Fattouche salad (or fattoush salad) is a classic Middle Eastern chopped salad, with plenty of fresh and crisp veggies. It always includes lettuce, tomatoes, fresh herbs, cucumber, and radish, and I love having mine with purslane too. The hallmark feature of fattouche is the crispy pita bread chips that it’s topped with- a great way of using stale bread! Fatt in Arabic literally means to tear, and so the name reflects how leftover pita bread is torn up and fried or crisped up.
This is the salad we serve alongside almost every main meal. It rivals tabbouleh in popularity and you’ll usually find people who are team fattouche and people who are team tabbouleh and people who are both (me!). One of my favorite parts of fattouche is the tangy dressing, it has this lovely sweet undertone from the pomegranate molasses.
Much like this malfouf salad, this pairs so well with any grilled dish. We also enjoy it with a wide category of Middle Eastern favorite mains.
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Ingredients you need:
- Romaine lettuce: the dark green leafy type. Definitely my preferred lettuce for this salad, but you can also use lettuce of your choice.
- Purslane: you can leave this out if you can’t find it, but it’s just an additional green that gives really lovely flavor and texture to the salad. Feel free to add arugula, or baby spinach instead or just use all lettuce
- Tomatoes: juicy, red and ripe tomatoes for the best flavor
- Cucumbers: I’d go with Persian cucumbers if you have a choice
- Radish: You can leave these out but for me it’s a hallmark of a classic fattouche! The peppery flavor they give is quintessential in the salad.
- Green onions: I also really love using this in the fattoush, they give a little bite but they are milder than typical onions
- Pita bread: I like a thicker pita bread, so you get crunchier bites of bread. You can even do naan bread, or gyro bread. Honestly, any bread works, even typical croutons but for a classic fattouche salad, pita bread is what you’d choose.
- Olive oil: Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil to really make the dressing sing
- Lemon juice: You can also use limes, just go for the fresh stuff not the bottled.
- Garlic: an important part of the salad dressing
- Dried mint: I love the flavor that dried mint adds to any Middle Eastern dish! you may find this labeled asd dried mint leaves or mint flakes
- Sumac: This is a red and tangy spice made from dried sumac berries, very common in Middle Eastern cooking.
- Pomegranate molasses: This is a sticky, tangy, sweet and also sour molasses that adds such great flavor to the fattoush dressing. Like sumac, you’ll find this at most online retailers, a lot of larger supermarkets, and all Middle Eastern specialty supermarkets.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make easy fattouche:
- Step 1: Place pita bread cubes in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and add sumac.
- Step 2: Toss to combine thoroughly.
- Step 3: Spread pita bread onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Step 4: Bake until golden brown and crispy.
- Step 5: Add dressing ingredients to a small bowl or jar and combine.
- Step 6: Add all salad ingredients to a large serving bowl.
- Step 7: Mix well to combine.
- Step 8: Add dressing and toss, then top with crispy bread.
Hint: You can use an air fryer to make your crispy pita bread, that’s my favorite thing to do! You can make it up to a week in advance and store in an air-tight container. You’ll probably have extra crispy pita bread which is so nice to snack on.
Make ahead instructions:
You can make your dressing a week in advance and store in an airtight container or a jar. You can also cook your bread up to a week in advance. I’ve also chopped the veggies for the salad in advance and stored in an airtight container, then tossed the salad with the dressing and topped with the bread right before serving.
How to serve:
This is best served right after dressing, and I like to sprinkle the pita chips on at the complete last minute so they retrain their crunch- I often serve with extra pita chips too!
Recipe variations:
- Lettuce – instead of Romaine lettuce, you can use iceberg or lettuce of choice, and add a higher proportion of purslane to lettuce.
- Pita bread – you can leave this out entirely if you want this to be a gluten free salad, or use gluten free bread of choice. Try using naan bread, tortilla bread, gyro, multigrain, whatever you like!
- Jazzing this up – Adding grilled halloumi, crumbled feta cheese, avocado chunks, and/or pomegranate seeds is a great way to add some more flavor.
- Adding protein: feel free to add grilled chicken, salmon, chickpeas or lentils to add some extra protein.
Storing Leftovers:
Leftovers with dressing will get soggy the next day. I personally don’t like leftover salads, especially after they’ve been dressed. If you don’t mind a soggy salad though, you can store this in an airtight container and have it the next day.
If you have a lot of leftover pita chips, make this delicious fatteh! It’s one of my favorite recipes on my whole website.
Expert tips and tricks:
- Use fresh, crispy veggies. Obviously, they are the star of this salad!
- Taste the dressing and adjust- you want it to be tangy, a little sweet from the pomegranate molasses, and salty enough.
- Don’t add the pita chips on top until just before serving, you want them to stay crisp. I also like serving with extra pita chips on the side so everyone can add as much as they like!
Top Tip
Use kitchen scissors to cut the pita bread up into nice little pieces, I find this much easier than tearing or cutting with a knife.
Recipe FAQs:
Fattouche or fattoush is a traditional Middle Eastern salad made with fresh, chopped vegetables and crispy pieces of pita bread. The salad is typically dressed with a tangy lemon and olive oil dressing with sumac and garlic, and often pomegranate molasses (which I love!). Basically, fattouche was born as a way to use up leftover bread, much like fatteh, and is known for the contrast between the crispy pita chips and the crunchy fresh veggies.
Air fry or bake them until golden brown and crisp, and then don’t add them to the salad until directly before serving, in order to keep the bread pieces crunchy.
Fattouche is naturally vegan, there’s no honey or anything in the dressing. To make it gluten free, either omit the pita chips or use any gluten free bread in place of it.
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Pairing
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Fattouche
Ingredients
For the pita chips:
- 2 loaves of pita bread, I prefer the thicker kind
- 3 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 teaspoon sumac powder
For the dressing:
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (from 1 juicy lemon)
- 1 heaped tbsp pomegranate molasses
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1/2 teaspoon sumac powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the salad:
- 1/2 head romaine lettuce, chopped (about 12 leaves)
- 1 bunch purslane (baqleh, optional)
- 1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh mint lives, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, diced
- 2 cucumbers, diced
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 5-6 radishes, thinly sliced
Instructions
For the pita chips:
- Preheat air fryer or oven to 350F (180C) Using an air fryer or the oven, preheat to 180C/350F. If using an oven, line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Cut the pita bread into diagonal bite sized pieces, I like using kitchen scissors.
- Add to a large bowl and toss with the olive oil and sumac, until well coated.
- Either air fry by placing in air fryer basket or bake by spreading in a thin layer on the prepared baking sheet, 5-7 minutes in an airfryer and about 8-10 minutes in the oven, tossing halfway through, until golden brown and crispy. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
For the dressing:
- Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl, or add to a jar and shake until combined. Keep in fridge until ready to use.
Assembling the salad:
- Add all the salad ingredients (lettuce, purslane, parslely, fresh mint, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions and radish) to a large bowl or serving platter, and toss well to mix.
- Immediately before serving, drizzle with all of the salad dressing, and mix again until all the salad vegetables are coated in dressing. Top with the crispy pita chips, serving with extra chips if desired. Enjoy immediately!
Notes
- Use kitchen scissors to cut the pita bread to make it easier.
- Add the pita bread just before serving so it stays crispy
- Add halloumi or feta cheas, chickpeas or lentils, any protein you like, avocado and/or pomegranate seeds to bulk the salad up.
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