Lebanese Fatteh

5 from 2 votes
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Lebanese Fatteh is a flavor and texture delight! This Middle Eastern classic dish of layered toasted pita chips, yogurt, chickpeas, pine nuts, spices, and other garnishes is simple to prepare and wonderful for small or large groups.

Lebanese fatteh in a blue bowl with a fork alongside

In the world of beloved Lebanese recipes, fatteh is a unique experience–and a favorite one. The dish is a combination of textures, layering warm chickpeas, pita chips, beautiful garnishes, and garlicky yogurt sauce. Sound nacho-esque?! It is, but with the Middle Eastern flavors we can’t get enough of.

Fatteh is a dish that I first experienced not at the family table, but a restaurant! I remember thinking that if I had a pita chip for every time I discovered or developed a new Lebanese recipe that I wish could have been in my first cookbook, I might have enough chips to fill a big platter for fatteh…. 

What struck me most about that restaurant fatteh is how suitable–how easy, and how delicious!–it is for home cooking. 

Golden brown pita chips on a sheet pan

What is Fatteh?

“Fatta” or fatteh is the Arabic word for bread crumbs or cut in pieces, referring to the use of pita chips in the recipe. Pita chips were traditionally made from leftover pita cut into pieces, or chips, and refreshed by frying or toasting them in the oven.

Think of fatteh like a Middle Eastern-style nacho dish . . . but with crispy pita chips to scoop up the garlic yogurt sauce, hearty chickpeas, and a very flexible array of garnishes for the top of the fatteh. Fatteh is layers of pita chips, yogurt, warm chickpeas, toasted pine nuts, and other toppings all assembled just before serving.

Why you’ll love this Lebanese fatteh

First reason most of us love fatteh so much is it’s foundation: crunchy pita bread chips that provide a delicious texture and flavor with all of the creamy, hearty goodness heaped on top. Every element of the fatteh is readily available at the grocery store (yet they are of course wonderful homemade: the plain yogurt, crispy pita chips, chickpeas cooked from dry). 

ingredients for Lebanese fatteh in small bowls of labneh, chickpeas, radish, pine nuts

Ingredients To Make Lebanese Fatteh

Keep in mind that I’m presenting one simple, vegetarian version of chickpea fatteh–there are many variations to enjoy that you can improvise (see substitutions below). Here are the ingredients:

Chickpeas. Use canned chickpeas or cooked from dry

Yogurt, to make a creamy yogurt sauce, essential to fatteh. Use labneh, Greek Yogurt, or plain yogurt (any fat content works but whole milk or “full fat” tastes best!)

​Crushed garlic

Fresh lemon juice

Pita chips, store-bought or made yourself with leftover pita

Scallions (green onions), thinly sliced

Radish, grated

Toasted pine nuts

Fresh mint, finely chopped

Pomegranate seeds

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (try my favorite Lebanese Olive Oil from my shop to go with your Lebanese Fatteh…!)

How To Make Fatteh

One of the exciting things about making fatteh is how quick and easy it is to pull together

Make the pita chips (if using homemade)

Step 1. Cut up 2 loaves of pita bread. Spread them out on a sheet pan and coat with oil and salt.

Step 2. Bake at 375°F for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Prepare the Chickpeas and yogurt sauce

Step 1. Warm the cooked or canned chickpeas in a sauté pan with olive oil and garlic.

Step 2. Make a tangy yogurt sauce by mixing the yogurt with the garlic, a pinch of salt, and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Warm the sauce over low heat and keep warm until serving.

Assemble the fatteh

In two individual serving bowls or one large platter, mound the warm chickpeas in the center. Spoon a big dollop of the yogurt mixture on top. Surround the chickpeas with the pita chips, scallions and radish, then garnish with pine nuts, fresh mint, and pomegranate seeds. Serve immediately to keep the pita chips crunchy!

