Quinoa Tabbouleh Parsley Salad

Tabouli, or tabbouleh, is a popular Lebanese superfood parsley salad. Tabbouleh and labneh were staples growing up. After decades of my family making this salad, it's perfect. We always had our Lebanese tabouli salad the traditional way- with bulgar wheat. However, both of my brothers have gluten intolerance, so we had to find another way to make it. I give you the best ever Lebanese quinoa tabbouleh.

Honestly, I can't tell a difference using quinoa in lieu of bulgar wheat. In fact, I really like the texture of the quinoa in this parsley tabbouleh salad.

Why I Love Quinoa Tabbouleh

This salad is jam-packed with all kinds of superfood goodness going on. From quinoa to Italian parsley, it's full of natural ingredients and vitamins. Tabbouleh is an excellent meal to have throughout the week, so this recipe is great to batch prepare. Finally, I really love the freshness of this salad. The fresh mint, parsley, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and high-quality olive oil make the salad juice mind-blowing.

Ingredients

• Quinoa: Cook the quinoa ahead of time so it can cool off a bit. I use white quinoa because it's the closest color to bulgar wheat.
• Italian parsley: There are two types of parsley you find in the grocery store normally. Use Italian parsley, which resembles cilantro (coriander) in looks, but it definitely doesn't taste like cilantro. Be careful not to buy cilantro because you will end up with pico de gallo instead of tabouli.
• Fresh mint: This is a really important ingredient in this recipe. Actually, it's the secret ingredient, and only a privileged few know about this secret ingredient.
• Onion: You can go a few different ways here. I normally make my tabbouleh with half spring onion and half white onion. However, you can choose to use only spring onion or only white onion. Either way, the quantity will be the same.
• Tomatoes: I use tomatoes on the vine for my tabouli recipe. Tomato quality does make a difference, and you want to splurge a little on some good red and juicy tomatoes.
• Lemons: You will need fresh lemons for this recipe. Bottled lemon juice just doesn't taste the same.
• Olive Oil: I use high-quality extra virgin olive oil, which in my book means that the olive oil is not blended with any other oils. I want that EVOO to be 100%.
• Salt and Pepper: You can use pink Himalayan sea salt, sea salt, flaked sea salt, or regular table salt.

You will also need:

• A very sharp chefs knife
• Cutting board
• Large salad bowl
• Pot with a lid (to cook quinoa)
• Mesh strainer (to strain quinoa)

How to Make Quinoa Tabbouleh

1. Prepare quinoa. Cook quinoa and set aside.
2. Chop the parsley. Fill a very large bowl or your sink with water. Add parsley to the water to wash. Keep the parsley in the water until you use it. Remove parsley leaves from the parsley stem and set aside. Discard the parsley stems. Finely chop the parsley leaves as fine as possible. Add to the salad bowl.
3. Chop the mint. Remove mint leaves. Chop mint finely just like the parsley.
4. Chop the tomatoes. Slice the tomatoes in thin circles. Then slice the tomatoes like you would make a "tic tac toe board. You want the tomatoes as fine as the chopped parsley.
5. Chop the onions. If you are using spring onion, slice the spring onion in thin pieces. If you are using white onion, slice the onion just like you slice the tomatoes.
6. Squeeze the lemons. Using a lemon juicer, squeeze the lemons.
7. Assemble the salad bowl. Add all of the ingredients together. Add salt to taste. Mix well.

Tips and Variations

• Wash and chop the parsley finely. You can remove the leaves from the parsley stem one by one (the long way) OR cut the leaves away from the stem (as in the video). You can chop a small amount of the parsley stem with the parsley leaves without affecting the flavor too much.
• Use quinoa or bulgar wheat. If you would like to change out the quinoa for bulgar-wheat, I have included those instructions in the recipe card. The authentic way to make tabouli is by using bulgar-wheat.

FAQs

How to Store Tabbouleh

Store the quinoa tabbouleh salad in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. I don't recommend freezing or warming it up. You can eat tabbouleh cold directly out of the fridge, or allow it to get to room temperature before eating.

Next-Day Quinoa Tabbouleh

In my honest and humble opinion, tabbouleh tastes better the next day. The salad sweats a little bit overnight, so don't be surprised by the level of salad juice the next day. The salad juice actually has a name, zoom, and it's not your conference calling software.

Print