Shawarma calories - how many calories are in shawarma?

One of the most common fast food dishes has recently become shawarma, which has entered our diet from oriental cuisine. To the question "how many calories are in one shawarma?" it is difficult to answer unambiguously. The answer depends on the ingredients used in its preparation and, above all, on the type and quality of the meat.

Meat for oriental dish

To prepare a classic shawarma, you need a thin flatbread (pita or pita bread), chopped fried meat, garlic sour cream sauce, fresh vegetables (cabbage, carrots), herbs (onions, garlic, parsley) and spices (turmeric, zira, red and black pepper).

In practice, a variety of meats can be used in the preparation of this food. In Israel - chicken and turkey meat, in many Arab countries shawarma is prepared only from sheep or camel meat. In Russia, this is beef and lamb, pork and turkey. The most dietary meat is boiled ground chicken white meat.

homemade shawarma

If the meat is not fatty, dietary and the dish is prepared exactly according to the recipe in compliance with all sanitary standards, then in a serving in 100 g, the calorie content of shawarma will be about 260 kcal. But this applies only to the ideal portion, which can be prepared, most likely, only at home. If you really like this dish, then for the sake of maintaining health, learn how to cook it yourself. When preparing a portion at home, it is not difficult to independently determine how many calories are in shawarma, knowing the calorie content of individual products. You can cook this dish without meat: with canned fish or a purely vegetarian shawarma with vegetable salad.

Possible harm

Buying food cooked on the street, in strange tents, it is not known how and by whom can turn into an unpleasant surprise. Fatty meat, mayonnaise instead of sauce and ketchup - all this reduces the consumer qualities of the oriental dish and makes it unsafe for health. Street shawarma, in which calories are much higher than the optimal value and can overcome the milestone of 1000 or even more units per 100 g, is undesirable for frequent use.

Shawarma, calorieswhich is very high, can cause indigestion, and provoke other diseases. Such a dish should not be consumed by people suffering from diabetes, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular diseases, diseases of the liver and pancreas. Excessive consumption of high-calorie foods can cause obesity.

Useful qualities

Properly cooked shawarma, the calorie content of which is at an acceptable level, is as healthy a product as any other food. With moderate and infrequent use of the product, shawarma is also suitable for feeding children over 10 years old. On the recommendation of nutritionists, this oriental dish can be indicated for building muscle mass with a lack of animal fats, proteins, vitamins and trace elements in the diet. Irregular consumption of shawarma 150 g will not affect the growth of body fat. Individual ingredients of the recipe can also have a beneficial effect. For example, garlic lowers blood pressure and prevents blood clots. As in many other cases with food, shawarma becomes a dangerous dish when the recipe is violated during cooking and excessive consumption.

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For many, shawarma is a product that always helps out, especially in situations where there is not enough time for a full meal. At the station, the market or in the passage - you can buy it everywhere. The only question is how useful and high-calorie it is. Let's see how it is used in dietetics and for weight loss, and find out the classic recipe for its preparation.

Shawarma as a dietary product

It may not fit in my head how shawarma can be a dietary product, because most often it is associated with dishes that have a huge amount of fat. Basically, that's how it really is.

Those who prepare chicken shawarma, whether in pita or pita bread, do not think about its calorie content, which cannot be said about homemade shawarma. In this case, you can follow its preparation and the amount of fat used. Also choose products that will make ordinary shawarma a delicious dish, and most importantly, harmless.

Is shawarma considered a dish for weight loss? Some trumpet that you will not find anything more harmful than it, others defend it and say that those who love it can continue to use it, making only some adjustments to the ingredients.

Classic shawarma recipe

Shawarma with chicken, cabbage and Korean carrots, with mayonnaise and ketchup, is especially popular among fans of a quick snack, but the calorie content of 1 piece is 620 kilocalories. The preparation of this seemingly non-dietary dish does not take much time and is easy to remember.

For delicious shawarma you will need:

• thin pita bread - 1 pc;
• chicken fillet - 180 g;
• white cabbage - 100 g;
• small canned (salted or pickled) cucumber - 1 pc;

• small tomato - 1 pc;
• ketchup - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• mayonnaise - 2 tbsp. spoons;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. spoon;
• salt and pepper - to taste.

