I love Middle Eastern cuisine. Baba ghanoush, falafel, tabouli, you name it— it’s some of my favorite food. I was craving a feel good meal this weekend, so I decided to try my hand at a classic, fattoush salad.
Fattoush (فتوش) is a levantine bread salad which originated in Lebanon, but is also common in Syria and other Middle Eastern counties. Fattoush includes toasted or fried pieces of pita bread mixed with greens and fresh vegetables. It generally also includes cucumber, tomato, and other ingredients depending on season, location, taste, etc.
The dressing is slightly sour and acidic, using a healthy serving of lemon juice and sumac. Since I didn’t have sumac, I used zatar seasoning to give the salad a full flavor. I also used store bought pita chips to save time, but I’m sure this recipe would be even better if you used homemade pita bread for the crunch. This is a deceptively easy salad to make considering the robust flavor combinations. Why not give it a try?
What’s your favorite Middle Eastern recipe?
Cheers,
Jocelyn
* Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are my own!
Fattoush Salad
Prep Time: ~20 minutes; Yield: Serves 6-8
Ingredients: 
- 4 cups romaine lettuce
- 1 large cucumber, chopped into bite size pieces
- 4 roma tomatoes, chopped into small chunks or 1 cup, halved cherry/grape tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, finely diced
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup lemon juice (or use a lime/ lemon combo)
- ½ cup parsley, chopped
¼ cup mint, chopped
- 1 tablespoon zatar seasoning
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1+ cup toasted pita bread pieces
- Optional:
- red onion, diced
- green or red pepper, diced
- black olives, sliced
Directions:
- Chop the lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, and green onion. Mix well in a large bowl.
- Combine the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, zatar seasoning, and salt & pepper to taste.
- Add the pita chips into the salad mixture.
- Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- Enjoy!
Try using sumac instead of the zatar seasoning and in order to get that tyical tangy fattoush flavour.
Really enhances and makes for an authentic meal.
I was fresh out! The zatar worked well, but you’re right, it’s not the traditional method!
Mmm.. I love those pita chips.
I’m also a huge fan of Middle Eastern cuisine. A local hummus restaurant opened up last month and I love going there at least once a week to feast! I’d love to try this salad myself at home.
I’ve never heard of fattoush salad. But it looks really good. I love a good salad, especially in the spring and summer. Just very refreshing. Even though I know I should eat more of them in the fall and winter lol. Thanks for sharing!
Never heard of this kind of salad but it looks awesome. Will have to find all the stuff to make it.
This looks like a yummy and healthy dish to make for the family. I am excited to try this! THANK YOU for posting this one!!
🙂 I hope you like it. If you can find sumac, that’s a more traditional spice. However, zatar is much easier to find in stores!
I have never tried this sale. It sounds really good. I’m betting my daughter would love it. I’m not much of a cook, but this is something I can handle.
This sounds really delicious… and looks it too. This may be a great addition to my recipe list! Bookmarking for later. Thanks for sharing.
what a fun idea of use pita chips…i need to try zaatar seasonings, everyone keeps talking about it.
I don’t think I’ve ever tried middle eastern cuisine. Hmmm, I really need to remedy that! This recipe looks completely droolworthy. Definitely trying it.
My husband and I make this salad often, I love fattoush salad and it is very fulfilling too! Now I want to tryout your recipe, thanks for sharing this post! I too booked marked it so I can make this over the weekend.
I love trying new cultural food. I never heard of fattoush salad before. I would love to try it and the dressing made to go with it sounds up my alley.
Trust me – it’s good! 🙂
This is the first time I heard about fattoush salad and upon reading your blog post it awakens my curious tastebuds. Will definitely give this a try!
My first taste of Fattoush Salad came from a Yotoam Ottolenghi recipe. It’s one of our favorites. With tons of fresh greens, juicy tomatoes, crisp red onions, toasted pita bread, crunchy cucumbers, a zesty lemon dressing .. it’s a classic!
Admittedly, I think I like it because of the crunchy carbs!
Yum! This sounds amazing. It’s lunchtime right now, and I’d love to have one of these. Anything with pita bread and salad is good to go in my book.
Fattoush is one of my all-time favourite salads! I actually have a Lebanese colleague who makes it all the time and brings me leftovers to work! Lucky me 😉
I don’t have any – i’ve never eaten Middle Eastern food before
I’ve never actually had fattoush salad so I’m excited to try it! Looks pretty easy to make and yummy! 🙂
So glad I came across your blog, I’m always looking for new recipes. This sounds amazing! I love all the different spices that middle-eastern food usually entails.
Abby