Healthy Eating in Dubai: Calories in Shawarma, Karak, Machboos and the Food You Actually Order

What do people in Dubai actually eat in a normal week?

Dubai eats from at least four kitchens at once. The Emirati table is built on rice, fish, red meat, spices and dates, as DHA-licensed dietitian Sabina Nassar told Gulf News. The Levantine cafeteria supplies shawarma, falafel, hummus and manakish on almost every street. South Asian kitchens in Karama, Bur Dubai and Deira serve biryani, dal and paratha from breakfast to midnight. And a cup of karak, strong tea boiled with evaporated milk and sugar, punctuates the day.

On top of that sits the Dubai habit of delivery, the weekend brunch and, for one month a year, iftar. None of it has to be off-limits. What helps is knowing which part of each dish carries the calories, because it is rarely the part you expect.

Where a menu has no numbers, the figures in this guide come from USDA FoodData Central, the US government’s food composition database. It has no entry for some Dubai dishes, so where we use a close match we say so. Every figure is per 100 g unless stated, and the portion totals are our own arithmetic from those values.

How many calories are in a shawarma in Dubai?

A 250 g chicken shawarma-style wrap is about 460 kcal with 28 g of protein, using USDA’s gyro sandwich (FDC 2706962) at 184 kcal and 11.2 g protein per 100 g. USDA has no shawarma entry, and a gyro, meat sliced from a vertical spit and wrapped in flatbread, is the nearest match. A 350 g wrap from a busy Al Dhiyafah Road counter would be about 640 kcal on the same figures.

The swing factor in a Dubai shawarma is the toum, the white garlic sauce. USDA’s garlic sauce (FDC 2710169) is 683 kcal per 100 g and 74 g of fat. A single 30 g tub on the side is about 205 kcal, close to half the wrap again. Fries tucked inside the bread, which many Dubai counters do, add more.

• For fat loss: order a chicken shawarma plate instead of two sandwiches, ask for toum on the side and use half, and add the pickles and salad that come with it.
• For muscle gain: ask for extra chicken. Two 250 g wraps give you about 56 g of protein for roughly 920 kcal.
• For both: skip the fries inside the bread. You won’t miss them in the bite as much as you will in the numbers.

Is karak chai bad for weight loss?

Karak chai isn’t bad for weight loss, but three cafeteria cups a day add about 330 kcal you never notice. The calories come from the evaporated milk and sugar, not the tea. USDA lists whole evaporated milk (FDC 2705399) at 134 kcal and 6.8 g protein per 100 g, so each 30 ml splash adds about 40 kcal. Granulated sugar (FDC 169655) is 387 kcal per 100 g, so each 4 g teaspoon adds about 15 kcal.

If karak is your afternoon ritual, keep it and drop a teaspoon of sugar, or ask for it half-sweet. Two light cups a day instead of two strong ones saves about 220 kcal, roughly the same as a 30 g tub of toum.

Hummus, falafel and foul: how does a Dubai breakfast compare?

A Levantine breakfast of foul and bread is one of the leanest ways to start a Dubai day, while falafel is one of the most calorie-dense. Boiled fava beans, the base of foul medames, are 110 kcal and 7.6 g protein per 100 g in USDA’s data. Falafel made at home is 333 kcal per 100 g; USDA’s generic falafel entry, closer to a deep-fried cafeteria ball, is 514.

The olive oil poured over foul and hummus at the table is the usual hidden extra; FDC 2707367, fava cooked with fat, is 51 kcal per 100 g more than plain boiled beans. Ask for the oil on the side and pour a teaspoon. A plate of foul, an omelette and one Arabic bread gives you a breakfast with well over 25 g of protein.

How healthy are machboos, harees and other Emirati dishes?

Machboos, harees and the other Emirati classics are as healthy as the ghee in them. Gulf News asked two Dubai dietitians in 2020 how to lighten them. For machboos, spiced rice with chicken, lamb or fish, DHA-licensed dietitian Sabina Nassar advised using as little ghee as possible, choosing lean lamb or skinless chicken, and grilling the chicken instead of frying it. Harees, the wheat-and-meat porridge of winter and Ramadan, is often finished with ghee and sugar; she suggested cutting the ghee on top.

