This recipe for tabbouleh could NOT be easier. I didn’t have to heat up a pot on the stove, chop any veggies, or deal with mushy, overcooked grains. With whole wheat couscous, all you have to do is add boiling water and let them sit for a few minutes before fluffing with a fork (anyone wonder why it’s called “fluffing” btw? A fork doesn’t exactly seem like a good “fluffer”).
I added a TON of lemon juice, both fresh and from the bottle, for max tang factor . I also cut down on the amount of olive oil typically used in tabbouleh (aka ‘tabouleh’ or ‘tabouli’… I just chose the one with the most letters), as I didn’t want a salad to sit in my fridge dredged in oil for a week. Yes, that is how long I plan on keeping this stuff around. I’m gonna be a working woman now, people! I may add more oil and juice later if it gets too dry- we’ll see. Free free to do more or less of the oil/lemon to your liking.
I also added 2 cans of garbanzo beans to help increase the protein in the salad- it seemed like it was missing something “meaty.” As I plan to eat this as a main course most days, I wanted a bean in there to help keep me fuller for longer.
One more thing. Make sure not to skimp on the parsley. I used curly parsley because it’s a bit chewier and also easier to pluck from the stems (which is a super annoying task). Other than that, this salad takes less than 30 minutes and will only get better over time! With a food processor, you don’t need to chop any veggies or onions into perfect little slices- just pulse and add to the couscous!
This would be incredible over more greens with a fried egg on top and/or a little dollop of greek yogurt or crumbled feta (or both!). You could also serve it stuffed in a pita pocket or with some whole grain crackers on the side. Enjoy!
- 2 cups whole wheat couscous (TJ’s)
- 1 cup boiling water
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lemon, halved
- 8 tbsp lemon juice, divided
- 2 bunches parsley, rinsed and stems cut off
- 1 cucumber, rinsed and peeled
- 1/2 red onion
- 2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 carton cherry tomatoes, rinsed
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Pour couscous into a large bowl. Add boiling water and stir. Add olive oil and juice from 1/2 of lemon, plus 4 tbsp regular lemon juice.
- In a food processor, add parsley, cucumber, red onion, and juice from the other half of the lemon, plus remaining 4 tbsp lemon juice. Pulse until roughly chopped. (It helps to give it a quick stir after each pulse to avoid getting one big parsley “paste” with big chunks of red onion at the top of the bowl!)
- Using a spatula, add processed mixture to the bowl with the couscous.
- In food processor, add garbanzo beans and tomatoes. Pulse until just roughly chopped- two or three times for about 2-3 seconds is all you need!
- Add to the bowl with the other ingredients and toss to combine. Add pepper, salt, and garlic powder and stir.
- Serve with additional greens like spinach or kale and a dollop of plain yogurt on top, or stuffed in a pita pocket for a hearty sandwich!
Claire Tastes 
Published by