This Mediterranean Couscous Salad is – fresh, vibrant, and vegan. Bursting with colours, textures, and flavours, here is a wholesome salad recipe.
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What is Couscous?
Couscous is a type of pasta made from crushed durum wheat semolina. It’s popular in many cuisines, particularly in North African countries like Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. It is not a grain or millet.
- vegan
- plant based
- contains gluten
Couscous is used as a base for stews, meat dishes, salads, soups, or vegetable casseroles. It’s a versatile and nutritious ingredient that you can use in a million creative ways.
With colourful array of vegetables, fragrant herbs, and zesty lemon dressing, this vegan couscous salad is sure to brighten up any mealtime.
This salad is:
- vegan
- easy to customize
- meal prep friendly
- perfect for lunchbox or office meals
Ingredients Required For Salad
- Couscous is the key ingredient of this salad recipe. Substitute it with bulgur wheat, broken wheat, or millets.
- Apart from onion, tomato, cucumber, you can add bell peppers, corn, or avocado.
- Kalamata Olives, Capers, and pickled vegetables add lot of flavour to the salad.
- Fresh Herbs like mint, parsley, cilantro or basil add breath of freshness.
- For making dressing, you need extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, za’tar spice mix, salt, and pepper. You can add brine liquid from the preserved olives or capers to the dressing. It is salty, sour, and has a delicious kick to it.
How To Make Couscous Salad
Prepare the Couscous:
- In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable broth or water to a boil.
- Pour hot water over the couscous in a bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a lid and let it sit for about 5 minutes, allowing the couscous to absorb the liquid.
- After 5 minutes, fluff the couscous with a fork to separate the grains . Let it cool to room temperature.
Prepare the Dressing:
- In a small bowl, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced or crushed garlic, za’tar, salt, and pepper until well combined. Set aside.
Assemble the Salad:
- To the cooled couscous, add the halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, diced bell pepper, halved Kalamata olives, finely chopped red onion, chopped parsley, and chopped mint leaves.
- Drizzle the prepared dressing over the couscous salad.
- Toss the salad gently to coat all the ingredients with the dressing.
Chill and Serve:
- Cover the salad bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavours to come together.
- Once chilled, give the salad a final toss and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Garnish with additional fresh herbs or a drizzle of olive oil if desired.
Whether enjoyed as a side dish or a light main course, this vegan salad is a testament to the fresh flavours and wholesome ingredients that define Mediterranean cuisine.
My Tried and True Tips
- Customize To Your Taste: You can add ingredients like diced avocado, roasted red peppers, corn, capers or artichoke hearts, chopped nut for additional flavour and texture.
- Fresh Herbs: The combination of fresh parsley and mint adds brightness and freshness to the salad. If you don’t have fresh herbs on hand, you can use dried herbs, but reduce the quantity by half.
- Make it Ahead: This salad can be prepared a few hours in advance and stored in the refrigerator. It is a perfect meal prep friendly recipe. Just be sure to give it a good toss before serving to redistribute the dressing.
- Serve with Protein: For a complete meal, serve this Mediterranean Couscous Salad alongside grilled chicken, shrimp, paneer tikka, or falafel.
- If desired, sprinkle crumbled feta cheese or goat cheese over the salad for an extra burst of flavour and creaminess.
More Salad Recipes
- Lentil Salad
- Fattoush Salad
- Chickpea Salad
- Herb Potato Salad
- Greek Orzo Pasta Salad
- Summer Tomato Salad
Get all my Salad Recipes here and you can watch the videos on Instagram.
Vegan Couscous Salad Recipe
This Mediterranean Couscous Salad is – fresh, vibrant, and vegan. Bursting with colours, and flavours, here is a wholesome salad recipe.
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Servings: 2 adults
Calories: 675kcal
- Salad Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 cup couscous
- 1 Cup water
- 1 small size red onion, finely chopped
- 1 large size tomato, finely chopped
- 1 english cucumber, finely chopped
- ¼ Cup chopped mint leaves
- ¼ Cup fine chopped parsley
- ¼ Cup chopped olives
Ingredients for Salad Dressing
- ¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large size lemon, juiced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
- 1 teaspoon za'tar spice mix
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon crushed black pepper or to taste
Instructions
- Transfer uncooked couscous in a large bowl.
- In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable broth or water to a boil. Pour hot water over the couscous in a bowl.
- Cover the bowl with a lid and let it sit for about 5 minutes, allowing the couscous to absorb the liquid.
- After 5 minutes, fluff the couscous with a fork to separate the grains . Let it cool to room temperature. Couscous is ready to use.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, minced or crushed garlic, za’tar, salt, and pepper until well combined. Taste, if required add more seasoning. Set aside.
- To the cooled couscous, add the halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, diced bell pepper, halved Kalamata olives, finely chopped red onion, chopped parsley, and chopped mint leaves.
- Cover the salad bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavours to come together.
- Once chilled, give the salad a final toss and adjust seasoning if necessary.
- Vegan Couscous Salad is ready to serve.
Recipe Notes:
- To prepare couscous, you typically add hot water or broth to the couscous, cover them, and let them steam for a few minutes until they’re tender. This method helps rehydrate and cook the grains quickly. Once cooked, couscous becomes light, fluffy, and slightly chewy in texture.
- You can add brine liquid from the preserved olives or capers to the dressing. It is salty, sour, and has a delicious kick to it.
- This salad tastes best after a few hours when couscous absorbs all the flavour of the dressing. Hence, it is best to make it a few hours before serving.
Nutrition
Calories: 675kcal | Carbohydrates: 89g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 22g | Sodium: 870mg | Potassium: 776mg | Fiber: 10g | Sugar: 8g | Vitamin A: 1645IU | Vitamin C: 58mg | Calcium: 131mg | Iron: 4mg
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