My recipe for this Tabbouleh with Quinoa & Feta is absolutely delicious as a light summer lunch or as an accompaniment to barbecued meat.
Spurred on by the gorgeous weather this week, I wanted to try out a fresh and vibrant grain recipe for lunch.
I am ashamed to say I have never made Tabbouleh before, despite always reaching for this first at a salad bar.
What is Tabbouleh?
Tabbouleh is a traditional middle eastern salad that is bursting with fresh ingredients like parsley, fresh tomatoes, onion, fresh mint leaves and bulgar wheat. It's often served as a healthy side dish alongside pita bread or as part of a mezze.
My Version of Tabbouleh
Whilst a traditional lebanese tabbouleh salad is more herbs than grains, I thought having more bulgar wheat, along with the addition of quinoa and feta, would make the dish more filling as a stand alone lunch.
Bulgar Wheat or (Bulgur wheat) and Quinoa is available to buy in most large supermarkets or grocery stores and for my own recipe I used a ready mixed bag from Waitrose to save on time which can only be a good thing!
I used flat-leaf parsley but you could always use curly parsley or even Italian parsley!
You really can play around with this recipe and add in your favorite things.
Dressing Ingredients
For my tabbouleh salad recipe, I used:
- extra virgin olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- garlic
- fresh lemon juice
However, you wanted you could always swap out the lemon juice in favour of lime juice for a sharper flavour.
Important Tips!
Summer is great time of year to be able to get hold of really fresh produce for this dish so I'd recommend using fresh herbs and really ripe tomatoes.
If you are making this dish in advance, then don't add the dressing until you are about to serve!
Storage Instructions
This tabbouleh & quinoa salad with keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a day, but make sure you store the dressing separately.
Serving to Kids
Unfortunately this recipe didn't go down very well with the Fussy Eater!
Serving even a simple salad to kids can be sometimes be tricky! In fact we even have an entire blog post dedicated to it here: 5 Top Tips To Get Kids Eating Salad
If you are looking for a good grain salad that would be more palatable for kids and fussy eaters, then my Caprese Cous Cous Salad leaves out the chopped herbs and is instead super simple with just cherry tomatoes and mozzarella!
I however absolutely loved this light salad full of healthy ingredients and can see myself eating this dish lots throughout the summer.
Other Salad Recipes
If you enjoyed this recipe, then you might also enjoy some of my other favorite salad recipes like:
This Chopped Chicken & Bacon Salad
A delicious and easy lunch for one; Chicken & Bacon Salad packed full of chopped veggies such as lettuce, tomato, cucumber, peppers and olives
Or my Protein Packed Salad
A protein packed salad with chargrilled chicken, goats cheese, cous cous, avocado & spinach.
If you liked this recipe please do leave me a comment and a star rating below. You can also share your pictures with me on Instagram. I always love to see your creations!
Tabbouleh with Quinoa & Feta
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 12 mins
- Total Time: 17 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: Eastern Mediterranean
Description
Delicious as a light summer lunch or as an accompaniment to barbecued meat
Ingredients
- 200g mix of bulgar wheat and quinoa (I bought mine ready mixed from Waitrose)
- 200g cherry tomatoes
- 100g feta cheese
- 10 mint leaves, finely chopped
- large handful of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- Dressing:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- juice of ½ lemon
Instructions
- Cook the bulgar and wheat and quinoa according to the packet instructions (mine booked in 12 minutes simmering on the hob)
- Meanwhile chop the tomatoes, feta, mint and parsley and mix in a bowl
- Make the dressing by mixing the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and crushed garlic
- Once the bulgar wheat and quinoa has cooked, transfer to a sieve and run under cold water for 1 minute. Add to the tomato, feta and herbs and mix well
- Serve with the dressing
Jade Armstrong says
This was really easy to make and tasted great! Will definitely make again.