What To Serve with Lebanese Fatteh

Fatteh is a main dish unto itself! It is often eaten as a brunch dish. Serve fatteh with a crisp, highly seasoned Lebanese salad. This vegetarian fatteh is delicious alongside grilled or roasted meats such as Lebanese Beef Kafta, Chicken Shish Tawook, and Chicken Shawarma

Garnish of pomegranate seeds in a white dish for Lebanese Fatteh

Tips for making the best fatteh

1. Take care not to over-heat the yogurt mixture. Yogurt is finicky when it meets heat, so simply warm the yogurt over low heat just before spooning it into the serving dish.

2. Use good pita chips. This means homemade baked or fried pita chips, or store-bought fried pita chips. The pita chips that come in a box in the cracker aisle of the grocery store are not generally the texture and flavor we love in a pita chip. 

3. Assemble the fatteh just before serving, so that the pita chips stay crunchy and don’t get soggy.

4. The yogurt for this recipe can be any fat level, but whole milk yogurt is the creamiest, most delicious, especially given that the yogurt is a main ingredient in the recipe and flavor of fatteh. Make sure your yogurt is plain, unflavored yogurt. If using labneh or Greek yogurt, increase the lemon juice if needed to make the yogurt saucy.

5. To assemble the fatteh, the pita chips are often the first ingredient in the serving dish. I like them on top to keep them crunchy and because they look so good! Pita chips can be layered in both at the bottom of the dish and on top as a garnish.

6. Give the Lebanese way of toasting pine nuts a try! In a small pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil or butter on medium heat. Add the pine nuts and stir constantly until golden brown. Salt liberally. 

Toasted Pine Nuts in a pan with a wooden spoon

Substitutions & Additions

There are so many great variations for fatteh! The fun of it is you can add whatever you want from the produce or protein you have on hand

1. One of the finest fatteh dishes I have eaten was at a restaurant, the famous Lebanese Taverna in Washington, D.C.  Their menu offers at least three variations on fattah: with fried eggplant, with roasted lamb, with chicken. I went for the eggplant and swooned.They used roasted (or was it fried?!) eggplant in the mix with all of the other ingredients we have in our chickpea fatteh here. Eggplant fatteh is divine! Add the cooked eggplant along with the chickpeas in the assembly process.

2. Another popular way to eat fatteh with with chicken. Use shredded chicken meat from a roasted chicken you make yourself, or from a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. When assembling the fatteh, place the chicken in the dish first.

3. Ground beef or lamb, cooked with diced onion and seasoned with spices, lemon juice, tomato sauce, and/or tahini is delicious here. Again, when assembling the fatteh, place the cooked ground meat in the dish first. 

4. Change up the yogurt sauce by adding tahini to make a garlicky tahini yogurt sauce for your fatteh. You can also add cooked white long grain rice, cooked brown rice, or cooked coarse bulgur to the yogurt mixture for more heft.

5. Garnishes can vary easily too. Finish with chopped fresh parsley or mint, a dash of 7 Spice, ground black pepper or dried mint, a drizzle of olive oil.

More Lebanese Recipes with Yogurt

Koosa in Yogurt Sauce is stuffed summer squash poached in minty, garlicky yogurt. Try the same treatment with Kibbeh in Yogurt Sauce, Kibbeh bi Laban, using kibbeh balls poached in highly seasoned yogurt sauce.

Make my Creamy Yogurt Cucumber Salad with a great method for keeping the cucumbers crunchy.

Yogurt works to tenderize in marinades, as in my Yogurt Marinated Chicken, which is a fan favorite here!

Yogurt, pita chips, chickpeas, radish in a blue bowl for lebanese fatteh
5 from 2 votes

Lebanese Fatteh with Pita Chips, Chickpeas, and Yogurt

By Maureen Abood
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 16 minutes

Ingredients 

For the pita chips:

  • 1-2 loaves pita bread
  • 2 tablespoons neutral oil or extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the chickpeas:

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas (drained)
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the yogurt sauce:

  • 2 cups plain whole milk yogurt
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

For the garnishes:

  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
  • 2 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
  • 2 radishes, grated

Instructions 

Make the pita chips (if making homemade):

  • Make the pita chips. Heat the oven to 375°F and line a sheet pan with parchment. Cut the pita into 1- to 2-inch pieces and pile them on the sheet pan. Drizzle the bread with oil and sprinkle with salt. rub the bread pieces to thoroughly coat with oil and salt. Bake for 10 minutes, stirring the chips and rotating the pan as needed until they are golden brown. Set aside.

