Tavuk Döner & Chips

Here it is, my family’s ultimate Friday Night Fakeaway Meal, Chicken Döner Kebab and Chips. What an absolute treat! You can find the recipes for the side dishes on this blog and on my YouTube channel.

• Ingredients
• 1kg chicken thigh fillets
• 3 tbsp natural yoghurt
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 2 tbsp Turkish sweet red pepper paste (tatlı biber salçası)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp crushed chillies
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp onion granules
• ½ tsp garlic granules
• Salt and pepper to taste 
• 1 large onion, sliced in half (skin still on)
• You'll also need 4 wooden skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes - to thread the chicken onto

For the chips 

• 500g white potatoes, peeled and cut into 2 cm thick chips
• 1ltr vegetable based oil, for frying (preferably rice bran oil)

• Method

Add all of the marinade ingredients (everything other than the chicken) to a dish that will be big and deep 

enough to eventually fit all of the chicken thighs in to marinate.

Mix together the marinade ingredients, then add the chicken thigh fillets, and give them a really good stir so that they are fully coated in the marinade.

Cover the dish with clingfilm, and refrigerate the marinated chicken for a minimum of 4 hours, or even 

overnight.

Once the chicken has finished marinating, take the dish out of the fridge 45 mins before you are ready to start 

cooking them.

Prep your chips and keep them covered in cold water until your chicken goes in the oven.

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6

Now carefully thread each thigh fillet through the 4 skewers – the skewers should go horizontally through each 

fillet so that they can support the weight of all of the chicken thighs once they have all been threaded. Don’t

push the fillets together too tightly, as although they need to be close together to get the desired döner 

effect, the fillets must have room to ensure that they are cooked all the way through; not pushing them too 

tightly together will allow this to happen.

Lay the onion halves flat in a deep dish that is shorter in length than the skewers so that the skewers can sit 

on top of the edges of the dish (the döner is cooked horizontally, not vertically, but should also not lay 

completely flat in the dish – a short dish and the onion halves aid this cooking process)

Cook the chicken in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

After 30-35 minutes, take the chicken out of the oven, baste with the juices in the dish, then carefully turn 

the döner over so the other side is facing upwards.

Place the chicken back in the oven for another 25-30 minutes before the final stage of cooking.

Drain your chips, pat them completely dry and pour the sunflower oil into a medium sized, deep non-stick pan.

Heat up the oil on a medium to high-heat. After 5-6 mins, test the heat by carefully popping in one of the 

chips. If the oil starts to bubble rapidly when the chip hits the oil, then it is ready. If not, wait a few more 

minutes.

Once the oil is not enough, very carefully add the chips to the pan with a slotted spoon and cook on a medium 

heat for 10-15 minutes for a nice even cook.

Now that the chicken has been cooking for another 25-30 mins, take out again, baste, turn over and pop back 

in the oven for a final 5-10 minutes.

Take the chicken dish out of the oven, baste the chicken again with the juices and allow to rest for 5 minutes 

before carving (vertically).

The chips should be cooked and have turned a nice golden colour by now, so carefully remove them to a plate 

lined with kitchen paper.

If there are any juices left in the chicken döner dish, brush them over the chicken just before serving.

Side Note: I like to prepare everything on a big platter in the style of a Turkish restaurant meal and prep 

everything on that platter so that it’s ready for when the chicken döner and chips are cooked. We serve our 

chicken döner and chips with warm pitta bread, a little vermicelli rice, sumac salad, pickled red cabbage and 

peppers, and homemade dips such as cacik and chilli sauce (videos on my youtube channel here.)

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