USDA has no machboos entry. Its chicken biryani (FDC 2706538), the closest rice-and-meat dish it measures, is 104 kcal and 7.2 g protein per 100 g, and meat biryani (FDC 2706490) is 145 kcal and 8.5 g. On those figures a 400 g plate is about 420 kcal with chicken or 580 kcal with lamb. Restaurant versions cooked with more ghee will run higher.

Samak mashwi, grilled fish, is the Emirati dish that needs no adjusting. Dubai Health Authority dietitian Farheen Dhinda called it a nutrient-dense source of protein in the same article. USDA’s grilled sea bass (FDC 2706296) is 143 kcal and 23.4 g protein per 100 g, so a 250 g fillet gives you about 58 g of protein for 360 kcal. Fish from Deira’s Waterfront Market, grilled with lemon and served with rice and salad, is a muscle-gain dinner on its own.

What do biryani, dal and paratha add up to in Karama and Bur Dubai?

A cafeteria lunch of biryani or dal with paratha, the staple of Karama, Bur Dubai and Al Qusais, swings from very lean to very heavy depending on the bread. USDA’s dal (FDC 2707427) is 145 kcal and 8.6 g protein per 100 g, so a 200 g bowl is about 290 kcal with 17 g of protein. Paratha (FDC 2707715) is 326 kcal per 100 g, so one 80 g paratha is about 260 kcal. A 60 g fried samosa (FDC 2708730, 310 kcal per 100 g) is about 186 kcal with 3 g of protein.

• Order dal with rice or one chapati rather than two parathas, and add a grilled chicken or a raita if you need more protein.
• Chicken biryani is the leaner of the two biryanis by USDA’s numbers, 104 against 145 kcal per 100 g.
• Treat samosas and pakoras as a snack, not a side: two samosas are about 370 kcal before the karak.

How should you eat during Ramadan in Dubai if you train?

During Ramadan, eat a balanced iftar and suhoor, get your protein across those two meals and keep training light and short. The UAE government’s Ramadan guide notes that the fast is traditionally broken with dates and laban, and that harees and threed are common dishes of the month. Working hours in the UAE fall by two hours a day during Ramadan, for Muslim and non-Muslim employees alike.

1. Break the fast with two or three dates, a glass of laban and water, then a bowl of lentil soup.
2. Pause before the main plate. Grilled chicken, fish or kebab with rice and salad covers most of the evening’s protein.
3. At suhoor, choose slow food: foul, eggs, Greek yoghurt or labneh with bread, and plenty of water.
4. Keep the sweets to a couple of pieces, and drink water through the evening rather than juice.

Our sessions run until 6:30 PM UAE time, so a fasting client in Dubai can train in the hour or two before iftar, with a lighter session of mobility, core and moderate strength, or at 5 AM after suhoor. There are no evening sessions after iftar. If you have a medical condition, check with your doctor before training while fasting.

What does a fat-loss day of Dubai food look like?

A fat-loss day in Dubai can be built entirely from cafeteria and supermarket food and still reach 150 g of protein. This one comes to about 1,840 kcal, using USDA values for each item. Your coach scales the portions up or down to your size and goal.

What does a muscle-gain day of Dubai food look like?

A muscle-gain day in Dubai is easier than it sounds, because the city runs on grilled meat, rice and bread. This one comes to about 3,150 kcal and 224 g of protein from USDA values, sized for a large, active man; scale the portions to your own size and training.

How do you order healthy food in Dubai without weighing it?

• Sauce on the side, always. Toum is 683 kcal per 100 g. A tablespoon is plenty.
• Plate over sandwich. A shawarma or kebab plate lets you see the meat, the rice and the salad separately and leave what you don’t need.
• Grill over fry. Samak mashwi, shish tawook and kebab beat fried fish, broasted chicken and falafel on calories per gram of protein.
• Read the menu calories where they exist. Around 700 Dubai food businesses agreed to show calories voluntarily in 2019; use them when they are there.
• Keep brunch to one day. A Friday or Saturday brunch is part of Dubai life. Plan a lighter breakfast and an evening of grilled protein and salad around it.
• Drink water with every karak. In a city where summer highs average 40°C, thirst is easy to mistake for hunger.

Our Dubai online personal training page explains how sessions work in UAE time, our guide to personal trainer costs in Dubai compares prices across the city, and staying fit in Dubai covers where to run and how to train through summer. Other emirates are on our UAE page.