Vegan Shawarma

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This easy vegan shawarma wrap is stuffed with crispy savory tofu, fresh veggies, and a super creamy vegan yogurt sauce. Everything is tightly tucked into a soft and pliable whole wheat pita bread warmed to perfection. The perfect recipe to make for an easy lunch, or for a busy weeknight dinner!

Shawarma is a popular Middle Eastern dish that is typically made from meat (usually chicken, lamb or beef). It’s often seasoned with a blend of warm spices, slow-roasted until it’s tender, and then served in a pita wrap with fresh toppings like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and a yogurt or tahini sauce.

I love all of the spices used in a traditional shawarma, but I wanted to create a healthier, vegan version that had all of the texture and flavor of the original recipe, but is totally meatless and plant based!

This delicious and satisfying vegan shawarma with tofu tastes just like a traditional shawarma wrap, but has has a plant based swap instead of the meat!

The secret? It’s marinated crispy tofu! Even if you are not a huge fan of tofu or don’t know how to cook it, you are going to love it here. It’s meaty, filling and totally satisfying.

The best thing about this veggie shawarma recipe? It’s ready in less than an hour and is super customizable, which means it has something for everyone. This Middle Eastern dish is a great recipe for the whole family and is pretty kid friendly too. Even meat eaters will love it!

👩🏽‍🍳 Why This Recipe Works

• Delicious flavor profile
• Easy to customize
• Family friendly
• Packed with rich shawarma spices
• Vegan and can easily be made gluten free
• Loaded with fresh vegetables
• Healthy and satisfying
• Best vegan shawarma ever!

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🥘 Ingredients

This veg shawarma recipe requires just a handful of simple ingredients, plus some flavorful warm spices, easily found at any grocery store! Here’s what you need:

• Extra Firm Tofu: We used extra firm tofu because of it’s meaty texture, which gets even more dense and meat-like when you press it! Don’t use soft tofu or silken tofu for this Middle Eastern tofu shawarma, it will fall apart and won’t crisp up properly in the oven.
• Tofu Marinade Ingredients: This vegan shawarma spice blend is the most important part of this vegan shawarma kebab recipe! While you can buy a pre-made shawarma spice mix at the store, I like making it from scratch at home to get the exact right mixture of spices. For this marinade, you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, and these aromatic spices: ground coriander, ground cumin, paprika, cardamom powder, kosher salt, crushed red pepper flakes, lemon juice and garlic cloves. For more spice, add black pepper and/or hot sauce.
• Vegan Shawarma Sauce Ingredients: Essentially, what we’re making here is a vegan tzatziki sauce without the cucumber (that’s because we’re using cucumber as one of the toppings!). You’ll need any plant based, unsweetened yogurt (I used coconut yogurt), lemon juice, garlic, ground cumin and salt.
• Whole Wheat Pita Pockets: Warm pita is the base of this veggie shawarma roll, but any flat bread or tortilla will work. Try naan bread, vegan flatbread, almond flour tortillas, or a whole wheat or sprouted wheat tortilla. Need to make gluten free shawarma wraps? Just use a gluten free tortilla or flatbread!
• Wrap Toppings: You’ll need a combination of crunchy veggies. I used Lebanese or English cucumber, tomato, hummus, and fresh mint (and you can add some red onion, red bell pepper, mixed greens, baby spinach or fresh lettuce too if you like! Fresh dill can also be used instead of mint if preferred.)

🔪 Instructions

This tofu shawarma recipe is actually super easy to make! Here’s how to make vegetable shawarma with tofu:

Prep Tofu And Spice Mixture: Press the tofu for 30 minutes between kitchen paper towel to remove excess water. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200 C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Next, add the tofu marinade ingredients to a mixing bowl, mix well.

Dice the tofu into 1-inch cubes.

Marinate Tofu: Add tofu to the shawarma seasoning in the large bowl. Toss to coat and let the tofu sit in the shawarma marinade for at least 15 minutes.

Bake Tofu: Spread the marinated tofu in an even layer, without touching, on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until lightly golden brown and crispy on the edges.

When the tofu is done it will look like this:

Make Meatless Shawarma Sauce: While tofu is cooking prepare the vegan tzatziki yogurt dressing by adding all the dressing ingredients to a mixing bowl, and mixing until smooth. Set aside.

Serve Plant Based Shawarma: Warm the fluffy pita wraps and evenly divide the hummus, diced tomatoes, sliced cucumber and cooked tofu between the 6 wraps. Drizzle each veggie shawarma wrap with yogurt dressing and fresh mint leaves and enjoy!

💭 Expert Tips

• Marinate the tofu for a minimum of 15 minutes. The longer you’re able to marinate the tofu, the more flavorful it will be!
• Use extra firm tofu, and press the tofu prior to marinating. Do not skip this step! This helps eliminate the access water in the tofu and produces a firmer texture. It also results in crispier cooked tofu pieces. Press the tofu to remove excess water using a tofu press or by placing the tofu in between kitchen paper towel and placing something heavy on top. 
• Do not overcook the tofu as this will make it too dry.
• Make sure to use whole wheat or sprouted wheat wraps! You can use whole wheat pita, whole wheat naan, or even a sprouted wheat tortilla for the healthiest option. You can even serve this in a bowl without the wrap! Warm the bread in the oven prior to serving to help make the bread more pliable.
• You can use store bought or homemade hummus. I used my hummus without garlic recipe for this vegan shawarma kebab wrap!

📖 Variations

• Use Other Vegan Meat Alternatives: Try soy curls (which will feel more like a vegan chicken shawarma), vegan chicken, vegan steak, tempeh, or seitan for different plant based “meaty kebabs”. You can even use marinated jackfruit as a filling for these vegetarian shawarma pitas! For more added protein and texture, toss in some crispy chickpeas or canned garbanzo beans into the wrap along with the vegan meat you choose!
• Vegan Shawarma Bowl: It’s so easy to turn this wrap into a bowl! Just omit the pita (or whatever you were using for a wrap), and add the crispy tofu + wrap toppings into a bowl. Drizzle with the vegan yogurt sauce and hummus or tahini!
• Change The Sauce Or Toppings: Try a creamy hummus or this healthy butter bean hummus, hot sauce, cashew cream, tahini, a plain Greek yogurt sauce or a garlic sauce instead of the tzatziki inspired sauce. You can also add some vegan feta if you like!
• Add More Veggies: Roasted cauliflower florets, roasted red peppers, pickled onions, jalapenos, red cabbage, roasted butternut squash, or even sweet potatoes would all taste great.
• Vegan Mushroom Shawarma: Instead of the tofu, try using a mixture of king oyster mushrooms, portobello mushrooms and cremini mushrooms in your marinade. Bake in the same way you would the tofu, or add to a skillet with olive oil and turn them into sauteed mushrooms. Then just use the mushrooms as your filling and top this sheet pan veggie shawarma with your favorite toppings!

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