Name: Turkish Onion Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Turkish
Ingredients: 3 medium red onions, thinly sliced; 15g (one small bunch) flat leaf parsley, roughy chopped; 1 generous tsp sumac; 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; Juice of one lemon; Salt to taste; 2 medium tomatoes, diced and optional

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This Turkish onion salad is great as a side or as a crisp and delicious topping for kebabs.

Recipes don’t come much easier than this Turkish onion salad. You can literally make it in about 10 minutes or faster.

You can pile it high on your kebabs of any cuisine. Why not? It’s the perfect veggie topping.

What is Turkish Onion Salad?

Turkish onion salad or Soğan Salatası is a simple, flavourful dish made with thinly sliced onions, often sweet or red onions.

Traditionally, you soak the onions in water for about 10 minutes to reduce their sharpness. You then strain the onions and coat them with sumac, parsely, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. That’s it but there are variations as you will see below.

Turkish onion salad is commonly served as a side dish with grilled meats, like kebabs, adding a fresh and zesty contrast to the meal.

What is sumac?

Sumac is a reddish-purple spice made from the dried and ground berries of the sumac bush, native to the Middle East.

It’s very nice and you will love it for its tangy, lemony flavour. Sumac is commonly sprinkled on salads, meats and dips, such as hummus, and is a key ingredient in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking. It offers a bright, zesty flavour that balances out rich and savoury dishes. You can purchase sumac and some supermarkets, specialty grocers and of course online.

How do you make Turkish onion salad?

Some people don’t go to the trouble of soaking the onions first. This is especially so when using red onions as they don’t have a really strong flavour and are good as they are.

Soak your onions or not, the rest is just a matter of tossing the ingredients together. This can be done right before you serve the salad or a couple of days earlier.

When cooking Turkish food, I prefer to serve the salad fresh so that it is crispy. If you leave it for a few hours in the dressing, the onions will turn a nice pink colour as they pickle but they will not be as crisp. This is a popular way of serving onion salad in other cuisines such as Indian and Mexican. At busy Turkish restaurants , the salad is often made ahead so it will be a bit pickled which is very good. You might want to try both options.

How long can you store Turkish onion salad in the fridge?

This Turkish onion salad will keep for 4 days in the fridge. It will actually keep longer but I recommend using it within 4 days of making it. Note that the Turkish onion pickle will become more pickled and the appearance, flavour and texture will change. This is not necessarily a bad thing!

Can you freeze Turkish onion salad?

Although you could, I don’t recommend doing so. This Turkish onion salad is best right after you make it.

Pro Tips.

1. Soak the Onions: After slicing the onions thinly, cover them with water and let them soak for about 10 minutes. Then strain them, pat them dry and carry on with the recipe.

2. Use Sumac Generously: Sumac gives the salad its signature tangy flavour. Coat the onions well with sumac for a bright, zesty taste.

3. Add Fresh Herbs: Parsley is a traditional addition, bringing a fresh, vibrant note that balances the acidity of the onions and sumac.

4. Taste!: Be sure to taste your Turkish onion salad before you serve it. This is the time to adjust those flavours and make your salad perfect!

Step by step photographs.

Get all your ingredients together. I usually don’t add tomato but do when the salad is used as a topping for kebabs.

Soak the onions in water for 10 minutes. Strain and pat dry. This step is optional but will mellow the onion flavour.

The ingredients for the salad in a mixing bowl.

Place all of the ingredients except for the salt in a bowl and toss to combine.

Season with salt to taste and serve. You can also adjust the other flavours at this time too.

You can also add chopped tomatoes if you like or any other crunchy veggies that sound good.

Turkish onion salad on top of a lahmacun.

Here’s the Turkish onion salad served on top of lahmacun. Very good.

If you like this Turkish onion salad, you might like to try some of these Turkish recipes too!

Have you tried this recipe for Turkish onion salad?

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Yield: 4