles, chopped60 g
a handful fresh mint, torn10 g
a handful fresh parsley, chopped15 g

Dressing

2/3 cup whole-milk greek yogurt150 g
2 tbsp tahini30 g
juice of 1 lemon30 g
2 cloves garlic, grated6 g
1/4 tsp salt2 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Toss the chicken thighs with olive oil, turmeric, cumin, paprika, coriander, salt, and pepper. Roast at 220°C (425°F) for 25–30 minutes until browned, then rest and slice.
Spread the rice on a parchment-lined sheet, toss with olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bake alongside the chicken 20–25 minutes, stirring twice, until golden and crisp.
Whisk the dressing: yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and enough water to make it pourable.
Toss cucumber, tomatoes, onion, pickles, mint, and parsley in a big bowl. Top with sliced chicken and crispy rice, and drizzle the dressing generously over everything.

Why thighs and not breast?

Shawarma spice wants the extra fat for flavor, and thighs stay juicy at high heat. Breast works and scores higher — the swap panel shows the difference; both are legitimate.

Why this score

Protein27% of calories

66/100

Low energy density138 kcal per 100 g

61/100

Fiber8 g per 1000 kcal

21/100

Hyper-palatabilityno engineered pattern detected

−0%

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 2175 kcal goes into the pot, 1811 g of ingredients comes out as ~1580 g of food → 138kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

The numbers

	Per serving (395 g)	Per 100 g
Energy	544 kcal	138 kcal
Protein	37.2 g	9.4 g
Fat	26.5 g	6.7 g
Carbohydrate	40.5 g	10.3 g
…of which sugars	3.5 g	0.9 g
Fiber	4.4 g	1.1 g
Sodium	1047 mg	265 mg

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

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Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.