Cooking shawarma includes:

• slicing cabbage into thin strips, which should be slightly salted, cucumber into thin sticks, and tomato into quarter rings;
• making sauce - a mixture of mayonnaise, ketchup and ground pepper;

• preparation of chicken fillet - washed, dried on a napkin and seasoned with pepper and salt, chicken fillet should be fried until tender, allowed to cool and cut into slices;
• the final stage - it is necessary to lay cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes in layers on the pita bread smeared with sauce, chicken meat on top and then wrap everything in it with the sides closed.

It will give a special taste to the dish a little frying until golden brown.

In this recipe, shawarma will have per 100 grams of product calorie content of 250 kcal.

In this case, the calorie content of 1 serving of shawarma is reduced by an order of magnitude, and the product remains just as tasty.

To prepare a dietary dish, you need to stock up:

• 150 g Greek yogurt;
• 500 g chicken breast;
• two thin pita bread;
• one purple onion;
• two cucumbers;

• two sweet peppers;
• two tomatoes;
• one pinch of salt;
• two cloves of garlic;
• one bunch of fresh spinach.

All products are cut into cubes or strips, as in the classic recipe, except that the pita bread is smeared with low-fat yogurt mixed with garlic, then spinach is placed, and the rest of the ingredients are layered on top.

The thing is that in this recipe, apparently, shawarma is prepared without sauce, including mayonnaise and ketchup, due to which it decreases its calorie content - per 100 grams of product, it will be only 148.1 kcal.

Shawarma in pita is no less tasty than in pita bread. The main thing is to invest your soul.
Products needed for the dish:

• 150 g of Korean carrots;
• 150 g Korean cabbage;
• two cucumbers and two tomatoes;
• one small onion;

• 200 g chicken fillet;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of ketchup;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of mayonnaise;
• parsley and dill to taste.

Cucumbers and tomatoes should be cut into small cubes, chop the onion, chop the greens and mix everything. Diced meat should be fried with seasonings. With cooked meat and mixed vegetables, fill the pita cut in half and top with mayonnaise and ketchup sauce.

If desired, shawarma in pita can be given a crust by grilling it. Shawarma prepared according to this recipe will have 205 kcal per 100 grams of product.

A simple and unpretentious dish of oriental cuisine - shawarma - has firmly won its place in our diet.

Unlike the countries of the East, we cook shawarma with different types of meat - pork and beef, lamb and chicken, and even with turkey.

The main ingredient in the filling in shawarma is meat. Fresh vegetables can serve as additives to it in summer - cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, bell peppers. In winter, Korean carrots, cabbage and pickles are most often used.

Meat for shawarma is cooked on a special rotating spit, from which it is cut into small pieces. Before cooking, the meat is marinated in a special brine.

Speaking about the benefits and dangers of shawarma, we must first answer the question - where this dish was prepared. If we are talking about shawarma from a stall near the metro station or in the market, then there is no need to talk about the benefits of this dish.

There are several reasons for this:

• far from always the sanitary conditions of cooking in such places at least somewhat correspond to the standards;
• equipment for frying meat is not washed with the necessary frequency, and repeatedly fried fat is a carcinogenic “bomb”;
• pickled meat is not always stored in the refrigerator, and the quality of the marinade leaves much to be desired.

For the reasons listed above, it’s impossible to call shawarma purchased at fast food establishments a healthy dish.

A completely different story is obtained with home-cooked shawarma. Using dietary chicken meat, pita bread, fresh vegetables and herbs for cooking, you will get not only a wonderfully tasty, but also a healthy dish - chicken shawarma.

Consider the process of making homemade chicken shawarma, and calculate the number of calories in this product. For cooking we need:

• pita;
• boiled chicken meat;
• carrot;
• tomato;
• cucumber;
• greenery.

Chicken meat and tomato are cut into cubes, carrots and cucumber - into strips, greens - finely cut. The prepared filling is wrapped in pita bread, you can send shawarma for a couple of minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.

The calorie content of 100 grams of home-cooked chicken shawarma is 112 calories.

According to the rules for preparing real shawarma, neither ketchup nor mayonnaise is put in it. Sauces for shawarma are prepared on the basis of kefir or sour cream with the addition of garlic.

If you decide to still use mayonnaise as a dressing, the calorie content of shawarma will increase dramatically and amount to 175 kcal per 100 grams of the finished product.

