Chicken shawarma from the oven: calories and macros.
A marinated tray of chicken is protein-heavy food with a short ingredient list. The recipe builder shows how much of its fat is the chicken's skin and how little the spices add.
- 4 servings, weighed at 640 g when finished
- 444 kcal a serving, with 44 g protein, 6 g carbs and 27 g fat
- 9 ingredients, every one a USDA FoodData Central entry in the library
The sample data
These are the amounts used on the screens below, with each figure taken from the library entry for that ingredient. They are sample figures for a pot or tray of this size, not a measurement of anyone's kitchen.
| Ingredient | Amount | kcal | Protein g | Carbs g | Fat g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken breast, meat and skin, raw | 800 g | 1,376 | 167 | 0 | 74 |
| Plain whole-milk yogurt | 150 g | 92 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Lemon juice | 45 g | 10 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Garlic | 12 g | 18 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Olive oil | 27 g | 239 | 0 | 0 | 27 |
| Paprika | 6 g | 17 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Allspice, ground | 3 g | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cinnamon, ground | 2 g | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Cumin seed | 3 g | 11 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Whole recipe | 1,048 g | 1,776 | 175 | 22 | 108 |
| Per serving (4) | 160 g | 444 | 44 | 6 | 27 |
Calorie and macro figures are fitness estimates, not medical or dietary advice. Ingredient values are from USDA FoodData Central, which is in the public domain.
Why this recipe
Shawarma in a shop varies from stall to stall. A tray you marinate yourself is the same every time, so build it once, with the raw chicken you buy, and you can log it for as long as you keep making it.
What to weigh
The raw tray weighs 1,048 g. The sample comes out of the oven at 640 g once the chicken has lost water and the marinade has reduced. Entering that weight means a serving is exactly 160 g of cooked shawarma.
The full workflow, in four steps.
1. Open Create a recipe and search the library
Create a recipe and search "chicken breast". Choose the raw entry with the skin if your chicken has skin, because the skin is part of what you cook.
2. Enter the amount you weighed
Enter the weight of the raw chicken in grams. The sheet shows 800 g is 1,376 kcal and 167 g of protein before anything is added to it.
3. Add the rest, then set the servings and finished weight
Add the marinade and the spices, then set 4 servings and the 640 g after roasting. The per serving line shows 444 kcal with 44 g of protein.
4. Save it and log a serving
Save and log a serving, or switch to grams and log the weight of what is on your plate.
Tips while you build it
- Pat the skin off the chicken before you weigh it and choose a skinless entry if that is how you cook. The calories fall noticeably.
- A marinade drains away in the dish. If you throw the juices out, the sample slightly overstates the yogurt and lemon.
- Weigh the cooked chicken once and keep that number; it rarely changes if your tray and oven stay the same.
Make it your own
- Replace the breast with thigh meat and the recipe's fat goes up while the protein stays close. Save it as a second recipe.
- Use a lower-fat yogurt entry for the marinade and the saved recipe is lighter by a few calories a serving.
Each change is a second recipe with its own name, so the first stays as you built it.
Chicken shawarma (oven tray) questions.
How many calories are in homemade chicken shawarma?
The sample tray of four servings comes to 444 kcal a serving, with 44 g protein, 6 g carbs and 27 g fat. Skin on or off and the amount of oil are what move the figure most.
Should I weigh the chicken raw or cooked?
Weigh the chicken raw if you can. Then weigh the whole tray after cooking and enter it as the finished weight. The calories come from the raw amounts and the serving weight from the cooked one.
Does the recipe include the bread, rice or sauce?
No. Log pita, rice or toum as their own foods next to the serving, so you can change them without editing the recipe.
More example recipes.
- Hummus bi tahini211 kcal a serving, 8 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Mujadara337 kcal a serving, 6 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Chana masala309 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Dal tadka265 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Butter chicken498 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Spaghetti bolognese499 kcal a serving, 6 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Chicken cacciatore639 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Turkey chili326 kcal a serving, 6 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
- Homemade cheeseburgers456 kcal a serving, 4 servings, from USDA FoodData Central ingredients.
Keep going.
- Recipe builderWhat the builder does, and every example recipe in one place.
- Lebanese food caloriesPer 100 g tables for the dishes the food library finds.
- Nutrition and macro trackingBarcodes, label reading, targets that follow your weigh-ins.
- Help: scan, create and recipesThe same steps in the Help Center.
Cook it once. Log it for good.
Build your own lebanese favourite in Nutrition.