Healthy Mezza Feast (Anti-Inflammatory, Perfect for Most Diets!)

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Preparing a healthy mezza feast transports you to the generous foods of the Mediterranean — where community and eating meals together is a way of life. All of the dishes — of rich delicious foods — are deeply satisfying and visually stunning, but in this version of the mezza concept, they’re also anti-inflammatory.

We’ve removed tomatoes and peppers from the feast, but what remains is absolutely inspiring and lovely. Whether you eat a broad range of foods or have a restricted diet — the point is: You cater these ingredients and this feast to suit your needs and likes, for your best health!

Small serving dishes mean you can also provide options for guests that you’ll pass on. Instead, you’ll focus on what you can have — and feel the joy and beauty that food should provide — all without compromise to your dietary goals.

Ingredients in a healthy mezza feast

The photos in this post are just one interpretation of the recipe! You will make this recipe unique to you … Every time I make it for our family, it’s a little different, and that’s part of the fun of eating seasonally — and with freedom for your health goals.

If you’re gluten free or grain free, choose your bread or bread recipe according to your dietary needs. If you eat sourdough, that works beautifully here, too. I’ll provide some bread recipes and resources below.

Firstly, the meat

Serve chicken, beef or lamb with your mezza feast — whichever you prefer. If you make this meal often, vary it according to what you have on hand or what you feel like:

• Sheet Pan Chicken Thighs (optionally prepared with za’atar) — Chicken thighs get tossed with a fabulous Middle Eastern spice mixture and baked simply. Once cooked, slice thinly for topping bread and hummus.
• Easy Lamb Roast — Almost no work, but always special, slice cooked lamb roast thinly with a sharp knife, to star in your mezza.
• Ground Beef cooked up with cumin and quality salt — Ground beef is always a solid choice and actually quite authentic for Middle Eastern eating, where it’s often served with hummus and flatbread. Spiced simply with cumin and salt, the flavor shines, without being hampered by more inflammatory spices. (For extra spice, use dried ground ginger as you would pepper.)

Next: Hummus

• Healthiest Hummus Recipe — Use my traditional recipe (it’s the best hummus recipe), or if needed, go legume-free with the Paleo/legume-free/Low Carb Zucchini Hummus, found here.

Why not buy store-bought hummus? It’s downright impossible to find a store bought hummus without vegetable oil or garlic. If you can, great! Otherwise, both of those ingredients are inflammatory and best to avoid.

Which bread to use

Mezzas are poetic and flexible. Any good bread works here, as long as it’s made with real food ingredients and works well for you! Whether flatbread, sourdough loaf, something sprouted or grain-free, here’s a round-up of about 20 various homemade bread recipes that are all gluten-free, some low carb, and most are Paleo.

Personally, we use sourdough or oat flour bread the most often now. But for many years, I didn’t eat grains, and I offer some lovely Paleo recipes in the link above if that’s you. There’s never a shortage of bread in our house!

You might also like to use savory waffles or rice bread — as every recipe has a benefit for someone’s needs.

If you want to buy sourdough bread

Good store bought organic sourdough breads (that are not fortified) include Izzio brand, Costco’s (by Essential Baking Company) and the Bread of Heaven brand — which offers flatbreads and loaf breads.

Other ingredients

Meat, hummus and bread are the main ingredients in a healthy mezza feast. Choose the additional ingredients based on what’s growing seasonally and what you like.

Here are your options (all of them are anti-inflammatory for most people):

• Fresh fruits: Pomegranate, figs, lemons, strawberries, green grapes, apples
  • Present these decoratively on your table, to garnish, in smaller dishes or on platters.
• Fresh mint and/or dill — gentle, pretty and delicious to enjoy with bites of the other ingredients
• Light colored lettuces: Boston/Butter lettuce, romaine hearts, iceberg
• Sliced, peeled cucumbers
• Marinated Asparagus
• Lemon Roasted Green Beans, or Easy Pickled String Beans
• Oven-Roasted Cauliflower
• Artichoke hearts, olives in moderation, capers, Homemade Quick Pickles
• Rice salad
• Sautéed peeled zucchini, Easy Pickled Zucchini

Consider if you’d also like an iced herbal tea or something other than water. Water with fresh lime or lemon is a nice simple choice, too.

How to make Healthy Mezza Feast

1. Prep any marinated salad you plan to include ahead of time. Similarly, if you plan to make homemade bread, do that first.
2. Cut up any fresh fruit you’re using.
3. Prep any other recipe you plan to include (roasted veggies, hummus or rice salad, for example).
4. Make the meat dish you’ve chosen.
5. Warm the bread.
6. When the meat and hot roasted foods are ready, serve everything, keeping in mind presentation, so the meal looks beautiful and feels like a feast.

For the purpose of this recipe’s photo shoot, I made this concept into a mezza food board. You can do that!

But usually, I place plates, platters and boards all through the center of the table, so they can be passed around as needed — which is authentic, beautiful visually and also more practical for most meals.

Pin Healthy Mezza Feast here:

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