Make Chicken Doner Kebabs at home! Tender, spiced, marinated chicken cooked until lightly charred, then sliced thinly and served in warm flatbreads with all the toppings. It’s a Summer dinner staple! You can make this in the oven or on the barbecue (I’ve got instructions for both).
Nicky’s recipe notes
My new favourite dinner for the warmer weather is this classic chicken doner. It’s a great excuse for Chris to light up the barbecue (it tastes great cooked in the oven too).
What really makes this dish is the chicken marinade. All those spices blend together and get cooked into a crust on the chicken that just explodes with flavour with every bite! More reasons to love it:
- It’s the perfect family meal – easy for everyone customise with their favourite toppings (my favourite is garlic sauce PLUS hot sauce, along with little chunks of cucumber, tomato and onion).
- A fun bit of showmanship – everyone oohs and ahhs over the slicing of the doner – watching those juicy shreds of chicken get sliced off is quite mesmerizing!
- Any leftover chicken makes THE BEST salad/sandwich/wrap the next day.
Serve with flatbreads (try my Homemade Flatbread) and a fresh Tomato and Onion Salad. The kids love a few cheeky chips in there too!
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients
Chicken Thighs – We’re using chicken thighs as they contain more fat (fat is flavour) and they’re a more forgiving cut of meat, meaning they still maintain their flavour and juiciness even with a longer cooking time.
Oil – Use a neutral oil like sunflower, vegetable, or avocado.
Seasonings – We’re using a blend of paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, ground coriander, and oregano.
How to make it:
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post***
- First, prepare the chicken by placing the thighs between two bits of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to flatten them all into equal thickness, before putting them into a bowl.
- Then, add the marinade ingredients to the bowl, mix together so the thighs are covered evenly, cover the bowl, and leave to marinate for up to 4 hours.
- There are two ways to cook the chicken doner, in the oven or on a BBQ.
- For the oven method, skewer the chicken thighs across three skewers and lay them on a baking dish as seen above. Then cook in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes, flipping the skewers over every 15 minutes.
- For the BBQ method, stick the chicken thigh skewers on a rotisserie attachment and place a drip tray below where the chicken is. Cook for 60-90 minutes, until fully cooked throughout.
- Slice up thinly and serve.
Pro Tip
Use a sharp knife to cut the chicken quite nice and thin so it piled up into a waiting flatbread, or served as part of a rice bowl.
I like to throw the flatbreads on the barbecue for a few minutes too, so they’re lovely and warm – like fresh bread.
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Pin It🍽️ What to serve it with
- You can serve it with a warm Homemade Flatbread or with Rice for a rice-bowl style dinner.
- With a Tomato and Onion Salad.
- Also with a drizzle of garlic sauce, Tzatziki, hot sauce or Sweet Chilli Sauce (or a mixture of multiple!)
🍲 More fantastic summer wraps/flatbreads
Frequently Asked Questions
A doner is usually cooked on a vertical spit, but we can use a horizontal rotisserie on an indirect heat for a similar result. Using a rotisserie allows the meat to cook evenly, while the fat is continuously distributed throughout – so it’s nice and juicy!
If you don’t have a rotisserie attachment, you can thread the meat across three skewers and place on the barbecue. You’ll need to turn the meat at least every 15 minutes, to ensure even cooking.
Bashing the meat until it’s an even thickness will give us a consistent cooking time, more tender meat and more surface area for the marinade to penetrate (meaning more flavour!).
In addition to the marinade, brush the chicken with BBQ sauce before placing in the oven then baste with more BBQ sauce half way through cooking for a sweet BBQ Chicken Doner.
For a spicy version with a little spice, Add 1 tsp of cayenne pepper and ½ tsp of chilli powder into the marinade.
Some recipes call for using Greek yoghurt in the marinade. I don’t think this is needed as we have the acidity in the tomato puree and lemon juice to help tenderise the chicken.
You can make the chicken ahead to marinate for up to four hours. Once cooked, it’s at its best (most juicy) eaten right away, but is also great for leftover served cold in a salad/sandwich/wrap.
