Malfouf Salad (Lebanese Cabbage Salad)

Malfouf salad is a simple crunchy Lebanese slaw, made with simple ingredients but packs so much flavour! Its made with fresh herbs, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and lots of mint. This salad makes an excellent side to any dinner.

What I love about this Malfouf Salad

Firstly, just to clear things up, malfouf actually means "cabbage" in Arabic, hence the name of this salad. And contrary to what many people may think, Arabs have so many varieties of salads beyond the popularized fattoush or tabouli!

Like this malfouf salad which is incredibly addicting. When I make it, I typically have the whole bowl. And why not, right? Cabbage is so healthy for you and I find it always helps me with digestion. Win win.

Now the *only* annoying part for me was shredding the cabbage. It's not fun slicing through a big head of cabbage... and that's why I started to rely on ready made pre-shredded cabbage. The little bags you get at the grocery store to make coleslaw with. They're sometimes mixed with carrots, or with purple cabbage too, and that's totally fine! They make this salad prep time 10 minutes, and I'm down for that.

Ingredients you'll need

The ingredients for this salad are really simple. But together, they pack a punch. I never skip the dry mint, and if I have some fresh mint on hand, I use that as well.

As for the parsley and green onions, they're also super important for that herby freshness. I sometimes throw in other fresh herbs if I have them like dill.

Typically, white cabbage is used for this salad. But purple cabbage can be used as well, or a mix of the two. I highly recommend the pre-shredded cabbage at the store!

How to make Malfouf Salad

• Start by washing and finely slicing the cabbage, if you're not using the pre-shredded one. A sharp knife is key for shredding cabbage, and make sure you cut the head in half and lay it flat side down to slice it safely
• Next, finely chop the onions, parsley and any other herbs

• Then comes the dressing. Mince the garlic and mix it with all the other dressing ingredients really well
• Pour it over the salad, mix well, and serve. I typically refrigerate it for 30 minutes or so before serving which really helps the flavours develop and cools it down

How to customize this salad

The basic ingredients of the salad are cabbage, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. But throwing in fresh herbs really takes it to another level. Feel free to use whatever fresh or dry herbs you have on hand.

You can also add some thinly sliced cucumbers, or even better, thinly sliced apple (like little matchsticks). Also, if I don't have green onions, I sometimes use sweet white onions. I've tried it with all of these additions and its amazing every way! It all depends on what you have in your fridge, so have fun with it.

What to serve with Malfouf Salad

I usually have this salad on its own, or serve it as a side salad with dinner. It works really well with Kofta, falafel, and shawarma. But you don't just serve it on the side. You also take a bunch of it and stuff it right into your pita. So good!

Other Middle Eastern salad recipes you'll love:

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