Lebanon
From the mezze table to the grill, Lebanon’s everyday cooking is bright with parsley, lemon and olive oil — herb-heavy salads, smoky chickpeas, and garlicky charcoal skewers. Here are twenty of its most-loved dishes.
Labneh
Thick, tangy strained yogurt swirled onto a plate and drowned in olive oil — on the Lebanese table at breakfast and mezze alike.
Baba Ghanouj
Charred eggplant hand-mashed with tahini, lemon and garlic — smoky, chunky, and pooled with olive oil.
Batata Harra
Crispy potato cubes tossed in a sizzling garlic-cilantro-chili oil — the mezze that disappears first.
Warak Enab b’Zeit
Grape leaves rolled thin around a lemony rice-tomato-herb filling and simmered in olive oil — the meatless rolls eaten warm or cold, inverted onto a platter.
Tabbouleh
Lebanon’s iconic parsley salad — overwhelmingly herb, barely any grain, dressed simply with lemon and olive oil.
Hummus
The smooth chickpea-and-tahini dip at the heart of every mezze table — bright with lemon and garlic, pooled with good olive oil.
Kibbeh
Football-shaped croquettes of spiced lean-beef-and-bulgur shell stuffed with minced meat and pine nuts, then fried crisp — the epitome of Lebanese comfort food.
Fattoush
A bright ‘peasant’s salad’ of mixed vegetables and herbs in a lemon-sumac dressing, topped with crispy fried pita.
Shorbet Adas bil Hamod
The sour lentil soup — brown lentils, Swiss chard and potato in a lemony broth, finished with garlic and cilantro sizzled in olive oil.
Mujadara
A humble, beloved vegan one-pot of lentils and rice crowned with deeply caramelized onions — everyday Lebanese comfort food.
Kousa Mahshi
Pale little squash cored and stuffed with spiced rice and beef, simmered in a garlicky tomato broth — the Sunday labor of love.
Kafta bil Sanieh
Kafta patties baked in a tray under sliced potato, tomato and onion in tomato sauce — Lebanon’s beloved family casserole.
Riz a Djej
The celebration platter — cinnamon-spiced rice and beef under shredded chicken and a crown of butter-toasted nuts.
Samke Harra
Tripoli’s famous ‘spicy fish’ — baked white fish smothered in a warm tahini sauce cooked with cilantro, garlic and chili, showered with fried nuts.
Moghrabieh
Giant semolina pearls in a caraway-cinnamon broth with chicken, chickpeas and whole pearl onions — Lebanon’s grandest one-pot.
Shish Tawook
Lebanon’s signature grilled chicken skewers — marinated in garlicky, lemony spiced yogurt until tender, then charred and served with toum.
Manoushe Za’atar
The za’atar flatbread of every Lebanese morning — soft dough spread with herbed sesame-sumac oil and baked hot.
Chicken Shawarma
The street-spit classic at home — thin-sliced chicken in a lemony warm-spice marinade, seared hard, rolled with toum, pickles and fries.
Knefeh
The Beirut breakfast of champions — molten cheese under a fine toasted-semolina crust, flipped, soaked in flower-water syrup, and stuffed into sesame kaak.
Maamoul
Molded semolina cookies filled with dates or walnuts, dusted with powdered sugar — pressed by the hundreds before Easter and Eid.
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts.