Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Musakhan
Sumac-and-onion roasted chicken over olive-oil-soaked taboon bread, showered with toasted pine nuts, Palestine on a platter.
Palestinian · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 55 min
~767 cal · 77g protein · 21g carbs · 40g fat · 5g fiber · 8g sugars · 7g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Musakhan is the national dish of Palestine, roast chicken smothered in -crimson caramelized onions and toasted pine nuts, served over olive-oil-soaked taboon flatbread. It is a celebration of the Palestinian olive harvest, traditionally made to taste the fresh-pressed oil of the season.
The generous use of gives the dish its tangy, ruby color and lemony flavor, while sweet slow-cooked onions and fruity olive oil soak into the bread beneath. It brings together the ingredients most central to Palestinian cooking: olive oil, onions, , and bread.
Eaten with the hands, the bread torn and piled with chicken and onions, musakhan is communal, festive food across the West Bank and the Palestinian diaspora.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, egg- 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
2.5 lbs chicken legs and thighs
4 large red onions, thinly sliced
4 tbsp, generously ground
2/3 cup, this is a harvest dish extra-virgin olive oil
4 taboon or naan flatbreads
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
1 lemon, to serve
Instructions
1
Rub the chicken (or cauliflower and chickpeas) with olive oil, half the sumac, the allspice, cinnamon, a third of the cumin, black pepper, and salt; roast at 400°F for 35 minutes.
2
Meanwhile cook the onions slowly in a generous pour of olive oil until utterly soft and pale gold but not caramelised, 20 to 30 minutes; stir in the remaining cumin, black pepper, and the remaining sumac.
3
Warm the flatbreads and lay them on a platter; spoon over some of the sumac onions and their oil so the bread drinks it.
4
Set the roasted chicken on top, pile on the rest of the onions, and roast together 10 more minutes.
5
Shower with toasted pine nuts (or slivered almonds) and a last dusting of sumac. Serve on the shared platter, torn and eaten by hand, with yogurt and a wedge of lemon.
West Bank olive-harvest tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
West Bank. Maqluba means upside down, and the pot is turned out in one piece so that the fried aubergine or cauliflower lining the base ends up on top. The dish is older than it looks, appearing in Baghdad cookbooks as far back as the thirteenth century.
🗺️
Palestine. Maqluba is old enough to appear in thirteenth-century Baghdad cookbooks, so the upside-down turn is not a recent trick. Several dishes compete for the title of national dish here, which is why it is better to say a dish is often considered one than to declare it. Za'atar, the thyme-sumac-sesame mix, is made at home and differs family to family.
🌍
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 Palestine
Labneh with Za'atarThick strained yogurt swirled with olive oil and za'atar, scooped with warm taboon bread.
MaftoulHand-rolled Palestinian couscous simmered with chicken and chickpeas in a warmly spiced broth, a warming village dish.
QatayefLittle stuffed pancakes filled with sweet walnuts, fried or baked and soaked in syrup, the classic sweet of Ramadan.
Browse all Palestine recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Palestine meal
Kharroub (Carob Drink)Drink
QatayefDessert
SumagiyyaLunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Musakhan?
Sumac-and-onion roasted chicken over olive-oil-soaked taboon bread, showered with toasted pine nuts, Palestine on a platter.
Where does Musakhan come from?
Musakhan is a Palestinian dish from West Bank, Palestine.
Can Musakhan be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Musakhan 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 Musakhan 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 Musakhan take to make?
About 75 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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