Lebanese Recipes

Lebanese cuisine is known for the meze tradition — hummus, tabbouleh, fattoush, moutabal, and kibbeh served as shared small plates — plus grilled shish taouk, falafel, and shawarma. Its signature is freshness: lemon, garlic, olive oil, and heaps of parsley and mint, with za'atar and sumac for seasoning. It is the most widely exported Middle Eastern cuisine, spread by a large diaspora.

It is frequently cited as one of the healthiest cuisines: heavy on vegetables, legumes (lentils, chickpeas, fava beans), bulgur, olive oil, and yogurt, with meat often used in modest amounts. Everyday dishes like mujadara, tabbouleh, and yakhne stews are essentially Mediterranean diet staples. The notable exceptions are fried meze and syrup-soaked pastries like knefeh, which are occasional rather than daily foods.

Hummus itself is Levantine, not Greek — chickpeas, tahini, lemon, and garlic — and Greek restaurant versions are adaptations. More broadly, Lebanese food shares the eastern Mediterranean pantry with Greece but uses tahini, pomegranate molasses, za'atar, sumac, and bulgur far more, and lacks Greece's pork, feta, and phyllo-pie emphasis. The meze format is common to both, inherited from the same Ottoman dining culture.

Hummus from canned chickpeas teaches tahini-lemon balance in minutes. Mujadara — lentils, rice, and deeply caramelized onions — is a forgiving one-pot meal. Fattoush requires only chopping and toasting pita. Shish taouk, chicken marinated in yogurt, garlic, and lemon, grills or roasts easily. Baked kafta with potatoes and tomato is a simple tray bake before attempting kibbeh.

Tahini, extra-virgin olive oil, lemons, garlic, fine bulgur, dried chickpeas and lentils, and yogurt or labneh form the core. For seasoning: za'atar, sumac, dried mint, Lebanese seven-spice (baharat), cinnamon, and allspice, which flavors many meat dishes. Pomegranate molasses and orange-blossom and rose waters — for desserts and white coffee — complete the distinctive flavors.