Can I Use Chicken Breasts For The Oven-Cooked Chicken Shawarma?

Our answer

Nigella's Oven-Cooked Chicken Shawarma (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) marinates skinless, boneless chicken thighs in a spiced oil. The marinated thighs are roasted in a very hot oven until just cooked. We prefer chicken thighs for this dish as in our opinion they have more flavour than chicken breasts and they have a higher fat content, which reduces the risk of them becoming dry during cooking.

If you need to use chicken breasts then we would suggest halving the breasts horizontally so that you get 2 pieces, each about 1 - 1.5cm thick, from each breast. Marinate the chicken in the same way as for the thighs. When you roast the chicken, you really need to keep an eye on it so that you remove it from the oven when is is just cooked thorugh. We would suggest checking the chicken after 20 minutes of cooking - stick the tip of a sharp knife into the thickest part of the thickest chicken breast piece and see if the juices run clear. If there are any traces of pink then return the chicken to the oven and cook for a further 5 minutes before checking again and repeat as necessary until the breasts are just cooked though. If in doubt, cut one of the breast pieces in half to check if they are cooked through before serving.