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5 from 25 votes

Halal Guys Copycat Chicken

Copycat recipe for the Halal Guys chicken in their chicken and rice bowls on the streets of NYC. 

Ingredients

  • 3.5-4 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
  • juice of two lemons
  • 1.5 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp sumac
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 6 garlic cloves pressed or minced
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • pinch of cayenne pepper optional
  • ½ cup greek yogurt
  • ½ cup olive oil
  • salt to taste I used about a tablespoon
  • 1 1/2 large onions, peeled and sliced in half long ways this will be 3 large pieces total
  • 3 medium sized wooden skewers

Instructions

  • Ideally made the night before!  24-48 hour marinade gives the best flavor!
    Unpackage boneless, skinless chicken thighs and pull of or cut off any large pieces of fat. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the large onions and wooden skewers.  Mix everything together until well combined and all of the chicken pieces have marinade rubbed on them.  Cover and set in fridge to marinade.  

  • Once marinading time has finished, remove from fridge and preheat oven to 400°. Peel onions and cut in half horizontally. Place 3 onion pieces flat side down on a baking sheet (make sure it has edges as there will be lots of 'juice'). Place skewers into a triangle shape, one in each onion piece. Take chicken thighs and layer one by one on onion skewers, alternating between skewers.
    ****I've also found this works if you just have large metal skewers and do a whole row of single chicken on them and place them over the onions!***
     Remove onions off the bottom of the skewers (you can keep them on if you want but the 'chicken tower' will most likely fall over) and place chicken tower laying on top of onions.  Place in oven and bake 45 minutes on one side and then carefully grab skewers and flip to cook the other side for 45 minutes.  This will ensure both sides get 'crispy edges.' This also cooks all those onions in chicken fat and seasonings and creates magic!  Once done (and temp has reached 165°), remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.  While it's cooling, carefully finely chop up all those caramelized baked onions. Then carefully remove chicken from skewers. Mix chicken and chopped up onions together.  Voila!  You've got the chicken part DONE!