Last Updated on September 25, 2020 by Sweet and Savoury Pursuits
This easy to make, homemade Lebanese Fattoush Salad is made with simple healthy ingredients and a bright zesty dressing. Serve the salad as a side or as a light main course.
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This Fattoush Salad is full of fresh and crispy vegetables, toasted pita chips and aromatic herbs. The bright and fresh dressing is packed with flavour and makes every bite of this salad delicious. This salad is just perfect for those hot summer days when you don't want anything heavy!
What is Fattoush
Fattoush is a Middle-Eastern salad made with toasted or fried pieces of pita bread, fresh parsley and mint, and vegetables such as romaine lettuce, tomatoes, radishes and cucumbers. Variations of the dish exist throughout the Middle-East.
You will find most recipes for Fattoush call for ground sumac. If you are not familiar with sumac, it is a spice that is made from the berries of a sumac bush. It has a tart peppery flavour that is difficult to substitute.
It can be found in the spice section in Middle-Eastern markets, in well-stocked grocery stores or online. If you're unable to find it you can leave it out.
How to Make it
Start by toasting the pita bread, you can use white or whole wheat. I like to split the pita bread so it's only one layer and toast it in the oven using the broiler function. If you want to keep both sides together, you'll have to flip the bread to toast the other side of the loaf. Toast the bread until it is golden, let it cool and break it into bite-sized pieces.
While the bread is toasting, wash and dry all the vegetables and herbs and chop the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
To make the dressing, place all of the ingredients in a small jar and give it a good shake. You'll notice I used both freshly squeezed lemon juice and red wine vinegar to make the dressing. I like combining both and find the dressing extra delicious that way, but feel free to use only lemon juice or red wine vinegar, just use the total amount for both in the recipe.
Place all of the salad ingredients in a large salad bowl, add the sumac and toasted pita chips on top and pour the dressing on. Toss the salad and serve immediately!
Useful Tips
- Use fresh produce.
- Dry the lettuce and vegetables thoroughly before chopping them. Too much water in your greens will make the lettuce go limp and your bread go soggy quickly.
- Since toasted pita chips do soften up when they're tossed into the salad, it's best to add the bread right before tossing and serving.
- Use your hands to toss the salad with the dressing. Doing this ensures you coat every piece with some of the dressing.
Variations of this dish exist depending on the availability of fresh seasonal produce, so don't hesitate to use different salad greens, different varieties of tomato and cucumber. Also if you don't have fresh mint you can use a bit of dried. If I make this salad in the winter and don't have fresh green onion, I just use a bit of red onion or even a small shallot.
What to Serve with Fattoush
If you want to serve Fattoush as an accompaniment to a main, you could serve the salad with grilled meats, like these kafta kebabs, or lamb chops, fish, and even roast chicken. The salad would pair beautifully with almost any simple dish where the main ingredient is a protein. And of course, it goes wonderfully with other Middle-Eastern dishes.
If you're wondering if this dish is waistline-friendly, this particular fattoush salad has approximately 359 calories in one serving. Though this salad is very healthy, it goes without saying that it is not suitable for people who are on a low-carb (or keto) diet as a main ingredient is bread.
I would love to know if you make this recipe. Let me know how it went for you and if you made any substitutions. Enjoy!
More Delicious Salads
If you make this recipe let me know how it went for you in the comment section below. I'd love to know if you made any variations to the recipe and how it worked out. And if you take a picture, share it with me on Instagram by tagging #sweetandsavourypursuits, I love to see your photos!
Fattoush Salad
Ingredients
Fattoush Salad
- 3 small pita loaves, split into two disks toasted until golden brown and broken into small pieces.
- 1 head romaine lettuce chopped
- 2-3 Persian or Lebanese cucumbers chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 red pepper chopped
- 3 radishes sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped parsley italian or curly
- 1 green onion (or scallion) sliced thinly
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves chopped
- 1 teaspoon ground sumac optional
Fattoush Salad Dressing
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or more lemon juice
- 1 medium garlic clove grated or minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt more to taste
- 1 pinch freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Fattoush Salad
- Split the pita loaf into 2 disks. Toast the pita bread in the oven until golden. Remove from oven let cool and break into bite-size pieces.
- Wash, dry and chop all salad ingredients.
Fattoush Dressing
- Place all of the dressing ingredients in a jar, put the lid on and shake until the dressing has emulsified.
Assembling the salad
- Place the salad greens in a large salad bowl, add the sumac and pita chips. Pour the dressing on and toss. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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