Warm and season the chickpeas:

  • In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and warm just until fragrant (but not browned). Add the chickpeas and salt, stirring to coat with the garlic olive oil and warm the chickpeas, about 3 minutes. Keep warm on low heat.

Make the yogurt sauce:

  • In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the yogurt, garlic, salt, and lemon juice. Warm through for about 3 minutes, and keep warm on low heat.

Assemble the fatteh:

  • In two serving bowls or one larger platter, mound the warm chickpeas in the center. Spoon the yogurt sauce on top. Surround or cover the chickpeas and yogurt with the pita chips. Garnish liberally with pine nuts, scallions, pomegranate seeds, fresh min, and grated radish. Serve immediately.

Notes

Tips and Substitutions
1. Eggplant fatteh is divine! Add roasted or fried eggplant along with the chickpeas in the assembly process.
2. Another popular way to eat fatteh with with chicken. Use shredded chicken meat from a roasted chicken you make yourself, or from a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. When assembling the fatteh, place the chicken in the dish first.
3. Ground beef or lamb, cooked with diced onion and seasoned with spices, lemon juice, tomato sauce, and/or tahini is delicious here. Again, when assembling the fatteh, place the cooked ground meat in the dish first. 
4. Change up the yogurt sauce by adding tahini to make a garlicky tahini yogurt sauce for your fatteh. You can also add cooked white long grain rice, cooked brown rice, or cooked coarse bulgur to the yogurt mixture for more heft.
5. Garnishes can vary easily too. Finish with chopped fresh parsley or mint, a dash of 7 Spice, ground black pepper or dried mint, a drizzle of olive oil.

Nutrition

Calories: 1361kcal | Carbohydrates: 83g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 102g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 21g | Monounsaturated Fat: 53g | Cholesterol: 64mg | Sodium: 5806mg | Potassium: 1655mg | Fiber: 18g | Sugar: 29g | Vitamin A: 997IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 763mg | Iron: 7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author: Maureen Abood
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 16 minutes
Calories: 1361
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24 Comments

  1. Hello Maureen,
    Thank you for all that you share. It has been an absolute pleasure to venture throughout your blog. Your cookbook is at the top of my purchase list.
    Given that my father was born and raised in the Middle East (Palestine and Egypt), your recipes have taken special space in my heart. Although there exist slight differences between Lebanese cuisine and other places in the Middle East, I have to say that they are ALL delicious and unique.
    Would you mind describing the fried eggplant that was served with your fattah at the restaurant?
    Was it cubed? Garlic? Vinegar/lemon?
    I would love to make your fattah with your sides as well as some eggplant…because really, eggplant makes everything better! 🙂
    Thanks again.

    1. Thank you Christina, so much! The eggplant was very very simply prepared, lightly dusted in salted flour and fried probably in vegetable or canola oil. You are inspiring me to post about fried eggplant now….

  2. What a mouth-watering dish, Maureen. You’re photography is amazing. I’m sooooo hungry now!

  3. Hi Maureen just tried your father for lunch it was amazing!!! I added sumac on top of it and it gave it an extra touch!

  4. Mm, sounds and seems quite delicious, as well as healthy! A vegetarian meal that even a crazy all-around food player like me will fancy very much.

  5. Oh wow, this sounds absolutely perfect right now – I love pita, cucumbers, AND pomegranates – so together like this sounds great! Definitely have to give this recipe a shot!

  6. Yum! This looks so good! I love the mix of flavors from Lebanon and the Middle East. I definitely want to give this recipe a try one day! Cucumbers, eggplant, mint, and pomegranate? All the ingredients sound delicious to me!

  7. Maureen, I am so entranced with the flavors of Lebanon and the Middle East and your site always gives me delicious—and beautiful—new recipes to try. I’m outfitting my home garden with ingredients; just harvesting favas, getting ready to plant eggplant and cucumbers, always have mint, and the pomegranate tree is blooming! Thank you for the inspiration and sharing your love of your family food.

