22 Middle Eastern Side Dishes, Salads & Mezze to Complete Your Meal
Part of the pleasure of a Middle Eastern meal is having several dishes on the table and helping yourself to a little of everything. A spoonful of smoky eggplant dip here, some crisp salad there, perhaps rice or warm pita to catch whatever sauce is left on the plate. The sides bring freshness, crunch, richness, and plenty of color, and quite a few are good enough to become lunch in their own right.
From familiar favorites like hummus and tabouleh to Maghmour, Mujadara, Piyaz, and Persian rice, these 23 Middle Eastern side dishes give you plenty of ideas for your next meal.
1. Fattoush
A big bowl of fattoush is fantastic in summer, when tomatoes and cucumbers are at their best and you want something fresh alongside dinner. The toasted flatbread is what makes it so satisfying, adding plenty of crunch and soaking up some of that lemony dressing as you eat. It’s a great match for shawarma, kebabs, grilled chicken, or fish. Just toss in the bread shortly before serving so it doesn’t soften too much.
2. Maghmour (Lebanese Moussaka)
Maghmour is a wonderful way to turn eggplant and chickpeas into something rich and deeply comforting. The eggplant becomes beautifully soft as it cooks in the tomato sauce, making this Lebanese dish rich and comforting without any meat at all. You can serve it alongside rice as part of a bigger meal, but it’s equally good with warm flatbread for scooping everything up. Leftovers make a pretty excellent lunch the next day too.
3. Çoban Salata
Çoban Salata is exactly what I’d want next to a plate of kebabs on a hot day. It’s fresh, juicy, lemony, and wonderfully uncomplicated, especially when you have really good summer tomatoes to work with. The vegetables are simply chopped and tossed together rather than fussily arranged, and the whole salad can be ready in about 15 minutes. Serve it with grilled meat or fish and let all those tomato juices mingle with whatever else is on the plate.
4. Persian Layered Rice with Millet, Nuts & Fruits
This Persian layered rice takes a little more time, but it certainly earns its place at a special dinner. There’s sweetness from the dried fruit and caramelized orange and carrot, plenty of toasted nuts, and a delicious mix of spices running through the rice and millet. Best of all is the golden tahdig hiding at the bottom of the pot, giving you that lovely crisp contrast to the fluffy rice. Serve it alongside roast lamb or chicken, where the sweetness of the fruit and warm spices work well with the rich meat.
5. Piyaz
Piyaz is a great way to turn a can of white beans into a side that feels fresh rather than heavy. The beans are tossed with plenty of tomato, parsley, and red onion, then brightened up with lemon and vinegar. You can add tahini if you prefer a creamier dressing, or top the salad with boiled eggs and make it substantial enough for lunch. Either way, it takes about 10 minutes to put together, which is always useful on a busy day.
6. Orzo Rice Pilaf
This rice pilaf is simple enough to serve with almost anything, but the toasted orzo gives it a little something extra. Browning the pasta first brings a gentle nuttiness to the finished rice and those golden pieces look lovely scattered throughout it too. Serve it with grilled chicken, meatballs, stews, or roasted vegetables, especially when there’s a good sauce on the plate that needs soaking up. It’s an easy side to come back to again and again.
7. Mirza Ghasemi (Persian Roasted Eggplant Dip)
Mirza Ghasemi is for people who really like their eggplant smoky and their garlic generous. The eggplant is roasted first, then cooked down with tomato until everything becomes soft and scoopable, with egg stirred through at the end. It’s best served warm with plenty of flatbread, either as a side or as part of a larger mezze spread. And if you can roast the eggplant over an open flame, you’ll get even more of that lovely smoky flavor.
8. Tabouleh
Despite often being treated as a grain salad, a good tabouleh is really all about the parsley. There’s only a small amount of cracked wheat in this version, with plenty of fresh herbs, tomatoes, and lemon taking center stage. Even the wheat simply softens in the tomato juices rather than being cooked separately. The result is light, wonderfully fresh, and just what you want on the table alongside rich kebabs or grilled lamb.
9. Garlic Yogurt Sauce
Sometimes a cool, garlicky sauce is exactly what a plate of grilled or fried food needs. This one takes all of 10 minutes to mix together, with mustard and a little chili giving the yogurt a bit of character. Spoon it alongside kebabs, fried vegetables, or anything coming off the barbecue, or bring out some flatbread and use it as a dip. You can also swap the yogurt for sour cream if you’d like something a little richer.
10. Couscous
The couscous from this lamb kebab recipe is worth borrowing as a side in its own right. It’s quick to prepare and has enough going on to make it more interesting than plain couscous, while still leaving plenty of room for whatever you serve alongside it. The obvious choice is lamb kebabs, as in the original recipe, but it would be just as comfortable next to grilled chicken or roasted vegetables. Add a cool yogurt sauce on the side and you have an easy base for a summer dinner.
