Quinoa Tabbouleh

Quinoa tabbouleh is a gluten free side dish that is packed with flavor! Quinoa is an excellent substitute for anyone who is sensitive to gluten or wheat. I have been making tabbouleh since the early 80s. My long time college boyfriend was part Lebanese and his mother gave me many of her wonderful recipes.

Since then, tabbouleh has always been one of my favorite Middle Eastern side dishes. (This post was originally published on October 8th, 2012. As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn commission on qualifying purchases.) 

What is tabbouleh?

Tabbouleh is a traditional Lebanese or Syrian side dish or salad. Although it’s common to find it all over the Eastern Mediterranean, including Israel, Jordan, Palestine or Turkey. Each area will make theirs slightly differently. It’s made with fresh parsley, bulgur or cracked wheat, fresh tomatoes, green onions, fresh mint, and a simple dressing of lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. It’s usually served as part of a “mezze” or appetizers, like hummus, rather than on its own.

Why quinoa?

While I love the traditional version with bulgur wheat, when my daughter was younger and sensitive to wheat, I reworked many of my gluten filled recipes and made them gluten free. Cooked and chilled quinoa has a very similar texture to bulgur wheat, so it was a perfect substitution. Just one cup of cooked is about 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber. Quinoa is also a complete protein, and contains all nine essential amino acids.

Ingredients for quinoa tabbouleh

• Cooked quinoa. We’re substituting traditional bulgur wheat for cooked and chilled quinoa. You can also make more quinoa and use leftovers for this Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with artichokes, feta and olives.
  

  Artichoke and Pesto Mediterranean Quinoa Salad.

• After quinoa, the most important ingredient is parsley. I’ve seen tabbouleh “kits” that have dried parsley and mint and it’s just not the same as fresh. Fresh parsley is available year-round in every grocery store. When I first started making tabbouleh 40+ years ago, there was one kind of parsley in the grocery store and that was curly leaf. I prefer Italian flat leaf parsley to curly for two reasons. First, it’s easier to clean and de-stem and second, I prefer the flavor. Curly leaf parsley is the most common parsley and has a milder flavor. Use whichever one you prefer.

• Mint. Don’t skip the fresh mint! It’s what gives tabbouleh that lovely fresh “Middle Eastern” flavor! Mint is another herb that’s commonly found in the produce section of any grocery store.
• Tomatoes. You can use use any type of tomato you’d like; juicy beefsteaks, exotic heirlooms, or jeweled cherry are all delicious. You’re going to chop them up anyway. In the summer when I have an abundance of tomatoes, this is one of my favorite ways to use them.
• Cucumber. I prefer the long, thin skinned hot house or English cucumbers, to the shorter, thick skinned variety. It’s not necessary to peel English cucumbers, and they have fewer seeds.
• Green onions. Slice them and use both the green and the white parts.
• Garlic. Depending on the size of your cloves, you can use more or less than the amount in the recipe.
• Olive oil. I have several types of olive oil. I save the best quality and fruitiest oils for something like a vinaigrette or this salad. When there are so few ingredients, quality and flavor really count.
• Lemon juice. You’ll definitely want to skip the bottled lemon juice and use a fresh lemon.
• Season to taste with salt and black pepper. I always hate giving exact measurements with seasoning. Everyone has a different idea of what the “perfect” amount of seasoning is. But I find most dishes that lack flavor usually just don’t have enough salt. I only use Redmond’s Real Salt for cooking and seasoning.

How to make quinoa tabbouleh

This is one of those recipes that is hard to write down. For many years I just made it and never measured anything. In fact I seriously doubt anyone making this dish is the Middle East follows a recipe. I’m giving you a general recipe, but if you prefer more (or less) parsley adjust it! Extra cucumbers? Throw them in! More mint or garlic? Why not? Make it your own. I like a nice balance of quinoa to parsley.

First cook and chill the quinoa. It’s also a good substitute for rice, so you can make a large batch and eat some with just butter and salt and chill the rest.

When I first learned how to make tabbouleh, I was in my early 20s and didn’t have a food processor. Mrs. “M” showed me how to stem and chop the parsley by hand. This is the traditional method. As I adapted it, I decided to use the food processor to chop the parsley. You still want to use just the leaves and not the stems. But boy, does the food processor make this task so much easier and faster!

Peel and seed the cucumbers and chop. Chop the tomatoes. Slice the green onions and mince the garlic. Toss all the veggies with the chilled quinoa then season with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

This salad tastes better if it’s had a chance to chill for a few hours and is even better the second day. It’s delicious as a side dish to Chicken Souvlakia.