Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Sabich
Pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, salad, and a drizzle of tangy amba and tahini.
Israeli · easy · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 15 min
~402 cal · 18g protein · 27g carbs · 27g fat · 8g fiber · 4g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sabich is a beloved Israeli sandwich of Iraqi-Jewish origin, a pita packed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, , chopped salad, pickles, and tangy mango amba sauce. It descends from the Shabbat breakfast of Iraqi Jews, who brought the tradition to Israel, where it became a street-food staple.
The combination reflects its Sabbath roots: eggplant and slow-cooked eggs (haminados) that could be prepared before the day of rest. Amba, a pickled-mango condiment also brought from Iraq, is the defining tangy, funky note that ties it together.
Sold from stalls across Israel as a filling vegetarian alternative to falafel, sabich is layered and full of contrasting textures.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and dairy-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 large eggplant, sliced and fried
4 eggs, hard-boiled
4 pita breads
1 potato, boiled and sliced
1 cup hummus
1/2 cup sauce
2 cups chopped salad
1/2 cup pickles (pickled cucumber), sliced
3 tbsp amba
a handful parsley
Instructions
1
Salt the eggplant slices, pat dry, and fry in oil until golden and soft; drain.
2
Warm the pitas and smear the insides generously with hummus.
3
Layer in the fried eggplant, sliced egg (or smashed chickpeas), boiled potato, and chopped salad.
✎ Chef’s note
The sliced boiled potato and hard-boiled egg are the Iraqi-Jewish Shabbat-breakfast heart of sabich, prepped ahead before the day of rest.
4
Tuck in the pickles, drizzle with amba and a bold pour of tahini, and finish with parsley.
5
Fold and eat immediately, over a plate, sabich is a two-napkin sandwich.
Tel Aviv street food.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tel Aviv. Shakshuka is North African, from the Maghreb, and it came to Israel with Libyan and Tunisian Jewish families in the 1950s and 1960s before becoming widely popular only from the 1990s. Hummus and falafel carry the same argument, so what a city can honestly claim is how it eats them, not who first made them.
🗺️
Israel. Several dishes here have documented arrival dates rather than ancient roots. Shakshuka is North African, brought by Libyan and Tunisian Jewish immigrants and only widely popular from the 1990s; sabich was assembled in Ramat Gan in the early 1960s from an Iraqi-Jewish Shabbat breakfast of egg, fried aubergine and amba. Hummus and falafel are Levantine and genuinely contested, with Palestinian claims actively made.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Israel
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HummusSilky-smooth chickpea and tahini puree pooled with olive oil, scooped up with warm pita, a Levantine lunch of devotion.
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Good to know
Storing it: Best made to order. Prep the fillings ahead and assemble just before eating so nothing turns soggy.
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Jerusalem Mixed GrillDinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sabich?
Pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, salad, and a drizzle of tangy amba and tahini.
Where does Sabich come from?
Sabich is a Israeli dish from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Can Sabich be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sabich recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sabich safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sabich take to make?
About 40 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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