Shawarma with chicken in cheese lavash

If you want to make pita bread for shawarma at home, use the cheese pita recipe. It is prepared quite simply on the basis of kefir, hard cheese, flour and water.

Cheese pita bread is fried in a pan either without oil, or with the addition of it in a minimal amount.

The calorie content of shawarma prepared using homemade cheese pita bread will change slightly and amount to 120 calories per 100 grams of the finished dish.

Calorie shawarma with chicken and mushrooms

You can diversify homemade shawarma by experimenting with the composition of the filling. The chicken and mushroom shawarma recipe tested by the housewives is delicious and easy to prepare.

The difference from the usual chicken shawarma is the addition of champignons fried with onions to the filling.

Calorie content of 100 grams of homemade shawarma with chicken, mushrooms and sour cream sauce is 162 calories.

Energy value of shawarma with chicken and cheese

Another kind of shawarma is with chicken and grated cheese. The cooking time for this dish is minimal. The calorie content of this shawarma will also please those who are closely watching their figure.

100 grams of the finished dish contains 124 calories.

Shawarma has become a fairly common fast food dish that came to us from oriental cuisine. It is quite difficult to give an unambiguous answer to the question of how many calories are in shawarma, since the calorie content in pita bread directly depends on the ingredients used in it and, most importantly, on the type and quality of its main component - meat.

What is shawarma made from?

Classical shawarma is made from thin flatbread or pita bread, fried minced meat, garlic sour cream sauce, fresh cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, parsley and spices such as zira, turmeric, black and red pepper.

A variety of meats are used to prepare this dish. For example, in Arab countries, shawarma is made from camel or sheep meat, in Israel - turkey or chicken meat. In many other countries, shawarma is found with beef, pork and chicken meat. From white chicken meat, the most low-calorie shawarma is obtained. How many carbohydrates in shawarma also depends on all its ingredients. If we take a chicken meat dish as a basis, the amount of carbohydrates will be on average 22 g.

How many calories are in chicken shawarma?

If shawarma with chicken meat is cooked strictly according to the recipe, then 100 grams of this dish contains approximately 260 kcal. But such a calorie content can only be achieved in an ideal serving. Shawarma fans can easily cook it at home.

The preparation of this dish does not require high culinary skills. By making shawarma on your own, you can more accurately calculate the calorie content, knowing what additional ingredients are used. This dish can also be prepared for vegetarians without the addition of meat.

You should be especially careful when buying shawarma in street stalls. The use of fatty meats, ketchup, and instead of sauce can increase the number of calories several times.

Shawarma is one of the favorite dishes not only in the East, but throughout Russia. Literally on every corner you can find small stalls that sell various variations of this dish. It is also, unlike fast food, relatively harmless, because it is prepared only from natural ingredients without unnecessary additives. But its calorie content always remains relevant - how many calories are in shawarma? Take as an example its variation with chicken.

About shawarma

The classic shawarma consists of a flatbread, in which minced meat and vegetables are fried in a special way, everything is seasoned with sauce and sprinkled with spices. Shawarma contains a large number of trace elements and vitamins, and spices act as natural antibiotics, so moderate consumption of the dish allows you to strengthen the human body more.

Average energy value

How many calories are in this dish is more of a trick question, because every chef makes shawarma in his own way. The sauces used, the type of pita bread may vary, various ingredients may be added, for example, shawarma with peas or even french fries is not uncommon. All of these ingredients greatly affect how many calories the final dish has. Therefore, the given value will only be indicative.

If we compare the option with chicken, then it will be noticeably less high-calorie than its counterpart with pork or beef. Its average calorie content is 250-290 kcal.

It's not that much. Compared to other “snacks,” such as hamburgers, chips, and oil-fried french fries, the difference in calories can be up to three times.

Harm

Although, as mentioned above, relatively shawarma is not as harmful as its alternatives, it's not just about calories. There are situations when shawarma is strongly not recommended for use. These are situations where:

• a person has diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and stomach;
• a person is prone to obesity;
• a person has liver disease.

It is not easy to answer the question, what is the calorie content of chicken shawarma, because in each case the answer will be individual - it all depends on the components that were added to the dish, how it was cooked, and so on. But the averages are still not so high when compared with other similar products. So, although you definitely shouldn’t lean on shawarma, in many situations it can be a more acceptable solution than some other way to have a quick and satisfying snack - for example, fast food.