The Ultimate Beef Shawarma Burger on Toasted Naan
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Shawarma spiced grass-fed beef burger grilled to perfection and layered on toasted naan bread with a yogurt feta cheese sauce, and a ton of veggie toppings. Epic is the most accurate word to describe this burger experience 🙂
Let’s talk burgers. Summer is knocking on the door and burger season is about to be in full swing. Before we get into this recipe we need to get a few things straight:
- Yes, I am a nutritionist
- Yes, I eat burgers
As a matter of fact, when I was asked to participate in Girl Carnivore’s Burger Month challenge this year I was crazily excited to share the way I like to do burgers:
- Super high-quality grass-fed beef (if you are vegetarian you could easily swap out a delicious veggie burger patty)
- Toasty bread
- Some kind of cheese (yes, I even add cheese)
- An obscene amount of veggie toppings with a solid 50% pickle ratio
Let’s do this burger thing!
What is Shawarma?
Shawarma is a middle eastern dish where meat is grilled on a vertical spit all day long until it is crazy town tender, full of flavor, and melts in your mouth. I had my first “real” bite of shawarma a few months ago while traveling around Israel and I will never again be the same. Warm toasty spices, perfectly tender meat, it’s insanely good.
Technically this isn’t shawarma because… well ya know that vertical spit thing and a small NYC apartment. However, all the epic flavors of shawarma are tucked into this burger, thanks to my homemade shawarma spice blend!
How to Make the Ultimate Beef Shawarma Burger
- Start with a blend of incredible spices. Take a few minutes to mix together this homemade shawarma spice blend, make a big batch because trust me you will want to put this on everything!
- Mix your high quality, ideally grass-fed, ground beef with the shawarma spice and allow it to rest for a few minutes. You can also do this step ahead of time and let the spices really jive with the meat. I let my meat sit in the fridge overnight, but also tested the recipe after allowing the meat and spices to meld for 10 minutes and it was equally delicious.
- Once your beef is ready to rock and roll, form into patties that are more oval in shape than round. For this burger, you want a flatter patty.
- Grill, or if you live in an apartment building, use a cast iron pan to cook your burger to perfection.
I am typically a medium-rare girl, but this burger lends itself to a bit closer to medium-well. It’s still tender and luscious.
- Build that burger!
- Start by warming naan bread (you can find naan bread at most major grocery stores, I found some at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s) with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of za’atar seasoning.
(Za’atar is a middle eastern blend of spices, you can find za’atar online or in a specialty store).
- Once the bread is warm and toasty spread it generously with your yogurt feta sauce (EPIC ALERT!)
- Top with the shawarma spiced burger patty
- Go crazy with toppings, like seriously crazy!
I finely chopped cucumber and tomato and drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, I diced an absurd perfectly normal amount of pickles, fresh parsley leaves, tahini, and extra za’atar.
What’s the Deal with Burger Month?
Burger month is an annual celebration hosted by Kita from GirlCarnivore. There are over 50 bloggers participating and sharing mouthwatering burger recipes all month long. From keto burgers to vegan burgers, to lamb burgers. to this chorizo burger that seriously has me drooling.
Check out my grass-fed ground beef recipes and what to cook in June roundups for more tastiness!
I hope you love this Grass-Fed Beef Shawarma Burger! If you make it sure to tag me @abrapappa on Instagram so I can share your photo!
If you’ve tried this recipe, don’t forget to rate and leave me a comment below. I love to hear from people who’ve made my recipes!
Beef Shawarma Burger
Ingredients
Burger
- 1 lb grass fed ground beef
- 1 tbsp shawarma spice blend
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
Naan Bread
- 3 pieces naan bread
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp za’atar spice (optional)
Feta Yogurt Sauce
- 1/2 cup full fat greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 tsp dried mint
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine shawarma spice with ground beef, mix well. Allow to rest for at least 10 minutes or as long as overnight.
- Form beef into flat, thinner, patties and season each patty generously with salt and pepper.
- Heat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil in the pan and place the burgers in the pan. Cook until browned and a solid medium to medium-well (about 3 minutes per side).
- In the meantime prepare feta yogurt sauce by whisking together all ingredients, set aside.
- Prepare naan bread by drizzling with olive oil and za’atar and warming in a 350° oven for 3-4 minutes.
- Build your burger! Spread the naan generously with your yogurt feta sauce. Top with the shawarma spiced burger patty and then go crazy with toppings, finely chopped cucumber, and tomato and drizzled with olive oil and sea salt, pickles, fresh parsley leaves, tahini, and extra za’atar.
Nutrition
A huge thanks to the #BurgerMonth sponsors for the Ultimate Burger Grilling Giveaway: Cabot Cheese, Char-Griller Grills, Crow Canyon Home, Porter Road, Melissas Produce, Red Duck, Spiceology, & Western BBQ
Meet Abra Pappa, MS, CNS, LDN
Abra is a licensed nutritionist, seasoned home cook, and forever flavor-chaser. She’s spent more than two decades exploring the connection between food and health—and just as long obsessing over what makes something truly delicious. Abra’s Kitchen is where those two loves meet, with recipes that celebrate vegetables, follow the seasons, and make you excited to cook.
These are fantastic! We mix it up with the toppings depending on what we have. They smell so good as they cook. Thank you!
Yay! so happy to hear Steph!
I love that you use toasted naan for your “bun”! I’ll be giving this recipe a try. Sounds delicious!
Shawarma is so delicious! I love that you turned this into a burger version with naan to boot. It’s my weakness with any food from that region. Definitely adding this one to the dinner rotation!
I am totally all over this! I love how it is served up and those pickles would be piled high for me!
What a fun idea for a burger! I’m new to your site but following you on IG now because all your recipes look totally amazing!
Pinning this 🙂
The shawarma looks so tasty. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I positively adore shawarma. This is seriously my kind of burger!
Man, all the flavors in this burger are speaking to me. Fantastic! (and if you weren’t using animal products in this post, you wouldn’t have this fabulous giveaway for your loyal readers, so I for one am glad you are participating in Burger Month!)
I’ve been in love with shawarma flavors for a long time — will try your burger recipe out for sure!
Including the “absurd/perfectly normal amount” of pickles, awesomeness!!!
OMG. This looks amazing. I bet it is amazing on a Naan. I will have to try this.
Shawarma takes me to my happy place … what awesome flavor inspiration for a burger! I love the sauce and all the yummy toppings you added too.
I won’t lie, I was disappointed when the last email introduced “Butcher Block.” And now we’re hearing of another animal product. Are you abandoning the “mostly plants” theme? Not judging, I’m not 100% vegan myself, but your recipes have always been so good AND vegan to boot.
Hi Suzy,
Thanks for your message and I’m glad you’ve been enjoying my recipes! I have not abandoned the “mostly plants” philosophy over 70% of the recipes on my site are 100% plant-based. However, I eat animal products and I’ve always been super straightforward about that and even mention it in all of my posts with animal products. You can read more about my own personal food choices here: https://abraskitchen.com/real-food-mostly-plants/
I am not dietary dogmatic in any one way, I have a very inclusive food philosophy based on the concept of bio-individuality, do what is right for you. I do believe in sourcing high quality, humanely raised, animal products which is why I support Butcher Box.
I know I will never appeal to EVERYONE with ALL of my recipes, and that is totally ok with me. I will always stay true to my belief that adding more plant foods into your diet is supportive, and finding joy and flexibility with food is essential.