Quinoa Tabbouleh

The quinoa tabbouleh is always a hit, with lemon and fresh herbs! This twist on the classic Middle Eastern salad is an easy and healthy side dish.

Are you a tabbouleh fan? This Middle Eastern salad is one of the most delicious salads around. There’s something magical about the combination of herbaceous parsley, bright lemon, and crunchy tomatoes and cucumbers. Traditional tabbouleh is made from bulgur, a quick-cooking whole grain. But since quinoa is the grain of the moment… why not give quinoa a try? Apparently tabbouleh works perfectly and adds a delicious gluten-free twist to this classic salad.

What is tabbouleh?

Tabbouleh is an oriental salad made from fresh parsley, bulgur, tomatoes, cucumber and seasoned with lemon juice and olive oil. sometimes spelled Tabbouleh or tabbouleh, it is a staple of Greek, Lebanese and Syrian cuisine. You’ll often see it alongside hummus and baba ganoush on a mezze platter. The fresh explosion of lemon and parsley is the perfect contrast to savory, heavy flavors.

There is no “exact” science for making tabbouleh as each chef has their own recipe. We researched traditional tabbouleh ingredients and used them as the base for this quinoa version. The first time Alex and I ate tabbouleh was when we met at a Greek restaurant in our college town. I remember falling in love with the herbal taste of tabbouleh right away. (I fell in love with Alex much later!)

Ingredients for quinoa tabbouleh

This quinoa tabbouleh recipe is a twist on traditional tabbouleh, using quinoa instead of bulgur! The use of quinoa makes it a gluten-free salad: and you get all the nutritional benefits of quinoa, too. The advantage of bulgur is that you only have to put it in boiling water for 10 minutes. The quinoa cooking process just takes a little longer! But it’s 100% worth the time. Combine quinoa with these traditional tabbouleh ingredients to make a remarkable salad:

• Andean millet
• curly parsley (correct: see below!)
• mint
• Green Onions
• tomatoes
• English cucumber: Use this long, skinny variety and you don’t have to peel it! Here you will find more information.
• lemon juice
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Note: Some tabbouleh recipes contain almost 2/3 parsley with only a small amount of grain. Others are all whole grains and just a little grass. This quinoa tabbouleh recipe falls right in the middle. We love tabbouleh recipes with parsley, but we also wanted a good portion of quinoa. Speaking of parsley…

Curly parsley vs. Italian parsley: what to use for tabbouleh?

There are two main types of parsley: curly parsley and Italian (also called “flat leaf”) parsley. The difference? Curly parsley has very ruffled leaves and a grassy flavor; Italian parsley has flat leaves like coriander and a crunchy herbal flavor. We used to stick to the mantra that curly parsley is only used as a garnish, not for cooking. Use only Italian parsley for cooking, it looks like! But guess what: The best parsley for tabbouleh is curly parsley.

Why? Curled parsley has more texture. Chopping it leaves it light and fluffy, unlike Italian parsley, which is perfectly flat and can become soggy. Also: the taste is what you would expect from a Greek or Lebanese restaurant. So lesson learned: use curly parsley!

For this recipe you need to buy a lot of parsley. It takes a while to chop 2 cups of parsley: but fear not! All the work is worth it. You can use this cilantro cutting video as a guide.

Prepare the quinoa ahead of time if you have time

Cooking the quinoa for quinoa tabbouleh takes about 25 minutes total. You can cook it while you’re chopping the veggies: but the easiest way is to cook them ahead of time! Here’s why:

• It helps to prepare the quinoa ahead of time. You don’t want hot quinoa for tabbouleh, you need room temperature or cold quinoa. Why? Immediately after cooking, quinoa retains a lot of moisture. The grains should dry out a bit so they don’t stick together. In addition, the salad is served at room temperature. So the easiest way to prepare this salad is to cook and refrigerate the quinoa ahead of time.
• Here’s a quick tip for chilling quinoa…quickly! If you’re not thinking ahead, you can use this trick to cool quinoa quickly. Spread it out in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for a few minutes. This allows the steam to dissipate and makes it much quicker to cool than putting it in a bowl.

How to Make Quinoa Tabbouleh… A Few More Tips!

Once the quinoa is cooked, the tabbouleh is dead easy to make! The basic method of this recipe is very simple: boil quinoa, cut greens, add vinaigrette. But there are a few other things to consider:

• Chop the vegetables very finely. You want the veggies to blend in well with the texture of the salad, so chop them as finely as possible.
• De-seed and de-seed the tomatoes. Another trick to reducing moisture is to core and de-seed the tomatoes as you cut them. This will remove any mushy seeds from the lettuce. See How to Cut Tomatoes for more information.

storage information

Once you mix up a batch of this quinoa tabbouleh, you can use it as a healthy side dish for lunch and dinner all week long! It keeps in the fridge for about 3-4 days and keeps quite well.

How to serve quinoa tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a fantastic, healthy and easy side dish or appetizer for all types of meals. Some of our grain salad recipes can be used as a main course, but here we recommend saving them as a side dish. It almost looks like a condiment like an Indian raita: it’s nice to mix with the flavors already on your plate to add new sparkle. Here are some ways to serve it!

This quinoa tabbouleh recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free and gluten-free.