Chickpea Tabbouleh

Chickpea Tabbouleh with bulgur wheat, parsley, tomatoes and chickpeas, and a hint of mint, a healthy and delicious vegan salad that is super easy to make, and makes a great accompaniment to any roast or BBQ. A favourite summer side dish, but also fantastic all year round.

What makes the Middle Eastern cuisine so unique is not only the use of fragrant, earthy spices, but also the fresh ingredients that give an exquisite taste to any meal. Mint and parsley are often used in many dishes, not only for flavour, but also for colour. Or both at the same time.

Jump to:

• What is tabbouleh?
• Ingredients needed to make tabbouleh
• Easy swaps
• Step-by-step photos and instructions
• Expert tips
• Other summer salads
• Chickpea Tabbouleh

What is tabbouleh?

Tabbouleh is a salad made with fresh parsley, bulgur wheat, tomatoes, mint, onions, and seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. It's a sample food in many Middle Eastern countries, and if often part of a mezze, which is a a selection of dishes served as appetizers.

This is one of the easiest recipes to put together. All we have to do it cook the bulgur, which is ready in less that 10 minutes, chop the fresh ingredients, season well and that's it. There is hardly any preparation needed, and the ingredients listed below are enough for a huge bowl of tabbouleh.

Ingredients needed to make tabbouleh

• bulgur wheat - a cup yields quite a good amount of salad
• chopped fresh parsley  - a large bunch of fresh parsley
• fresh mint - or dried if you don't have fresh
• large tomatoes - cherry tomatoes also ok
• onion- I used shallot, but any other onion or spring onions can be used too
• olive oil - adds a nice touch to the salad
• lemon juice - for balancing out the flavours
• salt & black pepper - to taste

Easy swaps

Bulgur is one of the main ingredients in tabbouleh, but it can easily be swapped for cooked couscous, pearl barley, quinoa, rice or orzo.

I would use the same amount, one cup, and you should end up with pretty much the same amount of salad.

Chickpeas, although not traditionally used for this recipe, could either be omitted or swapped for pomegranate.

Step-by-step photos and instructions

• rinse the bulgur, add it to a pan with 2 cups of water and cook according to the packet instructions

One cup of bulgur is more than enough here, bulgur, like rice, couscous, etc expands when cooked, so you end up with about 3 cups of cooked bulgur. So, don't be tricked into thinking there's not enough before you boil it.

• chop the fresh parsley and tomatoes

• chop the onion and mint
• add them to the cooked and cooled bulgur and chickpeas
• season well with salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice

Expert tips

The more parsley, the better. The salad is actually more of a parsley salad than bulgur salad, but it's up to you how much you like to use. Markets sell massive bunches of parsley super cheaply, so if you get lots of it and don't know what to do with that much parsley, that's a good recipe.

Mint, a little bit goes a long way. Mint is an extremely fragrant, just a few leaves will bring so much flavour, so there is no need for a whole bunch, that's would be too much.

Use any kind of tomatoes you have: tomatoes on the vine, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, roma tomatoes, etc etc. As long as they are well ripen and juicy, they are perfect.

Unless you prefer to cook the dry chickpeas yourself, I would highly recommend the canned chickpeas. They are cheap, cooked to perfection, and ready to use. A no brainer here!

Other summer salads

Moroccan Couscous Salad with Chickpeas

Healthy Mediterranean Chickpea Salad with Feta

Salmon Pasta Salad (No Mayo)

Cold Chicken Caprese Pasta Salad

If you’ve tried my EASY CHICKEPEA TABBOULEH RECIPE or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.