Julie Van Rosendaal/The Globe and Mail
Learning to cook has never been more accessible – skills we once sought out at cooking classes or on TV now infiltrate our social-media feeds in two-minute snippets, making it possible, while riding the subway or waiting in line at the bank, to learn how to, say, make your own donair meat from scratch.
One of the latest dishes to ride the social-media wave is the homemade donair kebab, which gained traction thanks to British TikToker MezeMike, whose November, 2025, post has racked up well over nine million views.
The technique is brilliant: Blend ground meat – beef seems to be the most common, but ground chicken or turkey or even plant-based ground works well too – with onion, yogurt and spices, then roll the mixture out very thinly between two sheets of parchment, loosely roll it into a log and bake in the oven. The cooked rolls unravel into sheets of tender seasoned meat you can tear into large pieces or eat as-is. It tastes just like the sizzling meat they slice off the vertical rotisserie into pitas at your favourite donair kebab shop.
Homemade Donair Kebabs
Both the Halifax-style and Lebanese garlic sauce recipes make more than you need but will keep well in the fridge for up to a month.
Meat:
- 1 lb ground beef, lamb, chicken or Beyond or Impossible ground plant-based meat
- 1/2 medium purple onion, grated (save the other half to stuff inside the pita)
- 1 large spoonful plain yogurt (about 2 tbsp)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp paprika or chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
Toum (Garlic Sauce):
- 1 cup whole, peeled garlic cloves
- 1 tsp salt, plus extra as needed
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)
- 2 1/2-3 cups canola or other neutral vegetable oil
Halifax-style Sauce:
- 1 300 ml can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/3-1/2 can white vinegar (use the condensed milk can to measure)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or to taste)
For serving:
- 4 pitas
- Chopped tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers or other veggies
- Chopped pickles or pickled turnips
- Sumac
To make the donair meat, preheat your oven to 400 F.
In a bowl, combine the ground meat, grated onion, yogurt, spices and salt, blending with your hands until well combined.
Divide the mixture into four balls. Place one on a piece of parchment paper (tear off about a 16- to 18-inch length) and place another piece on top. Roll with a rolling pin or spread with your hands until it’s very thin and even. Peel off the top piece (you can use it to roll out the next ball) and loosely roll the meat up into a cigar shape. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.
Continue rolling out the remaining meat, starting with the piece of parchment you peeled off the top of the rolled meat before it, placing all four rolls on the baking sheet. If you like, drizzle some chunks of pepper, purple onion or other veggies with oil and place them on the sheet alongside the meat rolls to roast.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the meat has cooked through. If you want to crisp it up, unroll the meat back onto the baking sheet, drain any excess liquid and return to the oven.
To make the toum: Put the garlic into the bowl of a food processor along with the salt and pulse until it’s minced. Add a small pour (a couple tablespoons) of the oil and pulse, scraping down the side of the bowl once or twice, until it’s ground even further.
With the motor running, slowly pour in a bit of the lemon juice and then a bit of the oil. Continue alternating lemon juice and oil until everything has been added, and you have a thick, wobbly, fluffy white mixture. Taste and add a bit more salt if it needs it. Transfer to a container and store in the fridge for up to a month.
To make the Halifax-style sauce: Empty the can of sweetened condensed milk into a small bowl. Use the condensed milk can to measure about 1/3 can of vinegar and and whisk in with garlic powder until smooth. Taste and adjust the vinegar and garlic, if you like.
When cool enough to handle, unroll the rolls and tear the meat into large pieces. To assemble the donair kebabs, separate each pita into pockets to fill, or put filling onto whole pitas. Spread with toum (or other sauce) and top with donair meat, roasted or fresh veggies, pickles, sumac and anything else you like. Wrap and eat.
Serves four.
