This Mediterranean Couscous Bowls recipe is a quick weeknight dinner! It features a quick-cooking couscous with chickpeas and a creamy tahini sauce.
One of our main goals when creating a recipe is to find that elusive intersection between healthy, delicious and doable. It’s easy to find recipes with one or two of the three, isn’t it? Healthy recipes that taste terrible. Delicious overly complex recipes. Simple and delicious recipes that will be terrible for you.
Alex and I could make gourmet or gourmet or complex recipes. But in reality: We only want to serve you dinner. And we think you’re going to love this new easy dinner recipe: this Mediterranean couscous recipe! This is an easy seasonal dish topped with a creamy tahini sauce. And for some reason, this one even tastes like it better than anything else. I daresay this is one of the best vegetarian recipes we’ve ever made. (It’s plant-based, too.) Serve it up as a salad, as a main course, or as an easy lunch recipe and it’ll get rave reviews—we promise!
Video: How to make this couscous recipe
Is couscous a muesli?
What is couscous made of? Contrary to what you might think Couscous is not whole grain. They are actually little balls of pasta! Because it looks a lot like quinoa or millet, couscous is often confused with whole grains. But it’s actually pasta! If we went with couscous for this Mediterranean bowl recipe, it’s because it is extremely fast cooking. It only takes 5 minutes. That’s it!
If you prefer whole grains in this bowl, you can try brown rice, white rice, bulgur, or quinoa. Bulgur would be a good choice as it is also quick to prepare and is used in many Mediterranean recipes. If you don’t mind pasta, Orzo works too!
Is couscous gluten free? nope! Couscous is not gluten free. Consider brown rice, white rice, or quinoa as a substitute. If you have an Instant Pot, try our Instant Pot Rice or Instant Pot Quinoa.
How to make couscous
Couscous couldn’t be easier to cook! We use it for our quickest recipes because it doesn’t take time. Here’s everything you need to do to prepare couscous:
- Bring 1 ¼ cups of water to a boil in a medium saucepan.
- Add 1 cup couscous and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Boil the water.
- Remove from the stove immediately after cooking. Cover and leave 5 minutes.
And that’s it! It literally couldn’t be easier. In this recipe, we seasoned it again with a drizzle of olive oil, another ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt, and finely chopped parsley. Also delicious with a squeeze of lemon: see Quick Shrimp Couscous.
Prepare a meal in a bowl (evening salad!)
What is the inspiration behind this Mediterranean Couscous Bowl recipe? Well, Pinterest. As the real Pinterest! Yes, Alex and I stopped Pinterest headquarters in San Francisco on our Pretty Simple Cooking Reading Tour! We taught Pinterest employees how to make pizza dough using the recipe from the book. It was an absolute bang! While we were there we had lunch at their cafeteria couscous bowls. We knew right away that we wanted to recreate a homemade version!
How do you turn this couscous recipe into a meal bowl? Bowls or main course salads are easy to prepare. You should remember two things when preparing a salad for dinner. First, maximize contrasts: Use a variety of flavors, textures, and colors in your bowl. Then use Proteins and whole grains (or couscous) to hold the filling. Just the veggies, leafy greens, and dressing will leave you hungry an hour later.
Here are the key ingredients that make this couscous recipe a dinner staple:
- Green vegetables: Start with a good green base. We like to use mixed baby greens.
- couscous: Here we used whole wheat couscous because it cooks so quickly! You can use any whole grain.
- Chickpeas: Use canned chickpeas or even better Instant Pot! It takes less than an hour to cook dried beans in a pressure cooker, which saves a lot of time compared to cooking on the stove. If you prefer, replace them with seasoned lentils.
- Vegetables: Here we used fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Feel free to use any veggies you like!
- Tahini sauce: Our favorite sauce for bowl dishes? This Best Tahini Sauce! It’s super tasty and easy to whip together. Tahini is a sesame paste available at most grocery stores. It’s used in homemade hummus, and there are so many other things you can use it for: like this sauce!
This Mediterranean Couscous Recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten free, vegan, plant based, dairy free, naturally sweetened and refined sugar free.
The description
This Mediterranean Bowl Couscous Recipe is a quick weeknight dinner! It features a quick-cooking couscous with chickpeas and a creamy tahini sauce.
For the chickpeas (alternatively seasoned lentils)
For the couscous
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Couscous (Gluten Free Cooked Quinoa Substitute)
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
For the bowl
- 1 small cucumber
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 8 cups green salad
- 1 Recipe Best Tahini Sauce
- Preparation of the chickpeas: If you’re using dried chickpeas, cook them using our Instant Pot Chickpea Method (in under an hour!) or our Dutch Oven Method. If using cans, drain and rinse. In a medium bowl, toss with olive oil, cumin, and kosher salt.
- Prepare couscous: In a medium saucepan, bring 1 ¼ cups of water to a boil. Add the couscous and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, cover and let stand 5 minutes. When finished, stir in the olive oil, another ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt, and the parsley.
- Prepare dressing: Decide on the best tahini sauce.
- Assemble bowls: Peel and dice the cucumber. Halve the tomatoes. Place the vegetables in a large shallow bowl and top with the couscous, chickpeas, cucumber and tomatoes. Drizzle with tahini dressing (about 2 tablespoons per bowl). Serve immediately. Leftovers stay in the fridge for a few days: store all components separately for maximum freshness.
Remarks
If you have particularly hungry eaters, you can double the chickpeas or couscous 1.5 or more, or serve with pita and hummus.
- Category: main course
- Method: Raw
- Kitchen: Mediterranean Sea
Keywords: Mediterranean, Buddha Bowl, Nourish Bowl, Chickpeas, Couscous, Vegan, Vegetarian, Plant-based, Vegan Recipes, Healthy, Healthy Recipes
Looking for more vegan recipes?
Aside from these chickpea couscous bowls, here are some other vegan recipes you might enjoy:
