Sheet-Pan Döner Kebab Recipe • 5★

Recipe from Michael Wilkes and Nefise Kansu

Adapted by Korsha Wilson

Updated December 29, 2025

Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Spencer Richards.

Döner, a staple street food across the Middle East and beloved the world around, gets a home-friendly remix in this recipe, which cleverly uses scrolls of parchment paper and a hot oven to achieve the hearty browning and thin slices you’d get from carving meat from a vertical spit. This recipe is adapted from Michael Wilkes, who posts on TikTok under the handle MezeMike and learned the technique when cooking with his fiancée’s mother, Nefise Kansu, in Cyprus. The thinness of the meat mixture is key here, so take your time rolling it out between the sheets so the meat crisps evenly while baking. Many hands also make this recipe feel like a party, so invite guests to join in, rolling sheets and helping to break them up after baking. —Korsha Wilson

Featured in: How to Make Döner Kebab Like a Cypriot Mom

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2 medium onions, cut into large dice

¼ cup olive oil

2 pounds ground lamb or 85- to 90-percent ground beef

Heaping ½ cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt, plus ½ cup for the sauce

1 ½ tablespoons smoked paprika

1 ½ tablespoons dried oregano

1 ½ tablespoons ground cumin

1 ½ tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (preferably Aleppo pepper), or less to taste

1 tablespoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)

1 tablespoon black pepper

Lemon wedges, for squeezing

Pita bread, sliced tomato, lettuce and thinly sliced onions, for serving

Step 1Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Step 2In a food processor, blend onions with olive oil until a paste forms. Transfer to a large bowl.

In a food processor, blend onions with olive oil until a paste forms. Transfer to a large bowl.

Step 3To the bowl, add lamb, yogurt, spices, salt and pepper. Using clean hands, mix everything until the mixture is evenly brown with no visible pockets of spices or onions.

To the bowl, add lamb, yogurt, spices, salt and pepper. Using clean hands, mix everything until the mixture is evenly brown with no visible pockets of spices or onions.

Step 4Place a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a clean counter or cutting board. Top the sheet with a heaping handful of the mixture and lay another sheet of parchment on top. Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture between the two sheets so it’s about ¼-inch thick.

Place a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment paper on a clean counter or cutting board. Top the sheet with a heaping handful of the mixture and lay another sheet of parchment on top. Using a rolling pin, roll the mixture between the two sheets so it’s about ¼-inch thick.

Step 5Working from the longest side, begin rolling parchment onto itself like a cinnamon roll. If some of the mixture spills out the ends, it’s OK — just tuck it back in as best as you can. Place the roll onto a rimmed sheet pan.

Working from the longest side, begin rolling parchment onto itself like a cinnamon roll. If some of the mixture spills out the ends, it’s OK — just tuck it back in as best as you can. Place the roll onto a rimmed sheet pan.

Step 6Repeat the previous two steps with the remaining lamb mixture, laying the rolled parchments next to one another on the sheet pan. (You should have about four rolls.)

Repeat the previous two steps with the remaining lamb mixture, laying the rolled parchments next to one another on the sheet pan. (You should have about four rolls.)

Step 7Bake until the parchment rolls have released their fat onto the sheet pan, about 20 minutes, and remove from oven. Pour any drippings into a small bowl. Return pan to oven and bake for 15 minutes more, until the parchment begins turning a dark brown. Let cool on the pan.

Bake until the parchment rolls have released their fat onto the sheet pan, about 20 minutes, and remove from oven. Pour any drippings into a small bowl. Return pan to oven and bake for 15 minutes more, until the parchment begins turning a dark brown. Let cool on the pan.

Step 8Once the rolls are cool enough to handle, carefully unroll them: Hold one side of the parchment and lift slightly so the cooked lamb mixture falls out naturally onto the sheet pan. Repeat with all the rolls. They should naturally break into pieces, but if they don’t, you can use kitchen shears to create strips, about 3 inches long for easier pita building. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the cooked meat.

Once the rolls are cool enough to handle, carefully unroll them: Hold one side of the parchment and lift slightly so the cooked lamb mixture falls out naturally onto the sheet pan. Repeat with all the rolls. They should naturally break into pieces, but if they don’t, you can use kitchen shears to create strips, about 3 inches long for easier pita building. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the cooked meat.

Step 9To serve, add the remaining ½ cup yogurt to the reserved drippings and stir. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper if desired.

To serve, add the remaining ½ cup yogurt to the reserved drippings and stir. Taste and adjust with more salt and pepper if desired.

Step 10Serve cooked lamb immediately with pita, tomato, lettuce, onions and yogurt sauce. Leftovers can be wrapped and kept refrigerated for a few days.

Serve cooked lamb immediately with pita, tomato, lettuce, onions and yogurt sauce. Leftovers can be wrapped and kept refrigerated for a few days.

This is a recipe that could greatly benefit by adding a video showing how to.

Broil the meat after you’ve unraveled it to get it extra crispy! I also tried this recipe with ground turkey and it worked great! Ate it on a bed of cucumber yogurt sauce

@Bill Respectfully, bill, no one is saying you can’t, but then you’d have a smash burger in a pita, which is not the same as a doner kebab. They’re similar in some ways, but not the same. It be that way with recipes.

made mistake of halving recipe for just 2 people...recipe then changed to direct 1/2C filling per sheet. yielded 4 skinny rolls. shoulve stuck with 1C per, 2 rolls which is what it says you should have at end of rolling a half recipe. still came out pretty tasty!

I’ll start off by saying that this recipe was absolutely delicious and went by fast in my house. However, I did have a couple issues: It took twice as long to make as the recipe says (I started cooking at 530 and dinner was on the table at 745), mainly because the spreading process is so difficult. Having the parchment sheet on top makes it so that- no matter how much meat you put -some of it will inevitably end up spilling out the sides getting all over your counter and rolling pin. In addition, if you put too much or too little meat you have no way of changing the amount without starting all over again. I found that simply using a wet hand- although a bit more tedious -ended up being less messy and gave me more flexibility for the amount of meat in my kebabs. I would try this again, but starting much earlier and with the different spreading technique.

Curious if others were able to prep this in 5 minutes as stated in the recipe? Maybe it’s because it was our first time but it took way longer than that…

Adapted from Michael Wilkes and Nefise Kansu

Source: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1027600-sheet-pan-doner-kebab