MAIN INGREDIENTS
Fattoush is a simple salad made with traditional pita bread as a base on which the rest of the ingredients are built on. Pita bread is torn or cut into small bite-sized pieces, then toasted, grilled, or fried. It is then mixed with a variety of vegetables such as lettuce, radish, crunchy cucumbers, cherry tomatoes or regular tomatoes, peppers, onions, and (occasionally) garlic.
All ingredients are chopped and cut into pieces and mixed with a generous amount of herbs, most commonly mint and parsley. The final touch to this authentic salad is the dressing, usually made with olive oil, lemon juice, and pomegranate syrup. The key ingredient, next to the crunchy pita bread, is sumac - a spice commonly used in the Levantine area.
MOST ICONIC Fattoush
View moreTabbouleh is a colorful Lebanese and Syrian national dish that is usually considered a salad, with a crunchy and chewy texture, made with fresh, finely chopped parsley leaves, olive oil, bulgur wheat, and chopped mint leaves as a base. It originated in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria, where edible herbs that are used in tabbouleh were consumed by Arabs since Medieval times.
Usually served as an appetizer, it is sometimes accompanied by pita bread, baba ghanoush, or hummus. Chopped red tomatoes, diced cucumbers, fresh lemon juice and minced onions can be added to the salad, imparting a tangy flavor. It is best to refrigerate tabbouleh for a few hours before serving to improve its taste.
MOST ICONIC Tabbouleh
Balilah is a traditional Middle Eastern salad, particularly popular in Saudi Arabia and Syria. It is a simple and healthy snack made primarily from cooked chickpeas. The chickpeas are typically served warm with diced cucumbers and grated beets, and seasoned with a mixture of spices, lemon juice, olive oil, and sometimes garlic and herbs.
The core ingredient is chickpeas (in Syria broad beans are also included), which are cooked until tender and then flavored with lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, salt, and sometimes other spices like black pepper, sumac, or paprika. Garlic and fresh herbs, such as parsley, are added for extra flavor.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 3 Lebanese Salads” list until April 15, 2025, 1,297 ratings were recorded, of which 442 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.