Best Tabbouleh or Tabouli Salad Recipe Ever! (2024)

FAQs

What are the main ingredients in tabouli? ›

Tabbouleh is basically parsley salad. There's technically no lettuce in it. It's a salad made up of parsley, tomatoes, bulgur wheat, and green onions – all finely chopped and tossed with olive oil and lemon juice!

Always re-taste before serving! Let the tabouli salad sit in the fridge a good 1-2 hours before serving, allowing the bulgar to soak up the juices from the tomatoes and lemon, and the parsley to soften and lose any bitterness.

The most likely sources of bitterness in a tabbouleh are parsley and olive oil. The parsley should be finely chopped to avoid bitter flavours.

Because of its ingredients, tabouli will last in the refrigerator for up to four days, so make sure you eat it before then.

Tabbouleh is a healthy, vegetarian food that has no cholesterol, is low in fat, and high in fiber, vitamins, and much more. Plus, it makes great use of the backyard gardener's abundance of parsley, mint, tomatoes and cucumbers.

It's great for your digestive health and skin. Some versions of tabbouleh tend to be heavier on the bulgar wheat, whereas traditionally the parsley is the main feature. I like both varieties but if I'm serving it as a side dish or in a flat bread I prefer the lighter, greener type.

Sweetness: From sugar, honey, fruits or otherwise, sweetness will counteract bitter and sour flavours. It can also be used to cut down the heat of a particularly spicy meal. Saltiness: Salt plays two very important roles in flavouring a dish.

Spices mask bitter flavors, so don't be shy. Add some spicy peppers or powders to your cooking, or sprinkle some onto your dishes for a little bit of extra heat. Black pepper in particular has compounds that counteract bitterness. Some other great spices include cayenne, red pepper, paprika, and chili powder.

Refreshing, healthy and delicious, tabbouleh is often referred to as a salad though many Lebanese view it as a dish in its own right. Regardless of how you define it, tabbouleh is one of Lebanon's most popular foods and is perfectly suited for those long, hot Mediterranean summers.

I love this tabouli salad recipe: it's refreshing and bursting with herby, lemony flavour. The genius of this recipe is that burghul is normally soaked in water but here it is soaked in lemon juice and tomatoes. The liquid slowly seeps from the tomato, softening and flavouring the burghul at the same time.

How do you soften bitterness? ›

The Fix: Balance bitter flavors by introducing something salty, sweet, or sour. For naturally bitter foods such as kale, you can soften the flavor by add a lemony vinaigrette, Parmesan cheese, and pomegranate seeds. You can also elevate kale by tossing it olive oil and salt, then roasting it in the oven until crispy.

While the classic tabbouleh recipe includes bulgur wheat, alternative versions can be made without it, using substitutes like quinoa, couscous, or even omitting the grain entirely. These variations allow for dietary restrictions or personal preferences while still maintaining the essence of the dish.

When you chop parsley for tabbouleh or any recipe in a food processor or blender, the results are wet and mushy. Parsley is much nicer chopped by hand with a sharp knife. However, for large quantities of parsley, using the food processor may make sense.

It won't be as good as fresh if using for garnishing or salad-type dishes such as tabbouleh, but it'll work perfectly fine when added during cooking or to baking and dressings, such as in omelettes, pasta dishes, savoury muffins or salsa verde. Use the same quantity specified for fresh in recipes - no need to defrost.

Tabouli salad or Tabbouleh is a simple Mediterranean salad of very finely chopped vegetables, lots of fresh parsley and bulgur wheat, all tossed with lime juice and olive oil.

Bulgur consists of parboiled whole or crushed partially debranned wheat grains, and is used as a substitute for rice, e.g., in pilaf, an eastern European dish consisting of wheat, meat, oil and herbs cooked together.

Authentic tabbouleh is made with super fine grain (#1) bulgur and it's soaked rather than cooked, but I haven't been able to find it at regular grocery stores. There are several other varieties of bulgurs, and you'll probably find only one option at the store. So, cook (or soak) it according to the package directions.

Is tabbouleh good for you? Absolutely, aside from the olive oil in the dressing the dish is full of vitamins from the fresh ingredients. You also aren't wasting a lot of stomach space on less healthy “greens” like iceberg or romaine. The deeper greens of the parsley are more full of vitamins per bite.