If you love big, bold flavours, you have to try this recipe! It’s a veggie riff on Middle Eastern shawarma, with thinly sliced eggplant and sweet potatoes stepping in for the traditional meat. You’ll toss these veggies with a punchy homemade spice blend and roast them until they’re nicely browned and tender. While they’re in the oven, prep the fixings and stir together the tahini yogurt. Then, pile everything onto a platter (or one of the sheet pans) and let everyone assemble their own wraps. –Jeanine Donofrio
Eggplant Sheet Pan Shawarma
Jeanine Donofrio's recipe for make-your-own eggplant and sweet potato shawarma wraps.
Ingredients
Shawarma Spice
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 1½ tsp cinnamon
- 1½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1½ tsp ground turmeric
Tahini Yogurt
- 1 cup whole milk Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup tahini
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic grated
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1-4 tbsp water if necessary
Filling
- 1 medium eggplant sliced into ¼- inch-thick half-moons
- 1 sweet potato sliced into ¼- inch-thick half-moons
- extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
- 1 tbsp Shawarma Spice
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
To Serve
- 4 pitas warmed
- Tahini Yogurt
- 2 Persian cucumbers thinly sliced
- fresh mint, parsley or cilantro sprigs
- ½ cup pickled onions optional
- Aleppo pepper for sprinkling (optional)
- lemon wedges
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Tahini Yogurt
- In a medium bowl, stir together the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and cardamom. If the yogurt is too thick, thin with water, 1 tbsp at a time, to reach a drizzleable consistency.
Shawarma Spice
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cumin, smoked paprika, cinnamon, cardamom and turmeric. Set aside 1 tbsp and store the remaining spice for another use.
Vegetables
- Place the eggplant on one of the baking sheets and the sweet potatoes on the other. Generously drizzle the eggplant with olive oil, and lightly drizzle the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle 2 tsp of the shawarma spice over the eggplant and the remaining 1 tsp over the sweet potatoes. Season all the vegetables with salt and pepper. Toss to coat, spread evenly on the baking sheets, and roast for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are golden brown and the eggplant is tender, rotating the pans halfway through.
To Serve
- Assemble wraps in the pita with the tahini yogurt, roasted vegetables, cucumbers, mint, pickled onions and sprinkles of Aleppo pepper, if desired. Serve with lemon wedges on the side.
Notes
To make the dish gluten-free, use gluten-free pitas. For vegan shawarma, replace the Tahini Yogurt with homemade hummus.
