Easy Homemade Doner Kebab

If you are a bit familiar with Turkish cuisine, you know the world-famous döner kebab, the irresistible, juicy enormous kebab cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Here is an easy homemade version of Turkish doner kebab that tastes as good as the real thing.

There are zillions of kebabs in Turkey, so it won’t be wrong to call it “the country of kebabs”. Among all these, the most famous ones are doner kebab and chicken shish kabob. Also check out our adana kebab recipe and lamb shish kebab recipe.

Jump to:

• What Is Turkish Doner Kebab?
• What Is Doner Meat Made From?
• Ingredients For Homemade Doner Kebab Recipe
• How To Make Doner Kebab Meat
• Is Turkish Döner Kebab The Same As Shawarma?
• Turkish Doner Kebab Spice Mix
• Types of Turkish Döner Kebabs
• How To Serve Doner Food
• What Goes Into A Doner Sandwich/Wrap?
• More Turkish Fast Food Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What Is Turkish Doner Kebab?

Döner is just one of the kebabs in Turkey. Meat and fat are stacked on a rotisserie to form a huge cylinder shape. It is cooked vertically and rotating slowly. The outer parts are cooked as it rotates and those parts are carefully shaved thinly. Those thin slices are served in the form of a sandwich or a wrap with lavash bread. The taste of a good doner kebab depends highly on the following:

• the quality of meat(lamb or beef)
• the ratio of meat and fat
• how slowly it is cooked

Although doner is served with a variety of sauces and sides today, you really don’t need anything to complement a good quality, delicious döner kebab. That’s why there are traditional doner shops in Turkey that are serving plain doner. No sauces or sides. 

Ingredients For Homemade Doner Kebab Recipe

• Onion, pureed and sieved. We need its juice only. Don't add in the pulp.
• Ground beef (15% fat). You can use a mixture of lamb mince and beef mince if you want.
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Garlic powder
• Isot pepper/Urfa biber. If you can’t find it, use paprika instead, but the aroma of isot pepper is stronger.
• Yogurt
• Milk
• Butter to cook döner in the pan

Tip: If you don’t want to cook all of it at one time, slice it as you need and wrap the rest and put it back into the freezer. And you can easily repeat the same process when you crave for doner kebab. Make sure it doesn’t stay outside the freezer long, so you need to slice it as quickly as you can. 

Is Turkish Döner Kebab The Same As Shawarma?

Although the cooking method of Turkish doner kebab and Middle Eastern shawarma is the same, they are not completely the same dish. The sides or sauces that are served with these equally famous street foods make the difference. Shawarma, which is famous in Israel and Arabic countries, is mostly served with tahini and hummus dip while Turkish doner meat is traditionally served with sumac onions. 

Another difference between these two street foods is that shawarma is a lot spicier than döner. The seasonings used in the preparation of meat are not the same. A classic shawarma seasoning is made of coriander, cumin paprika, turmeric, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, cardamom and cinnamon. On the other hand, a classic doner kebab seasoning contains fewer spices. 

Turkish Doner Kebab Spice Mix

The seasoning in the marinade of Turkish doner meat has the following spices:

• salt
• black pepper
• cumin
• oregano
• garlic powder
• isot pepper/Urfa Biber 

You can easily make this doner spice mix at home and keep it in a jar to use in all meat dishes.

Types of Turkish Döner Kebabs

Döner is one of the most famous Turkish street foods and it has three main varieties in the country:

• Classic Doner Kebab, which is explained above
• Iskender Doner Kebab: It is served over sliced pita with a butter sauce, tomato sauce and a dollop of yogurt on the side. Go check out our Homemade Iskender Kebab Recipe!
• Yatik Döner (Cağ Kebabi): As the name suggests (yatık means horizontal in Turkish), this doner is cooked horizontally in the same huge. Unlike classic döner, this one is made with lamb meat and doesn’t contain any ground meat. Yatık doner is not as common as the other two doner kebabs in the country, probably because it requires really good quality lamb meat, which is not easy to access everywhere.

How To Serve Doner Food

You can serve Turkish doner kebab in a few ways:

• Plain with sumac onion salad
• Accompanied by rice pilaf with orzo and roasted tomatoes
• Wrapped in a Turkish style lavash bread and called dürüm.
• Sandwiched in a Turkish flat bread bazlama or in a Turkish loaf bread

What Goes Into A Doner Sandwich/Wrap?

A classic doner sandwich/wrap contains sumac onions, a simple shepherd salad and french fries. You don’t see ketchup or mayo in a classic doner, but chain doner restaurants or the ones serving in big shopping malls have the option with ketchup and mayo. 

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