Fattoush Salad

This fattoush salad will quickly become your favorite salad. Crispy pita, tangy dressing, and lots of fresh herbs will make this an instant favorite.

At a glance

What stands out: The salad makes a big batch so you can serve it for more than one meal.

How long it takes: about an hour
Equipment you’ll need: baking sheet, large bowl, small bowl or jar
Servings: 10

You guys, we are so excited about this recipe. This is hands-down our favorite salad. We were going to split it up and give you the dressing recipe first, and then follow with the salad in a different post but the truth of the matter is:

a) You need both in your life, stat.

b) They’re best together. BFFs. Match made in heaven. Soulmates. They’re not meant to be with anyone else, so why share them separately?

This fattoush salad has been a restaurant and carryout favorite since the moment we first tasted it (probably 12 years ago) and ever since, we've been slowly trying to create our own version at home. Admittedly, it’s been a slow process. Before we moved to the west side of Michigan, we had speedy and straightforward access to a standby authentic fattoush practically around every corner. The push to make our own wasn’t too big at that time.

Then we moved and everything changed. We were on the hunt for fattoush (Middle Eastern food in general, to be honest), and we found fattoush, but it was never real fattoush. At least not in our minds. We have finally found one restaurant that we like quite a bit, but it’s a good 30 minutes from our house.

The little recipe in our notebook full of recipe ideas quickly became a front-runner, needing to be developed ASAP.

We're happy with how this recipe turned out, and better yet, Ben loved it too. He’s even pickier about fattoush than we are probably because he grew up eating it.

We've already made this salad multiple times, and we don’t foresee myself stopping anytime soon.

About Fattoush Salad

Fattoush is a Middle Eastern salad — its key characteristic are the pieces of crispy, toasted pita. The pita is often fried, but we bake ours. It gives the same crunch without the fried taste (or the calories).

The salad itself typically consists of fresh romaine, tomatoes, cucumber. Sometimes there is radish, sometimes onion, sometimes red cabbage. We love it the way we make it (obviously), but sometimes we'll get crazy and add celery. It’s not at all traditional, but we like the crunch, especially if we don’t have radish on hand.

The dressing is made with sumac (sumac is a game-changer!), pomegranate molasses, lemon, garlic, olive oil, dried mint and a little vinegar. We like the dressing nice and tangy, but we've also seen some creamier varieties with milk or yogurt in them.

• This recipe makes a BIG salad. Great for a group but also great for meal prepping. Serve half of the salad for dinner tonight and save the other half for dinner later this week. Fattoush makes great lunches, too.
• A bit of information about sumac: You might be wondering if you need it and the answer is yes, you do. Find it at a specialty grocery store or on Amazon, but do not skip it. It’s 100% what makes this salad stand out from the rest.
• Pomegranate molasses: If you HAVE to skip something, skip the pomegranate molasses (but you shouldn’t). If you can’t find it, you can substitute honey.

What To Serve With Fattoush

• Grilled Marinated Chicken: This Greek-style chicken marinade works well with the salad.
• Shish Tawook
• Chicken Kofta
• Lamb Kofta (recipe by Gordon Ramsey)
• Marinated Lamb Chops with Garlic and Herbs

Keeping leftovers

We recommend storing the dressing separately (refrigerate in a jar), keeping the crispy pita in a ziploc bag, and waiting to add the tomatoes to the salad until you serve it. Tomatoes kinda lose their flavor and texture in the fridge.

• Yield: 10 servings
• Prep: 30 minutes
• Cook: 14 minutes
• Total: 59 minutes

Ingredients

For Dressing:

• 4 teaspoons ground sumac
• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice ( 1 or 2 lemons)
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (can substitute honey)
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon dried mint
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

For Crispy Pita:

• 2 pita bread rounds (8-inch diameter)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon sumac

For Salad:

• 1 head romaine lettuce, trimmed, cut crosswise into ½ -inch strips (8 to 10 cups chopped lettuce)
• 3 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 10 radishes, thinly sliced or chopped (or up to 15, depending on size)
• 1 English hothouse cucumber, quartered lengthwise, thinly sliced crosswise
• 2 cups loosely packed flat leaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
• 5 scallions, thinly sliced (green onions)
• ½ cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped

Method

1. Combine 4 teaspoons of sumac with 4 teaspoons of warm water in a small bowl and set aside for 15 minutes
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush both sides of pita bread with olive oil and sprinkle both sides with salt and sumac. Cut pita in bite-sized pieces and spread into a single layer on a baking sheet.
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. You can work on the rest of the salad while they bake!
4. In a jar or a measuring cup, combine sumac with the water it was soaking in, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, garlic, vinegar, dried mint and salt. Add olive oil while whisking (or if in a jar, pour it in and cover and give a good shake). Taste and season as needed.
5. In a large bowl (find a really big one!), combine lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, parsley, scallions, and mint.
6. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine (you may not need all the dressing).
7. Top with crispy pita immediately prior to serving.

Notes

Storage: Refrigerate dressing in small jar or covered container; pita crisps in airtight container. Add dressing to salad right before serving, along with tomatoes, and pita crisps.

If desired, replace the dressing with a commercially made vinaigrette.

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.