Cool the cooked and sliced chicken, then cover and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
Use the leftovers cold, or you can spray/brush with a little oil and reheat in the air fryer (it will got a little crispier) or the microwave, until piping hot throughout.
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Chicken Doner Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) boneless chicken thigh fillets
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp tomato puree (tomato paste in USA)
- 1 tbsp neutral oil (I use avocado oil)
- 1 tsp paprika
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Instructions
Marinating the chicken
- Place a chicken thigh fillet on a piece of greaseproof paper on a chopping board, fold over the greaseproof paper and give it a gentle bash with a meat mallet or a rolling pin until it’s an even thickness. Repeat with all the chicken thigh fillets, then place in a large bowl.1 kg (2.2 lb) boneless chicken thigh fillets
- Add the rest of the ingredients and thoroughly mix the chicken with the marinade so that it completely coats all the chicken.4 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tbsp neutral oil, 1 tsp paprika, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander, 1 tsp dried oregano
- Cover and place in the fridge to marinade for at least 30 minutes up to 4 hours.
Cooking in the oven
- Preheat your oven to 180C/350F (fan).
- Skewer the marinated chicken thighs onto two or three metal skewers (all three skewers got through ALL of the meat – we don't want 3 individual skewers), stacking them on top of one another tightly to make a doner shape.
- Place the skewered chicken horizontally, on top of a deep baking tray so the air can get around the chicken.
- Place in the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, flipping the chicken over every 15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and you have some nice charred edges on the doner.
- Check the internal temperature of the chicken using a meat thermometer, you want to get to internal temperature of at least 74°C (165°F). For optimal tenderness and flavour, aim for 77-79°C (170-175°F).
- Remove from the oven and carefully hold the skewers vertically then slice the chicken so the little pieces and strips of chicken fall off the skewers back into the baking tray with any juices that have been captured.
Cooking on the BBQ
- Set-up your BBQ for indirect cooking and preheat until you get a stable 180°C/350F.
- Stack the chicken up on a rotisserie attachment (I highly recommend using a rotisserie attachment for this). You want to stack it nice and tight so the chicken doesn’t spin on the spit.
- Place a drip tray below where the chicken will be, then place the stacked rotisserie spit on the BBQ, close the lid and cook for 60-90 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and you have some nice charred edges on the doner.
- Check the internal temperature of the chicken using a meat thermometer, you want to get to internal temperature of at least 74°C (165°F). For optimal tenderness and flavour, aim for 77-79°C (170-175°F).
Notes
Chicken Thighs
We’re using chicken thighs as they contain more fat (fat is flavour) and they’re a more forgiving cut of meat, meaning they still maintain their flavour and juiciness even with a longer cooking time.Cooking on a BBQ
A doner is usually cooked on a vertical spit, but we can use a horizontal rotisserie on an indirect heat for a similar result. Using a rotisserie allows the meat to cook evenly, while the fat is continuously distributed throughout – so it’s nice and juicy!If you don’t have a rotisserie attachment, you can thread the meat across three skewers and place on the barbecue. You’ll need to turn the meat at least every 15 minutes, to ensure even cooking.
Why flatten the meat?
Bashing the meat until it’s an even thickness will give us a consistent cooking time, more tender meat and more surface area for the marinade to penetrate (meaning more flavour!).Variations
In addition to the marinade, brush the chicken with BBQ sauce before placing in the oven then baste with more BBQ sauce half way through cooking for a sweet BBQ Chicken Doner.For a spicy version with a little spice, Add 1 tsp of cayenne pepper and ½ tsp of chilli powder into the marinade.
What no yoghurt??
Some recipes call for using Greek yoghurt in the marinade. I don’t think this is needed as we have the acidity in the tomato puree and lemon juice to help tenderise the chicken. Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipes serves 4)Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sound lovely, definitely give them ago.
I love Donner Kebabs and you keep coming up with amazing recipes Thanks so much David