Tawook is just tavuk, the Turkish word for chicken, carried into Arabic — a linguistic fossil of the Ottoman centuries embedded in Lebanon's most popular grilled dish. Shish tawook is defined by its white marinade: yogurt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and often a spoon of tomato paste for colour, coating cubes of chicken breast or thigh before they meet the charcoal. Unlike shawarma's deep spice blend, tawook stays bright and tangy. At the restaurant it comes as skewers with garlic sauce, grilled tomatoes, and flatbread; at the sandwich shop it's rolled with toum, pickles, and fries pressed inside. The yogurt does double duty here — its acidity tenderises while its milk sugars brown into a lightly charred coating the lean meat couldn't develop alone.
Also known as: Sis Tavuk, Shish Taouk, Sheesh Tawook, Lebanese Chicken Skewers, Syrian Chicken
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Ingredients
- 1kg Chicken Breast (Cubed)
- 1 cup Yogurt
- 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
- 6 Garlic Cloves (Crushed)
- 2 tbsp Tomato Paste (optional, for color)
- 1 tsp Paprika, 1 tsp Dried Oregano, 1 1/2 tsp Salt
How To Make Shish Tawook
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1
In a large bowl, mix the yogurt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, paprika, oregano and salt into a smooth marinade; stir in the tomato paste for the red version, or leave it out for the white version.
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2
Turn the chicken cubes through the marinade until every piece is coated, then cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
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3
Take the chicken out of the fridge while the grill heats, then thread it onto skewers with a little space between the cubes, so every face chars instead of steaming.
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4
Grill over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes per side, until lightly charred and the internal temperature reaches 74°C (165°F). Take the skewers off as soon as they hit that mark, because breast meat dries out quickly past it.
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5
Serve the skewers straight away with toum (Lebanese garlic sauce) and fries.
Note: Using breast meat is traditional, but yogurt keeps it juicy.
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About this recipe
Shish tawook sits at the mild end of the Levantine grill spectrum: no dry rub, no red spice crust, just an acid-and-dairy soak that leaves the chicken pale gold instead of blackened. That restraint is what separates it from a kofta kebab or a shawarma stack, both of which lean on a heavy spice blend or a slow vertical roast, while tawook is built almost entirely around what yogurt and lemon juice can do to a cube of chicken in a few hours.
This version keeps the marinade simple: yogurt, lemon juice, crushed garlic, and a spoon of tomato paste for colour rather than heat, given at least six hours to work. Breast meat is the harder cut to get right here, since it has none of a thigh's forgiving fat, so the marinade has to do the protecting before the grill ever gets involved, and grilling stops the moment the surface chars, well before the meat has time to dry out.
Why this recipe works
Why This Recipe Works
- Six crushed garlic cloves for a single kilogram of chicken is a heavy hand by most marinade standards, but garlic needs that concentration to punch through yogurt's fat and still register once the chicken is grilled.
- The tomato paste is doing colour work, not spice work: its natural sugars caramelize fast at grill heat, giving the surface a warm tint without the smoky heat a dry rub would add.
- Pulling the skewers the moment the internal temperature hits 74°C (165°F) matters more on breast than on thigh, because breast has no intramuscular fat to forgive a few extra minutes over heat.
How to serve it
Serving Notes
Pull the skewers straight to the table: breast meat firms up fast once it's off the heat, so plating it and letting it wait loses juiciness quickly.
Toum and grilled tomato are the standard sides; the sauce's raw garlic bite does work the milder marinade doesn't.
Wrapped in bread with pickles and fries, this is the sandwich-shop version; on a plate with rice, it's the restaurant version, same skewers, different destination.
Common mistakes to avoid
Common Mistakes
- Marinating for only 30 minutes instead of the full six hours: the yogurt and lemon barely reach past the surface, so the inside tastes like plain chicken.
- Grilling straight from the fridge: cold cubes hit the grate and seize, so the outside chars before the inside gets near 74°C (165°F).
- Packing the cubes tight against each other on the skewer: the touching faces steam instead of char, leaving pale patches ringing every piece.
- Skipping a thermometer and guessing by colour: breast meat can look done well before it reaches 74°C, and pulling it early leaves the centre raw while pushing past that mark dries it out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use chicken thighs instead of breast?
Yes; thighs handle both the marinade and the grill better than breast because their fat buffers the acid and the heat, though they'll brown faster than lean breast does.
What's the difference between shish tawook and shish kebab?
Shish kebab usually means cubed lamb or beef in an oil-and-herb marinade; tawook is specifically chicken in a yogurt-lemon-garlic marinade, which is why it grills pale gold instead of deeply browned.
Can I bake these instead of grilling?
You can, but you lose the char the marinade is built for; a very hot broiler gets closer to the real thing than a standard oven roast.
How long can the marinated chicken sit before cooking?
Give it at least six hours; pushing it much longer risks the lemon juice turning the surface mushy instead of more flavourful.
Sources and further reading
- Shish taouk — Wikipedia
- Toum — Wikipedia
- Shish Tawook Kebabs — Maureen Abood
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Build The Full Plate
Technique And Support Guides
How To Cook Kebab In The Oven
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Best Cut For Shish Kebab
Choose the best cut for shish kebab with a practical guide to lamb, beef, and chicken options, cube size, fat balance, and what actually stays juicy on skewers.
How To Marinate Kebab Properly
Learn how to marinate kebab without making the meat mushy, watery, or flat, with clear guidance for chicken, lamb, beef, and yogurt-based marinades.
What Temperature To Cook Kebab
Get the right cooking temperature for kebab on charcoal, gas, grill pan, and oven so minced and chunked kebabs brown properly without drying out.
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