Lebanese Recipes – Lebanese Cooking Academy

Shish Tawook

Shīsh Ṭāwūq

Shish tawook is a mainstay of Lebanese charcoal grilling: evenly cut chicken is seasoned with yogurt, lemon, garlic, tomato paste, warm spices and oil, then cooked quickly over strong heat. This lesson emphasizes balanced acidity, disciplined skewer work and thorough cooking without drying the chicken.

Prep25 min

Cook15 min

DifficultyIntermediate

Yield8 skewers

Know what you are cooking

A Pan-Lebanese restaurant and home-grill preparation, commonly served with toum, pickled vegetables and salad. Marinades vary by household: some use tomato paste, others use a modest amount of ketchup, and some add dried oregano or thyme. Boneless breast is especially common, while thigh meat is a practical juicier variant.

Serve hot as a main course for family meals, weekend charcoal grills and mezze-style gatherings. Accompany with toum, Lebanese pickles and a crisp chopped salad; offer bread separately if desired.

By the end, you can:

Cut chicken into uniform pieces for even cooking.
Build a balanced Lebanese tawook marinade without excessive lemon or spice.
Thread skewers with enough space for heat circulation.
Manage a hot grill to develop color while cooking chicken safely.
Use temperature and sensory cues together to prevent undercooking or dryness.

Method

Build the marinade

Whisk the yogurt, olive oil, lemon juice, tomato paste, garlic, salt, paprika, allspice, black pepper and optional cinnamon in a nonreactive bowl until smooth and evenly red-orange.

Look, smell, feelThe marinade should be creamy and cohesive, with no streaks of tomato paste and a clear aroma of garlic, lemon and warm spice.SafetyUse a clean bowl and utensils. Acidic marinades should be mixed in stainless steel, glass or food-safe plastic rather than reactive aluminum.

Cut and coat the chicken

Trim away tough connective tissue, then cut the chicken into consistent 3 cm pieces. Add it to the marinade and fold until every surface is thoroughly coated.

Look, smell, feelThe pieces should be similar in thickness and covered by a thin, even layer of marinade rather than sitting in separate pools of oil.SafetyDo not wash raw chicken. Wash hands with soap after handling it, and clean and sanitize the knife, board and nearby work surfaces.

Marinate under refrigeration

Cover and refrigerate for 75 minutes. For make-ahead preparation, the chicken may remain refrigerated in the marinade for up to 8 hours.

Look, smell, feelAfter marinating, the coating should cling to the chicken and appear slightly deeper in color; the meat should remain firm, not chalky or mushy.SafetyKeep the chicken at 4°C or colder. Never marinate poultry on the counter.

Heat the grill and thread

Heat the grill to medium-high, establishing a strong direct-heat area and a cooler area. Thread the chicken onto flat skewers without compressing the pieces; leave a few millimetres between pieces. Let excess marinade drip back into the bowl, then discard it.

Look, smell, feelA properly heated grate should produce an immediate, assertive sizzle when the first skewer is placed down.SafetyKeep raw skewers and their platter separate from cooked food. Do not brush the chicken with used marinade unless that marinade has first been brought to a full boil in a separate saucepan.

Grill the tawook

Lightly clean and oil the hot grate. Grill the skewers over direct heat, turning every 2 to 3 minutes for even coloring. Move them to the cooler area if the marinade darkens before the centers cook. Continue until the thickest pieces reach 74°C.

Look, smell, feelThe chicken should have browned edges and scattered char marks; its surface should look set and lightly glossy rather than wet with raw marinade.SafetyVerify at least two of the thickest pieces with a clean instant-read thermometer inserted into their centers. Poultry must reach 74°C; color alone is not a reliable safety test.

Rest and serve

Transfer the skewers to a clean platter and rest for 5 minutes. Serve immediately, either on the skewers or slid onto a warm platter.

Look, smell, feelAfter resting, the meat should feel springy and remain moist when cut, with clear juices and a tender, fine-grained interior.SafetyNever return cooked chicken to the unwashed raw-poultry platter. Warn diners that metal skewers remain very hot.

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Chef notes

Flat metal skewers resist spinning and help the chicken brown evenly.
Uniform size matters more than exact shape; pieces that are too small dry before they color.
Do not pack onion or pepper tightly between the chicken pieces. Vegetables have different cooking requirements and are better grilled on separate skewers.
A two-zone fire provides control: use direct heat for browning and the cooler zone to finish thick pieces safely.
The measured cinnamon should remain subtle; it is optional and should not dominate the garlic, lemon and paprika.

Common mistakes

Leaving large and small pieces on the same skewer, which produces a mixture of dry and undercooked chicken.
Using excessive lemon juice or marinating too long, which can make the exterior chalky or soft.
Crowding the skewers so tightly that their touching surfaces steam instead of brown.
Grilling over uncontrolled flames, which burns the yogurt and tomato solids before the chicken cooks.
Judging doneness only by surface color instead of confirming 74°C at the center.

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Practical substitutions

Use an equal weight of boneless skinless chicken thighs for a juicier result; trim excess fat and still cook every piece to 74°C.
Plain strained yogurt may replace regular yogurt; loosen it with 15 to 30 ml water so the marinade coats rather than clumps.
In a recognized Lebanese home-style variation, replace the tomato paste with an equal amount of ketchup; the result will be sweeter, so no additional sweetener is needed.
If metal skewers are unavailable, use sturdy wooden skewers soaked according to their package directions and protect exposed ends from direct flame.

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Plan and store

Make ahead: Prepare and marinate the chicken up to 8 hours in advance at 4°C or colder. Avoid overnight marination because prolonged contact with lemon can damage the surface texture. The dry spices may be measured several days ahead in an airtight container.

Storage: Refrigerate cooked chicken within 2 hours, or within 1 hour when the ambient temperature exceeds 32°C. Store in a shallow airtight container at 4°C or colder for up to 3 days. Freeze promptly for up to 2 months if longer storage is needed; follow local health guidance where stricter limits apply.

Reheating: Remove chicken from metal skewers and reheat gently in a covered pan or a 160°C oven with a spoonful of water until the center reaches 74°C. Avoid repeated reheating, which dries the meat and increases handling risk.

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Plate and serve

Arrange two skewers per serving on a warm platter. Spoon toum alongside rather than over the browned surface, and add Lebanese pickles and chopped salad for acidity and crunch. Keep any bread separate to preserve the recipe’s gluten-free service.