  8. Your version is beautiful! I bought all the ingredients to make this myself after our dinner but have yet to do it! I am inspired now! What a wonderful reminder of our delicious dinner in DC. I can’t wait to make this for real! 🙂

    1. Wasn’t that fun and delicious Danielle! Let me know how yours goes–I bet you’ll do the eggplant with it too….

  9. Well, I guess I didn’t order the most, but my 5 copies came on Wednesday. It is the most beautiful cookbook I’ve ever seen. And the stories really add to the hominess of the recipes. I also like the pages of explanation as to how an ingredient is made or properly handled. This comes naturally when around the “natives” but has been lost with the passing generations. I hope these are of help to my children. It’s also much larger than I expected.

    OK enough of that. Get busy on the sequel!

  10. Connie, I just have to say that your post brought tears to my eyes–it is so wonderful to have Maureen’s blog, not only for its inherent beauty and emotion, but to bring together those of us across this great land to hear our stories of arrival from the old world to the new.

  11. My two daughters and myself all received your new cookbook in the mail yesterday. The first thing all three of us did was to open it and read the introduction (the acorns don’t fall far from the tree). We all laughed when we found out what we had all done identically. I love to read your family stories and the touching dedication and introduction were right up there with your best efforts. I was very touched.by the warmth and love. Oh My! Your book is just too wonderful. It is the very best Lebanese cookbook I have ever seen. I can not wait to start preparing the recipes. In fact I have made a plan to cook one new recipe each week until I have made every one of them. I am also thinking of trying to journal my efforts as I go along. My wish is that you are already working on your next cookbook and really hoping that it will be published by the time I have made it through this one. I am giving you five stars on this book***** Thank You for all your hard work and efforts. I now have a new treasure thanks to you. Peace and Blessings.

  12. Such a lovely compliment from one of your reviewer’s–we all feel the same. I have ordered seven copies of your beautiful book for my nieces, for my generation of cousins, and, for their young daughters who are starting their own families. Love and appreciation are coming your way from all over the land!!!

  13. Dear Maureen,
    My name is Conni Pasciak and I have lived in Harbor Springs for the past 28 years. My husband and I both work for American Spoon. I believe you must be the woman that Noah has spoken to me about. 🙂
    I have to share with you that I had the opportunity to do one of my favorite things yesterday, which is going downstairs of
    Mclean & Eakin Book Store and sit in the comfy chair and look at wonderful cookbooks! Yesterday, one of the delightful books I opened was yours! 🙂 You’re cookbook is wonderful and quite beautiful!
    My maiden name is Saide. My grandparents on my Father’s side, came from Syria in the early 1920’s to Ellis Island and made their home in Highland Park, Michigan on Victor Ave. My Grandfather Jido, had a store and then opened the LaMar Barber College, first on Victor Ave. then moved to Woodward Ave. and my Uncle Sam took it over after my grandfather passed away. My Father was 100% Syrian and my Mom is english, irish, etc. Justin Rashid and I have a lot in common in that both our Fathers were 100% and our mother’s were not. My Sito taught my mom how to cook and my mom was a natural! I am so thankful to have that passed onto me!
    I lived in Highland Park until I was 13, and we moved to the suburbs in 1971. I am so thankful for being able to live in the Detroit area and be able to experience how wonderful it was! I sure hope and pray that it does come back.
    I was reading your blog one day, the day you were sharing about Mujaddara. I have to stop and interrupt myself and share that there were two smells that I remember vividly as a child that made me sick and that was the day my mom would make Mudaddara and the smell of perm solution! 🙂 So, as I was reading your blog and how you shared how much you disliked everything about Mudaddara as a child, I just sat there and laughed, because it was just like I had wrote those words myself!
    I absolutely love to cook and bake and I love cookbooks!!! So I just wanted to introduce myself to you and say hello and thank you so much for your beautiful blog and cookbook and for your love for great food!!!!

    1. Connie, what a special pleasure to meet you here. Thank you for taking time to share all of this–we are kindred spirits! Here’s to all that we share, our Lebanese culture and our beautiful north (and that early dislike of the mujadara!!)!