Lebanese Chopped Salad! Craving a flavorful, healthy meal? This Lebanese chopped salad makes a perfect weeknight dinner salad or a dazzling potluck side.
This Lebanese Chopped Salad with Zaatar Vinaigrette bursts with sunshine-forward crunch from fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, green onions, and tomatoes, all finely chopped for spoonful-delicious bites. Every bite delivers a crisp, vibrant harmony of color and texture, creating a salad that’s as satisfying to the eyes as it is to the palate. The star of the show is the zesty garlic zaatar vinaigrette, a bright, herbaceous dressing that coats every piece of produce, adding a punch of garlic, citrusy brightness, and authentic Middle Eastern depth.
Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.
Hi there, Ameera here!
This is sooooo delicious! This is Yasmeen’s all-time favorite salad, and you’ll taste why the moment you take a bite. She swears by the zesty garlic-vinegar flavors, and she even enjoys drinks the dressing from the bottom of the bowl after the salad’s gone—talk about a dedicated seasoning enthusiast. Sooooo good is her go-to reaction, and now it can be yours too.
If you’re chasing a bright, crave-worthy salad that’s easy to customize and proudly shares bold, garlicky notes, you gotta give this one a try!
Tips for Success:
- Flavor Profile: This Lebanese Chopped Salad with Zaatar Vinaigrette is filled with fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, green onions, and tomatoes that are finely chopped for spoonful deliciousness, all coated in a zesty garlic, zaatar flavored dressing.
- Time: This is a super easy salad to make; however, there is a lot of dicing and chopping of veggies.
- Chopped Salad: All the ingredients in this salad are fine dice, in other words, you can eat the chopped salad with a spoon. The key to a “chopped salad” is finely dicing all the ingredients to similar sizes or smaller.
- Salting the Cucumbers Option: You may wish to consider salting the cucumbers to pull out the excess moisture to avoid watering down the dressing over time. In other words, if the salad sits in the fridge, then the cucumbers will release their water into the salad which results in a watered-down dressing. Cucumbers are 96% water. They are really great for you; however, they do tend to leach water after cutting/dicing them which waters down most salads. If you eat the salad right away, then this doesn’t tend to be an issue. If you want to ensure a great salad, then after dicing the cucumbers into tiny pieces, sprinkle them with ½ teaspoon sea salt, mix well and refrigerate the diced cucumbers for 20 minutes. After 20 to 30 minutes, then drain the cucumbers into a colander, then rinse thoroughly with cold tap water and place into a clean, lint-free dish towel and pat dry, then place in the salad bowl in Step 2. Do this as the first step before anything else so that while they are in the fridge, you can prepare all the other veggies. We didn’t salt the cucumbers for this recipe because Yasmeen tends to eat 3 to 4 bowls and there are never any leftovers to go into the fridge.
- Fresh Tomatoes: We used grape tomatoes, cut into 4ths. If you use regular tomatoes, then remove all the seeds and juice/water. Finely dice the tomato flesh. Removing all the excess juices/water/seeds avoids watering down the dressing.
- Bell Peppers: We used one red bell pepper in this salad. You can also use an orange or yellow bell pepper.
- Grated Green Cabbage: We used a green cabbage, but you can also use a purple cabbage. Be sure to grate the cabbage or chop into fine pieces, no bigger than 1/4 inch.
- Amount of Pure Maple Syrup: Our family was divided over the amount of maple syrup that was needed to create the perfect amount of sweetness. Feel free to use less or add more.
- Za’atar Herb Seasoning: Za’atar seasoning is a blend of the following spices: thyme, cumin, oregano, coriander, sumac, and sesame seeds. You will find a lot of variations as every region has their own favorite seasoning blend. The seasonings that appear consistent across regions is thyme, sesame seeds, and sumac. We use many different brands of za’atar so we don’t have a specific brand to recommend.
- Garlic Vinegar Concentrate: The Garlic Vinegar Concentrate is the key to the deliciousness of this recipe. That zesty fresh garlic with the red wine vinegar and sea salt makes a delicious base for the dressing. There is no substitution as it is a key ingredient. You will need to make the Garlic Vinegar Concentrate either earlier in the day or the day before. We keep the Garlic Vinegar Concentrate in our refrigerator 24/7 because it is an essential ingredient for TONS of Lebanese recipes. Michael lives by it. He eats tons of salad every day with the Garlic Vinegar Concentrate on it. If you know, you know.
- Amount of Sea Salt: Our family was completed divided over the amount of sea salt that was needed to perfectly season the salad.
- Serving after Refrigerating: This recipe is best when served immediately after making. If serving after refrigeration, remove from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to wake up.
- Table Salt: If using table salt, you should use less table salt than the amount listed in the ingredients as sea salt crystals are larger than table salt crystals. Since table salt crystals are very fine, less table salt is required to season a dish. We would suggest starting with about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of sea salt listed. You can always add more salt but cannot take it away. We recommend using sea salt as it is less refined than table salt.
Leftovers and Freezing:
Leftovers will generally keep 5 days in the refrigerator. Store in a covered air-tight container.
This salad does not freeze well.
Pantry Products:
- Tahini: We used Ziyad Premium Tahini (Sesame Paste). Feel free to use your favorite brand of tahini.
- Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Kitchen Equipment:
- Whisk (or fork)
- Mortar and pestle (to make the Garlic Vinegar Concentrate)
If you try this flavorful salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.
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Lebanese Chopped Salad with Zaatar Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Total Time: 20 Minutes
- Yield: 5 ½ Cups 1x
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Lebanese Inspired
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This Lebanese Chopped Salad with Zaatar Vinaigrette bursts with sunshine-forward crunch from fresh bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, green onions, and tomatoes, all finely chopped for spoonful-delicious bites.
Ingredients
Salad Base Ingredients:
- 4 to 5 mini cucumbers, (1 cup) fine dice *
- 1 red bell pepper, fine dice
- 8 to 12 green onions, fine slice
- 18 grape tomatoes, quartered (1 cup) *
- 2 cups grated green cabbage *
Dressing Ingredients:
- ¼ cup Garlic Vinegar Concentrate *
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon tahini
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar (+/-)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (+/-) *
- 1 ½ teaspoons zaatar (+/-) *
- Pinch to 1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt (+/-) *
Instructions
- Place all the Dressing Ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until smooth and emulsified. Refrigerate until ready to dress the salad.
- Place all the Salad Based Ingredients into a large bowl, mix to evenly distribute the ingredients, then set aside.
- Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, mix well to thoroughly coat all the ingredients. Serve and enjoy! Refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used.
Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.
Servings: Makes 5 ½ cups (serves 4 to 6)
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