Roasted Potato Wedges with Shawarma Sauce
Years ago I tried my hand at Chicken Shawarma and the marinade that I made was so tasty that I swore I’d use it as a dip some day. Soooo, I finally did it. These Roasted Potato Wedges were the perfect vehicle for the creamy, garlicky shawarma sauce and its warm spices. To finish it out, I added some chopped fresh parsley and just a touch of crumbled feta (I had that stashed in my freezer). You don’t need a lot of feta, just a light sprinkle, to really contrast the creamy sauce.
Goes great with: Super Fresh Cucumber Salad, Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Wraps, Greek Marinated Chicken, Greek Turkey Burgers
Roasted Potato Wedges with Shawarma Sauce
How to Serve Roasted Potato Wedges with Shawarma Sauce
You can serve these potatoes a couple of different ways. You can dress them out with drizzled sauce and sprinkled toppings like I did below, and leave the eater to sop up the drippings with each wedge. Or, you can mix the feta right into the bowl of shawarma sauce, sprinkle the parsley on top for effect, and let the eater dip the potato wedges like a chip. Either way, I think it’s a really fun dish for entertaining and it’s one of those things that is probably best served when it’s fresh and hot out of the oven.
Roasted Potato Wedges with Shawarma Sauce
Ingredients
SHAWARMA SAUCE
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt* ($0.44)
- 1 clove garlic, minced ($0.08)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves ($0.02)
ROASTED POTATO WEDGES
- 2 lbs potatoes ($2.00)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano ($0.03)
- 1/8 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.03)
TOPPINGS
- 1/4 bunch parsley ($0.25)
- 1 oz crumbled feta ($0.63)
Instructions
- Prepare the shawarma sauce first, so the flavors have time to blend. Stir together the yogurt garlic, lemon juice, oregano, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in a bowl. Set the sauce aside.
- Begin to preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash the potatoes, then cut them into wedges. Place them on a large baking sheet so they are in a single layer with at least a small amount of room around each piece.
- Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes, then add the garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Toss the potatoes until they are well coated in the oil and spices.
- Roast the seasoned potatoes in the oven for 30-35 minutes, stirring 2-3 times throughout, or until they are golden brown on all sides.
- While the potatoes are in the oven, roughly chop the parsley and crumble the feta. After roasting the potato wedges, remove them from the oven, drizzle the shawarma sauce over top, and then sprinkle the parsley and feta over everything.
Notes
Step by Step Photos
Make the shawarma sauce first so they flavors have time to blend and mellow. Combine 1/2 cup plain yogurt (not Greek-style), 1 clove minced garlic, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp ground cloves in a bowl.
Stir the ingredients to combine, then set the sauce aside. The cinnamon flavor will be up front in the sauce when it’s first mixed, but as the flavors infuse the garlic becomes more prominent and the cinnamon retreats a bit.
Begin preheating the oven to 400ºF. Wash two pounds of potatoes, then cut them into wedges. Place the potato wedges on a large baking sheet so that they are in one layer and have a bit of room between each piece. Drizzle 2 Tbsp olive oil over the potatoes, then sprinkle with 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Toss the potatoes until they are well coated in oil and spices.
Roast the potato wedges in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until they are golden brown on all sides. Stir the potato wedges a few times during roasting. I like to stir once at 15 minutes, then again around the 22-25 minute mark. The sides of the potatoes that are touching the baking sheet are the sides that will brown the fastest, so make sure they get flipped as you stir.
Drizzle the shawarma sauce over the roasted potato wedges…
Then top with chopped parsley and crumbled feta. You really do not need a lot of feta at all. Just a small pinch.
If you’re not into messy eating, you can always stir the crumbled feta into the shawarma sauce and use it as a dip for the roasted potato wedges. :)
the potatoes were great. was not a fan of the take on shawarma sauce. it was way too nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves for me.
Delicious! I made these last night along with Greek marinated chicken. Everyone loved it! My wife said the spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves) in the sauce were very “seasonal”.
Just curious, but could you sub the potatoes with sweet potatoes?
I’m not sure I’d like those flavors together, personally.
That sauce looks so good! Can’t wait to give it a try (maybe on burgers and sandwiches too!).
This looks awesome! I pin and make about 75% of your recipes :-) We love your sticky ginger soy chicken and sweet chili tofu bowls!
I made these last night and they were awesome! I have a picky 5 year old so we kept the sauce on the side. He loved the potatoes! He at least tried the sauce and said he “might like it in a few years when he is older”
These look AMAZING!
This question is a bit of a long shot, but…any ideas for making a similar sauce without any dairy? I’d prefer whole foods, to something with lots of artificial ingredients. Maybe ? Obviously, it would be different, but any ideas?
That was supposed to be, “maybe tahini”.
There’s really no replacement for yoghurt or milk in these kind of sauces. You could however make a kind of humus with these spices, add more of them, though, since the chickpeas will need quite some flavour.
Another option is to use a thick coconut cream, although that obviously changes the taste from tangy to more sweet.
Hmm, I’m really not sure. I don’t have much experience trying to substitute dairy in recipes. :(
What about soy yogurt? It’s just soymilk that has cultures added to it, like dairy yogurt. Nancy’s brand has a plain, unsweetened one that’s pretty tangy and would work well here.
YUM! These look amazing. This may not be possible, but I have to ask… can you think of any good substitute for yogurt? I can’t… I can’t have dairy, but all of the other ingredients looks SO GOOD I had to ask!
I really can’t think of anything off the top of my head. The yogurt lends such a unique flavor and texture to the sauce. :(
Soy yogurt would be a good substitute in this recipe. I’m not a fan of most of the vegan cheese substitutes, so I would play with strongly flavored veggies to sub for feta (olives, marinated artichoke hearts, huitlacoche, etc)
A yogurt based garlic sauce is pretty common for shwarmas in the middle east–I might try using some thinned down hummus or baba ganoush instead (available pre-prepared in your supermarket) or just skip the sauce entirely as the potatoes have plenty of taste on their own. When I lived in Saudi Arabia, an Egyptian co-worker often showed up with fresh falafil for breakfast and always used a thinned down eggplant sauce similar to baba ganoush as garnish–it was a delicious treat!!!
Shawarma anything has my number. What a creative way to showcase it (and to use up my leftover taters too.)
Exceptional work Beth! We love oven roasted potatoes but never tried them this way before. We’ll try them with garam masala (which is very similar to the cumin-clove-nutmeg combo) and your awesome sauce! Thank you for the yummy recipe!
Mirella and Panos
This looks awesome! I love the addition of shawarma sauce :D