Onion & Sumac Salad
Sometimes the simplest salads are the most effective! This super easy onion & sumac salad is an amazing pairing with meats, fish and other vegetable dishes. The sweet, onion marries perfectly with the zingy, sour sumac – and it’s so simple! Learn how to make this Turkish favourite…

This Onion & Sumac Salad is like nothing else for transporting me back to Turkey. It reminds me so much of all the delicious lamb I ate over there. Lamb is king in Turkey and the sheer amount of ways it's served is a meat lover's dream.
We would often buy Cypriot Sheftalia for lunch, juicy and meaty sausages, cooked Turkish/Cypriot style, in caul fat, over hot coals, simply served in a pita style bread alongside this onion & sumac salad together with a tomato or banana pepper salad, with lashings of garlic yoghurt and chilli sauce.
This simple salad acts as an acidic and sour punch to counteract the meatiness of the sausages. The onion and lemon brings the acid along with sour from sumac; a delicious sour berry found all across Turkey and the Middle East. It has big flavours, so helps pack a delicious fresh note to any meat.
Who knew that a simple onion salad could be so full of flavour?! Next time you're grilling some lamb or chicken make sure you pair it with this delicious onion & sumac salad.
Serving suggestions and more authentic Turkish Recipes
This salad works so well as an accompaniment to many many Turkish dishes. Try it alongside one of my other Turkish recipes.
- Cypriot Sheftalia
- Haydari (Turkish Yoghurt Meze)
- Turkish Bulgur Pilaf with Lamb and Silverbeet
- Turkish Pide – It’s not Pizza, it’s Pide!
- Turkish Menemen Breakfast Eggs
- Turkish Chopped Salad
- Turkish Sucuk & Black Chickpea Soup
- Turkish Bean Salad (Piyaz)
- Beetroot & Feta Salad With Fresh Herb Dressing
- Circassian Chicken
How to make my Onion & Sumac Salad
Ingredients
- 1 medium red onion
- 1/2 lemon (juice of)
- 2 tbsp Sumac
- 1 small bunch flat leaf parsley (chopped)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt & pepper
Instructions
- Peel the onion and cut in half. Cut into thin slices. Add salt, then place into a collander for 5 minutes.
- Rinse the onion with cold water under the tap then gently dry on paper towels.
- In a large bowl combine the onion with all the other ingredients and you're done!] I like to serve mine cold, so will refrigerate for an hour to develop flavour and get crisp and cold. This pairs so well with lamb, but also chicken and fish as part of a larger Middle Eastern spread.
Nutrition

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