Fattoush

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 5 mins

Total: 20 mins

Servings: 6 servings

Fattoush is a popular salad in Middle Eastern cuisine and especially in Lebanon. It’s similar to Italy’s panzanella salad, which is a bread salad made with toasted croutons. Toasted bread cubes also feature prominently in Caesar salad, where the bread is often seasoned with grated Parmesan cheese. In panzanella, though, just as with fattoush, the bread is folded into the salad and is meant to absorb the dressing. Can we just say…yum!

Panzanella is frequently made with hunks of sourdough and fattoush typically uses pita bread. But there's no hard and fast rule about it. You can tear up whatever toasted bread you like and include it in fattoush because it's more a method than a rule. The important element is that the bread is mixed in to absorb the dressing as opposed to being just a garnish on top.

You may also add whatever vegetables are in season that you have around such as asparagus. But the typical base of all Middle Eastern salads is lettuce, cucumber, and tomatoes with frequent appearances by radishes and onions.

Typical Middle Eastern dressings also rely on some tried and true ingredients. Namely, a basic vinaigrette made with olive oil, garlic, and lemon juice rather than vinegar. Sumac, with its lemon taste, is a common dressing ingredient as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients

For the Salad:

• 5 cups pita bread, torn into 1-inch pieces

• 2 large tomatoes, diced

• 1 cup cucumber, diced

• 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed 

• 1 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed 

• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

• 1/4 cup diced green pepper

• 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into small pieces

For the Dressing:

• 3 cloves garlic, crushed

• 3/4 cup olive oil

• 1/2 cup lemon juice

• Salt, to taste

• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

• Ground sumac, to taste

Steps to Make It

For the Salad

1. Gather the ingredients.

   

2. Pre-heat oven to 400 F. Place torn pita bread onto a baking sheet.

   

3. Toast the pita bread in a preheated 400 F oven for about 5 minutes. Set aside.

   

4. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, toasted pita, cucumber, tomatoes, green peppers, onion, parsley and mint leaves together.

   

For the Dressing

1. Gather the ingredients.

   

2. In a small bowl combine the garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Whisk together well.

   

3. Pour the dressing over the salad, garnish with sumac to taste, and serve.

   

Recipe Variations

• Rather than large tomatoes, use 2 cups of cherry tomatoes cut in half.
• You can add many spices to this according to your tastes. Some good options would be sumac, which gives a lemony flavor, or cumin, which has the quintessential taste of Middle Eastern cooking.
• Add chickpeas for a heartier salad.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories	477
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 28g	37%
Saturated Fat 4g	20%
Cholesterol 0mg	0%
Sodium 500mg	22%
Total Carbohydrate 49g	18%
Dietary Fiber 6g	20%
Total Sugars 5g
Protein 9g
Vitamin C 35mg	177%
Calcium 135mg	10%
Iron 4mg	25%
Potassium 642mg	14%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.