Middle Eastern Chicken Salad – A Low Carb Salad Similar To Fattoush

If you love fattoush salad but can’t eat the bread, try this low carb Middle Eastern chicken salad. It has all the flavors of fattoush in both the chicken and the salad and is FULL of flavor. Perfect with fresh herbs and vegetables from the garden and only 5g net carbs per serving

Here are two more delicious low carb salads to try: Kung Pao chicken salad or cheesesteak salad with Parmesan dressing.

First of all have you ever had fattoush? It’s the Middle Eastern version of the Italian panzanella salad. Usually it is made of cucumber, tomatoes and other vegetables with pieces of fried pita bread in it. It also uses a spice called sumac. I made some fattoush recently for my sister’s dinner party and I remembered how much I like it. However you know I try to keep it low carb so the pita bread is out. So today I substituted the chicken for the bread and it came out wonderful! My husband scarfed it up for dinner!

What Is Sumac Spice?

Sumac is a dried powdered fruit from a shrub. It is not the same plant as poison sumac but it is related. Poison sumac has white fruit clusters while sumac the spice has red fruit clusters and is commonly found in the Middle East. Here is more info about the differences. Sumac the spice has a tangy lemon flavor which is delicious in fattoush and many other Middle Eastern dishes. It’s less tart then lemon juice. 

Above you can see a jar of the sumac spice. It’s not commonly found in grocery stores but you can find it on Amazon.  Sometimes I see it in places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls in their gourmet food section. It’s a great spice to have and it is KEY to this recipe. I used it both in the marinade and in the dressing. And if you like Middle Eastern foods you can probably find many recipes that use this spice. 

Low Carb Middle Eastern Chicken Salad Recipe

The basics of this recipe is to start with the sumac dressing. You will use half of this to marinade the chicken and the other half will be the dressing on the salad. So marinade the chicken in the morning and then when you are ready to eat, saute the chicken and put together your salad. It’s very simple but I’m telling you the chicken is very flavorful as is the salad.

Sumac Salad Dressing And Marinade Recipe

The components are lemon juice, olive oil, sumac, salt and garlic. Please note that this is much better if you use a good olive oil for the dressing. You want that olive oil flavor  because it’s a bit of what makes this dressing delicious. Just whisk them all together set aside. 

If Not Low Carb, How To Make Fattoush

So if you don’t care about your carbs, try making fattoush with or without the chicken. Just take two pita breads and run them through the toaster twice so that they are dried out a bit. Break it into pieces and fry in a saute pan with good olive oil, sumac and salt. Add this to your recipe right before tossing the salad. It’s delicious! I hope you enjoy this low carb chicken salad and the nutrition for 1 serving is:

460 cals / 31.4g fat / 8.5g carbs / 3.5g fiber / 37g protein = 5g net carbs

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Low Carb Middle Eastern Chicken Salad

If you love fattoush salad but can't eat the bread, try this low carb Middle Eastern chicken salad. All the flavors of fattoush in both the chicken and the salad and full of LOTS of flavor. Perfect with fresh herbs and vegetables from the garden. Only 5g net carbs per serving

Course Main Course

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Keyword chicken, low carb, marinade, salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Calories 460 kcal

Author Denise

Ingredients

• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salad Dressing

• ½ cup lemon juice
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoon sumac
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cloves garlic

Salad

• 3 cups romaine lettuce
• 1 cup chopped roma tomatoes
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 1 cup cucumbers, chopped
• 1 cup parsley leaves
• 20 mint leaves, minced

Instructions

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for the salad dressing.

2. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and place in a baggie. Pour half of the dressing over the chicken and refrigerate for a few hours or even over night.

3. Put together your salad and wait to pour the dressing over it until you are ready to eat.

4. To cook the chicken, add just the chicken to a large saute pan and cook for about 5-10 minutes until the chicken is cooked and browned. Add to your dressed salad and serve.

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