11. Muhammara
Muhammara is a lovely alternative when you want to add another dip to the table but already have hummus covered. Roasted red peppers give it sweetness and a little smokiness, while walnuts make it rich enough to stand up to grilled lamb, chicken, seafood, or vegetables. This version also gets a sweet-tart note from pomegranate molasses and a little heat from chili. You might forget the main course entirely and just keep passing the pita.
12. Salad Shirazi
Salad Shirazi is particularly welcome when the rest of dinner is on the richer side. It’s crisp, fresh, and lemony, with a little sumac adding another tangy note without weighing the salad down with a heavy dressing. There’s quite a bit of chopping involved, but nothing difficult, and the whole thing is ready in about 15 minutes. Make it a couple of hours ahead if you can, then serve it with kebabs, rice, hummus, and plenty of pita.
13. Ful Medames (Fava Bean Dip)
Ful medames is Egypt’s national dish and a familiar part of everyday eating, especially as a filling breakfast. This version turns canned fava beans into a creamy dip in about 30 minutes, saving you the overnight soaking and long cooking required for dried beans. You can leave the beans fairly chunky or mash them until smooth, then bring the bowl to the table with a good drizzle of olive oil and whatever fresh toppings you fancy.
14. Israeli Salad
Israeli salad is fresh, simple, and a great choice when you have ripe summer tomatoes to work with. Everything is chopped quite small, so you get cucumber, tomato, and herbs together in pretty much every forkful, with lemon giving it a tangy kick. It’s an easy side for falafel, grilled meats, or a plate of hummus and pita, and you can have it on the table in around 15 minutes. This is definitely one to eat while the vegetables are still crisp and juicy.
15. Hummus
Hummus hardly needs an introduction at this point, but making it yourself is still worth the little bit of extra effort. A freshly made bowl with plenty of tahini, lemon, and good olive oil is difficult to beat, especially when there’s warm pita around for scooping. Add it to a mezze spread with a few salads and dips, or serve it alongside falafel or grilled meat.
And if there’s any left, you’ve already got tomorrow’s snack figured out, or check out these 42 great hummus pairing ideas for inspiration.
16. Balela Salad
Balela is a particularly good choice when you want a salad with a bit more staying power. It’s hearty from the beans but still tastes wonderfully fresh, with plenty of lemon, herbs, and tomato cutting through every bite. Bring it to a barbecue alongside grilled meat and pita, or serve a bigger helping for an easy summer lunch. It keeps well too, so making extra is rarely a bad idea.
17. Turkish Potato Salad
If you usually make potato salad with mayonnaise, this Turkish version is a lovely change of pace. Here, the potatoes get a much lighter treatment with olive oil, lemon, fresh herbs, and sumac, making them a natural fit for summer barbecues and picnics. It can easily be made ahead, which is always handy when you’re cooking for a group. Serve it with grilled chicken, lamb, or kebabs and don’t worry about keeping a creamy dressing chilled.
18. Mujadara  (Middle Eastern Lentils and Rice)
Mujadara is humble comfort food at its best. Lentils and rice make up the base, but it’s the generous amount of sweet, deeply caramelized onion that gives the dish so much character. It’s filling, inexpensive, and just as comfortable playing side dish as it is becoming dinner itself. In fact, with some cool yogurt and a crisp tomato and cucumber salad on the table, I wouldn’t feel the need to add much else.
19. Egyptian Rice with Spices & Nuts
If lamb is on the menu, this Egyptian rice makes a very tempting sidekick. Cooking it with the lamb drippings gives it a deep savory flavor, with warm spices running through the rice and fried almonds scattered over the top. It feels festive enough for a big family meal without requiring a huge amount of extra work. And those crunchy almonds are particularly good against the soft, buttery rice.
20. Turkish Bulgur Pilaf
Bulgur pilaf makes an easy alternative to rice, especially when you want a side with a little more substance. This Turkish version uses coarse bulgur, which holds its shape nicely as it cooks and takes on the tomato-rich base around it. Everything comes together in one pot in about half an hour, with very little fuss once the lid goes on. A spoonful of yogurt and some grilled meat or vegetables alongside would make a very easy dinner.
21. Syrian Bulgur Wheat Salad
This Syrian bulgur salad has plenty going on, but the sweet-tart pomegranate flavor is what ties it all together. Toasted hazelnuts, walnuts, and pine nuts bring plenty of crunch, while fresh pomegranate seeds make the finished bowl especially colorful. It’s a great salad to make for a barbecue or outdoor lunch, and most of the work can be done the day before. Just bring it back to room temperature and add the fresh herbs, pine nuts, and pomegranate before it reaches the table.
22. Baba Ganoush
Baba ganoush deserves more than being treated as hummus’s eggplant-based companion. Its smoky roasted eggplant flavor gives it a character all its own, with creamy tahini and a little warmth from cumin and paprika rounding things out. It’s a natural addition to a mezze spread, but add a fresh salad and a few vegetables and it can just as easily become a simple lunch.
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