This Halifax White Shawarma Sauce is the go-to sauce for Shawarmas, adding a beautiful flavor for your Shawarmas. This recipe is not your typical yogurt or mayo-based sauce. Although you could add a bit of either, if you wanted to. It’s not your Garlicky Lebanese Toum sauce, either. Instead, this shawarma sauce is a cream-based mayo. It’s not like your classic or typical homemade mayo with eggs. Instead, it is an emulsification of cream, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, salt & pepper with spices, and lastly, oil that is blended up thick and creamy. Covered and refrigerated, or emptied into a squeeze bottle to refrigerate until needed. When ready for the Shawarmas, it’s mixed again or shaken, then drizzled over the Shawarma to kick it up a notch.
White Shawarma Sauce ingredients
Garlic, Tahini, Lemon Juice, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Parsley, Sea Salt, Black Pepper, 18% Cream, Water, Sunflower Oil or other neutral oil. Optionally, add yogurt or mayonnaise to taste.
Milk Mayonnaise
The base of the shawarma sauce is a milk mayonnaise. This is a Portuguese or Spanish milk mayo, called maionese de leite. It is egg free and totally different from regular mayonnaise. The emulsification comes from dairy and a bit of lemon juice. The fat in the dairy is crucial, as the more fat there is, the thicker the mayonnaise will be. The results are a light and airy mayonnaise.
For a shawarma sauce, we increase the lemon juice and add in tahini with black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and parsley to create a pretty remarkable shawarma sauce.
Tahini
Either tahini or sesame oil can be used here. Although either can be omitted as well based on preference. 1 Tbl of tahini is used, or 1 tsp of sesame oil or more, based on taste. It adds a wonderful flavor to the milk mayo for a shawarma sauce.
Halifax White Shawarma Sauce
This is called the Halifax White Shawarma Sauce because it is modeled after the Halifax Donair Sauce but is different and very fitting for Shawarmas.
- Donair Sauce is made of canned evaporated milk, garlic powder, vinegar, and sugar, with my version also adding in onion powder. The original Donair Sauce also added parsley, which was later served on the side.
- The Halifax Shawarma Sauce also uses dairy and acid for the emulsification. With garlic cloves, sea salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, parsley, and tahini, for an impressive shawarma sauce. The sugar is left out, so it’s not sweet, and a fattier milk or cream is used with tahini to get those typical notes in a shawarma sauce. But that milk and acid base are present in both, and both sauces will break down in heat, saturating the meat. It’s just used in a different way.
White Shawarma Sauce in a Jar
You need a glass jar with a mouth opening large enough to fit an immersion blender to create the shawarma sauce. All the ingredients go in, adding a neutral oil last. Place the immersion blender to the bottom and blend until thickened. Move it up and down for good measure, and you’re done. The sauce will thicken more when refrigerated.
Parlsey can be added in and mixed after the emulsification process. Add more water if needed to thin it out or get the consistency desired.
How to Store White Shawarma Sauce
The glass jar used to make the shawarma sauce can be covered and refrigerated until needed, and then the sauce is mixed to loosen it and spooned over the shawarmas. Another option, which I quite like and makes for easier drizzling over the meat, is to empty it into a squeeze bottle. Much the same as Shawarma shops do, and use that to refrigerate the sauce until needed.
The sauce will thicken even more when refrigerated, so give it a good stir in the jar or a good shake in the bottle before drizzling that goodness.
If you have it in a squeeze bottle and the sauce is too thick. Cover the tip with your finger and give it a shake. Then point the bottle downward. Swing your arm around to move all the sauce to the top and then use it to drizzle over the shawarmas.
White Shawarma Sauce adjustments
It’s easily customizable! Adjust how you see fit for a specialized white shawarma sauce tailored for you.
- Want more of a garlic punch? Add more garlic cloves.
- A bit more zesty: add more lemon juice.
- Add a small amount of yogurt or mayo for that denser creamy taste.
- Want it spicier? Increase the black pepper or add another source of heat such as cayenne pepper, chili flakes, or white pepper.
- Cream: Anywhere between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup can be added, depending on how thick or thin you want it, and it also contributes to the color and creaminess. The more fat, the better it emulsifies. The less fat, the thinner it is.
- Thinner: add water and mix. You can also use a less fatty cream or use 3.25% milk. I wouldn’t go less than this.
- A stronger tahini taste: add more tahini.
- Sweeter taste: Add white sugar.
My go-to for a Halifax Shawarma with Tzatziki and this Halifax Shawarma Sauce! Beautifully donair-spiced and marinated chicken meat, with lettuce, onions & tomatoes on steamed pita bread, opened up to create a pocket to stuff everything in. That’s a wrap!
Ingredients
- 2-3 Cloves Garlic - or more
- 1 Tbl Tahini - can exchange with 1 tsp sesame oil or more
- 1 Tbl Lemon Juice
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Parsley, Sea Salt & Black Pepper - each
- 2 1/2 Tbl 18% Cream & Water - each
- 3/4 C Sunflower Oil - or other neutral oils
Instructions
- Jar Shawarma Sauce: Add all the ingredients to a glass jar, with the oil being added last. Place the immersion blender in and press it to the bottom. Purée until thickened, and then move it up and down for good measure.
- Storage: Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Optionally, empty into a squeeze bottle so that the sauce can be drizzled over the Shawarmas. Mix before using.
Notes
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