Tabbouleh, also known as tabouli salad, is a light lettuce-free salad that is incredibly easy to make at home with only a handful of ingredients. If you’ve never had this before, then you are in for a treat. Loaded with fresh parsley and mint, this is the perfect salad for any occasion. Whether you’re looking for something refreshing to serve with your dinner or a packable salad for a picnic, this tabouli salad is perfect.
Key Ingredients You Need
- Bulgur — Bulgur comes in four different varieties. There’s fine, medium coarse, coarse, and extra coarse bulgur. Traditionally tabbouleh is made with fine bulgur but feel free to use a different variety if you cannot find fine.
- Parsley — You can use curly parsley or flat leaf parsley.
- Lemon — I don’t recommend using bottled lemon juice. Freshly squeezed lemon is ideal and adds a brightness to the dressing.
How to Make Tabbouleh
Step 1: Cook bulgur according to package instructions and set aside, letting it cool.
Step 2: In a food processor, run the parsley through until finely chopped.
Step 3: In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste.
Step 4: In a large mixing bowl, add in bulgur, parsley, and remaining ingredients.
Step 5: Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to coat.
Step 6: Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for best flavor.
Tips For This Recipe
- Make sure to wash the parsley with cold water before using it to make sure it is clean. The cold water also keeps the parsley from wilting.
- After washing, be sure to thoroughly dry the parsley as the oil from the salad dressing won’t coat the parsley if there’s water on it. You can use a salad spinner or pat them dry with paper towels.
- If you do not have a food processor, you can finely chop the parsley with a knife.
- English cucumbers are great for this recipe as they’re seedless.
- Green onions have a mild onion flavor so it doesn’t overpower the salad. If you don’t have any, you could swap for shallots. Red onions would definitely be too strong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Tabbouleh, pronounced tuh-boo-lee, is a vegetarian Middle Eastern salad made up of bulgur or semolina alongside tomatoes, mint, and parsley. It’s a light salad that doesn’t use any heavy salad dressings and is served at room temperature or chilled. Since bulgur is a grain containing gluten, this is not a gluten-free recipe. However, you can swap bulgur for quinoa to make this gluten-free.
Store the tabbouleh in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days. If you notice that the cucumbers and tomatoes have released too much liquid, you can drain to keep the salad from getting soggy.
You can serve this tabbouleh recipe up with anything! A few recipes I enjoy are Shakshuka, Hummus, Air Fryer Salmon, and Gluten-Free Coconut Shrimp.
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Tabbouleh
Ingredients
- ½ cup bulgur
- 1 cup cucumber diced
- 1 cup tomato diced remove core and seeds
- 2 cups parsley
- 2 tbsp mint chopped finely
- 2 scallions chopped
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- kosher salt to taste
Instructions
- Cook bulgur according to package instructions and set aside, letting it cool.
- In a food processor, food process the parsley until finely chopped.
- In a large mixing bowl, add in bulgur, parsley, and remaining ingredients (except the olive and lemon juice).
- In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste and pour over bulgur and veggies. Mix well.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes for best flavor.
Notes
- Make sure to wash the parsley with cold water before using it to make sure it is clean. The cold water also keeps the parsley from wilting.
- After washing, be sure to thoroughly dry the parsley as the oil from the salad dressing won’t coat the parsley if there’s water on it. You can use a salad spinner or pat them dry with paper towels.
- If you do not have a food processor, you can finely chop the parsley with a knife.
- English cucumbers are great for this recipe as they’re seedless.
- Green onions have a mild onion flavor so it doesn’t overpower the salad. If you don’t have any, you could swap for shallots. Red onions would definitely be too strong.
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