Fattoush: The Sumac-Dressed Levantine Salad (Authentic Recipe)

Fattoush is the Levantine table's answer to a tired green salad: crisp vegetables, torn herbs, shards of toasted bread, and a dressing built around one ingredient that does most of the work — sumac. That deep-red, lemony spice is what separates a real fattoush from a generic chopped salad, and it's the part most home cooks under-use.

Here's how to make it properly.

What makes fattoush, fattoush

Two things: the toasted pita (khubz) folded through at the end, and the sumac. The bread gives texture; the sumac gives that bright, tart, slightly fruity edge that lemon alone can't reach. Everything else is flexible.

Ingredients

For the salad

• 2 Lebanese cucumbers (or 1 English cucumber), chopped
• 3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 1 romaine heart, roughly chopped
• 4–5 radishes, thinly sliced
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• ½ cup fresh mint leaves
• 2 pita breads, toasted until crisp

For the sumac dressing

• 1½ tbsp sumac
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp pomegranate molasses (optional, for depth)
• Salt, to taste

Method

1. Toast the pita until crisp and golden, then break into bite-sized shards. Set aside.
2. Whisk the dressing: sumac, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, pomegranate molasses, and a good pinch of salt. Let it sit five minutes so the sumac blooms.
3. Combine the cucumber, tomato, romaine, radish, spring onion, parsley, and mint in a wide bowl.
4. Pour over the dressing and toss gently.
5. Add the pita shards last, fold through once, and serve immediately so they keep their crunch.

Tips

• Add the bread at the very end. Fold it in too early and it goes soft.
• Taste your sumac first. Good sumac is tangy and fruity, not dusty or overly salty. If yours tastes flat, the salad will too.
• Sprinkle extra sumac on top just before serving for colour and a final hit of tartness.

The sumac makes or breaks it

Fattoush lives and dies by its sumac. Pre-ground supermarket blends are often cut with salt and lose their brightness quickly. A pure, well-stored sumac keeps that ruby colour and sharp, lemony flavour the dish is built on.

👉 Shop MELevant Ground Sumac

New to the spice? Read Sumac: The Levantine Spice Explained.