Musakhan (Palestinian Sumac Chicken with Flatbread)

A friend from Ramallah introduced me to sumac years before I knew what to do with it beyond sprinkling it on hummus, and musakhan is the dish that finally taught me. It has quietly become one of the most requested dinners in my house, which surprised me at first, since it is built almost entirely out of onions, and I did not expect onions to be the star of anything my kids would fight over.

Musakhan is considered something close to Palestine’s national dish: bone-in chicken roasted over a mountain of onions that have been slow-cooked in olive oil with tart, brick-red sumac until they turn jammy and deeply savory, all piled onto taboon bread that soaks up every drop of the spiced juices underneath.

It is traditionally a celebration dish, served at weddings and during the olive harvest when the new oil is at its best, and the toasted pine nuts scattered on top are as much about texture as flavor, a little crunch against all that soft, slow-cooked onion.

If you have made my fattoush or toum (recipes on the site), you already have sumac and a taste for this part of the Mediterranean in your kitchen. Real taboon bread can be hard to find outside a Middle Eastern bakery, but a good store-bought naan or thick pita gets you remarkably close, and honestly, nobody at my table has ever complained.

Musakhan Recipe

Prep time: 25 minutes · Cook time: 1 hour 10 minutes · Total: 1 hour 35 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~560 per serving

Ingredients

• For the Chicken and Onions:
• 2 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and drumsticks
• 4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 2/3 cup olive oil, divided
• 3 tbsp sumac, plus more for serving
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup chicken stock or water
• For Serving:
• 3-4 pieces taboon bread, naan, or thick pita
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• Lemon wedges

Instructions

1. Pat the chicken dry and season generously with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. Heat 1/3 cup of the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook slowly, stirring often, for about 20 minutes, until deeply softened and golden.
3. Stir the sumac, allspice, and cumin into the onions and cook 2 more minutes until fragrant. Season with salt. Remove about half the onion mixture and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 425°F. Nestle the chicken pieces into the skillet on top of the remaining onions, skin side up. Pour in the stock, drizzle the chicken with the remaining olive oil, and roast for 35-40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is golden.
5. Lay the bread on a large baking sheet. Spread the reserved onion mixture generously over each piece of bread.
6. Place the roasted chicken pieces on top of the onion-topped bread, spoon over some of the pan juices, and return to the oven for 8-10 minutes, until the bread is warmed through and slightly crisped at the edges.
7. Scatter with toasted pine nuts and parsley, dust with a little extra sumac, and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing.

Recipe Notes

• Sumac is widely available at Middle Eastern grocery stores and increasingly in the spice aisle of larger supermarkets; it is also easy to order online. There is no good substitute, its tart, lemony flavor is what defines the dish.
• If you cannot find taboon bread, a thick naan or Greek-style pita works well and holds up to the onions and pan juices without falling apart.
• The onions can be cooked a day ahead and reheated gently, which makes weeknight assembly much faster.
• This is traditionally eaten with your hands, tearing off pieces of bread loaded with chicken and onions, so do not feel obligated to bring out the forks.