The UK’s favourite takeaway is no longer Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken Tikka Masala has long been considered the unofficial dish of the UK, a popular takeaway choice for a night in with the telly.

Pizza, burgers, and fish and chips are also popular choices, but one dish has taken the crown this summer.

What was the UK’s favourite takeaway this summer?

The Chicken Shawarma Wrap has been crowned the Takeaway of the Summer by Deliveroo in its first annual prize.

Traditionally, shawarma is made by stacking seasoned meat on a vertical rotating spit, where it is slowly roasted and shaved into thin slices. It is typically served in flatbread with garlic sauce, salad and sometimes chips, often with other add-ons available and vegetarian options too.

Orders of the Middle Eastern wrap have increased by 70% compared to last year, according to the delivery service, putting it firmly at the top of the list of Britain’s most-loved takeaways for this summer.

Shawarma also proved to be an evening dinner dish, with orders peaking at 7pm, with Friday by far the busiest.

Jeff Wemyss, Deliveroo general manager UK & Ireland, said: ‘Chicken Shawarma has spent years as the wrap you order at 11pm – reliable, delicious, always there.

‘This summer, it became the main event. Independent grills up and down the country have been serving the dish rooted in generations of culinary tradition for years, and we couldn’t think of a more deserving winner for Deliveroo’s Takeaway of Summer 2026.’

Across Britain, Middle Eastern restaurants, family-run grills and street-food spots have been serving shawarma for years. What has changed is its visibility.

The takeaway option has increasingly become part of the mainstream food scene, appearing on menus alongside burgers and pizza.

A Deliveroo report reveals that over half of the restaurants selling shawarma this summer didn’t sell it at all a year ago.

The shawarma surge could also have been bolstered by the football. A wrap and a cold drink make for a pretty compelling match-night combination, or a source of solace after watching England lose their chances at the World Cup.

Plus, record-breaking heatwaves this summer might have deterred the nation from ordering more fiery options.

Is this just a fad?

Food fashions come and go. One year it is smashed burgers, the next it is a viral dessert.

But Shawarma has the advantage of being rooted in a long culinary tradition. It can be traced back to the 19th-century Ottoman Empire, evolving from the Turkish döner kebab, rather than being created specifically for social media hype.

Shawarma and related vertical-spit roasted meats gained wider popularity in the UK during the 1970s and early 1980s.

This growth was driven by Middle Eastern and Turkish immigration, with London’s Edgware Road becoming a key hub for Arab and Levantine eateries during that era.

Chicken shawarma may have won the summer, but its success is less about a sudden craze and more about Britain finally giving a long-established dish the attention it has quietly earned for decades.

So while chicken shawarma is having its moment in the spotlight, the trend is unlikely to disappear when the weather turns colder.

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