Fattoush Salad (My Family's Recipe - الفتوش)

This fattoush recipe is unchanged from my childhood, passed down from my mother from hers and so forth. Fattoush is Lebanon’s version of a garden salad with sour dressing and toasted pita bread for extra crunch.

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Jump to:

• 😋Why you’ll love this recipe
• ✔️What you’ll need
• 🥘Ingredient Notes
• 🔪How to make fattoush salad
• 💡What to serve with?
• 💭Pro Tips
• 🍳Variations
• 🥘Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Community

Fattoush (الفتوش), pronounced as "faht-toosh" in Arabic and sometimes written as Fatoush or Fatush in English, is the Lebanese garden salad served almost always with lunch or dinner. 

This salad reminds me of my childhood home, Mum would make this traditional fattoush salad in a large plastic bowl and would always give us a few pieces of crispy fried Lebanese pita bread to eat whilst waiting for food to be ready.

As we got older, and perhaps wiser, the fried bread turned into baked bread - albeit fried just tastes so much better.

Sometimes we omit the bread altogether (when we're being carb phobic), though this Lebanese salad just isn’t that satisfying fattoush taste without it and isn’t the same.

Another couple Lebanese salad to check out - Rocca Salad. It's a much simpler salad made with arugula as the main leafy green. Or one made of cabbage called Malfouf Salad.

😋Why you’ll love this recipe

• It’s refreshing salad that’s easy to make with a wonderfully sour taste
• It pairs with so many foods
• And of course, it's healthy!

✔️What you’ll need

Note - Lebanese cucumber is also known as Persian cucumber.

🥘Ingredient Notes

Cos Lettuce (Romaine) is the best lettuce for this salad, however, Iceberg lettuce can be used also, as they are very similar.

Purslane is a wonderful green that is usually found growing in your backyard. It can be found at a Middle Eastern grocer.

Purslane can be consumed both raw or cooked, try my purslane puff pastry pockets. If you can’t get your hands on purslane, just leave it out.

Lebanese pita bread* - can be found at your local supermarket or online. You can use either white or brown varieties.

If you prefer to opt-out of bread, you replace it with red cabbage for some crunch.

Sumac* - a widely used red spice (from the sumac berries) across the Middle East.

Sumac has a wonderful sour taste and is a key flavor in fatoush. Sumac can be found in your local supermarket or online*.

Skipping this ingredient is not recommended.

Pomegranate Molasses* - another key flavor of fattoush which again has a light sour taste.

Available at your local supermarket or purchased online - my go-to brand is Cortas. Skipping this ingredient is not recommended.

Mint - my family loves using the combination of fresh and dried mint. It really does boost the flavor. 

🔪How to make fattoush salad

Step by Step Guide

Step 1 - Bake Lebanese flatbread in a preheated oven 180C (356F) until golden brown. Approx. 5 minutes. Set aside.

Step 2 -  Whisk all salad dressing ingredients together, set aside

Step 3 - In a large salad bowl, combine all vegetables and herbs and toss through the fattoush dressing.

Place fattoush in a serving plate and crush baked Lebanese bread into bite-sized pieces on top. Serve immediately

💡What to serve with?

Fattoush is one of Lebanon’s national salads (the other is tabouli). 

It is served generally with all types of mishwe (Arabic word for bbq) or with dishes such as vegan lebanese kibbeh (a burghul type of loaf), Mujadara (lentils and rice), Mujadara Hamra (lentils and bulgur), vegetable rice (mixed veggies with toasted nuts) or try the delicious bulgur pilaf in a base of fresh tomatoes.

It is also delicious with maklouba, an extravagant dish of upside down rice and vegetables.

💭Pro Tips

All cups are loosely filled

Adjusting the dressing - Pomegranate molasses* will darken this salad considerably if too much is added.

If you are wanting to increase the amount of sumac, I recommend doing this little amount at a time as it can be too strong for some people. 

For a crunchy fatoush salad, add the dressing just before serving and don’t mix the bread through or serve it on the side.

For a juicy fattoush - add the dressing 30 minutes prior to serving. All the ingredients would’ve had the time to soak in the juices

🍳Variations

Traditionally Fattoush uses fried Lebanese pita bread, baking the bread is a healthier alternative.

Garlic - a couple of cloves of garlic can be crushed into the dressing if desired.

On rare occasion, I do this (add garlic), though it is not traditionally used in my family’s fatoush salad recipe.

🥘Related Recipes

Another Lebanese salad to try is a refreshing cucumber and yoghurt salad or my go-to salad when I am short on time but want something filling is balela salad.

Did you enjoy making this fattoush salad? I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment below and give me a rating. This will help me sustain Plant Based Folk. Whilst you're browsing for salads, I recommend checking out my cold noodle salad, it's refreshingly good.

Alternatively, did you happen to take a photo? Tag me @plantbasedfolk on Instagram to be featured via stories.

Janelle x

📖 Recipe