![Last week our grocery store had organic parsley, which I haven't seen all winter. I bought 4 bunches to make tabouli. Tabouli is a Middle Eastern salad traditionally made with parsley, green onions and bulgur wheat, and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt. I enjoy making our tabouli with quinoa... [by Wardee Harmon]](https://traditionalcookingschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/Quinoa-Tabouli-Traditional-Cooking-School-GNOWFGLINS-main-new.jpg "Last week our grocery store had organic parsley, which I haven't seen all winter. I bought 4 bunches to make tabouli. Tabouli is a Middle Eastern salad traditionally made with parsley, green onions and bulgur wheat, and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt. I enjoy making our tabouli with quinoa... [by Wardee Harmon]")
Tabouli is a Middle Eastern salad traditionally made with parsley, green onions and bulgur wheat, and dressed with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon juice and salt. I enjoy making our tabouli with quinoa instead of bulgur wheat, because bulgur wheat isn’t a whole grain (most of the bran is removed before the wheat is parboiled).
We love to eat tabouli with hummus, fresh sourdough bread and Arabic meatballs!
Quinoa Tabouli
The quinoa should be cooked ahead of time and allowed to cool completely. If the quinoa is even the slightest bit warm, it will cook the parsley -- turning it brown -- when the salad ingredients are mixed together.
Ingredients
- 2 cups quinoa
- 4 cups pure water
- 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
- 5 bunches parsley washed
- 1 1/2 bunches green onions
- 1-1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup lemon juice fresh
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- garnishes optional: Romaine lettuce leaves, diced cucumbers, diced tomatoes
Instructions
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Cook the quinoa according to these instructions.
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Allow to cool completely.
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Pick leaves of parsley off stems.
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Discard stems or set aside for green smoothies.
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Chop green onions fine by hand.
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Mix parsley and onions with 7 cups of the cold quinoa, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.
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Adjust seasonings to taste.
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Chill.
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Allow the flavors to mingle for several hours before serving.
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Give the tabouli a stir just before serving to incorporate the juices throughout.
Recipe Notes
If desired, scoop servings of tabouli onto Romaine lettuce leaves and top with diced cucumbers and tomatoes.
Do you love tabouli, too?
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Oh! Oh! Oh! Sounds like another yummy recipe. 🙂 You should title these Cooking With Wardee. 🙂
I actually have some of the quinoa. (That is pronounced keen o wa, right? I have never used quinoa before. I even like saying it. Say it ten times fast. Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa Quinoa 😆
I will enjoy trying this. Perhaps we will try it on Thursday or Friday. We need to get some more parsley. I am incredibly new to using parsley. I bought some at Wild Oats for juicing. This cheaper juicer we have doesn’t juice it properly and much of it was wasted. Do you use the curly or the other parsley? Or does it matter?
Thanks sweetie! 😀
The curly parsely is traditional, but I have used both. I hope you like it!
The quinoa is pronounced “keen-wa”. You’ll have to practice all over again 🙂
I searched and searched looking for a quinoa tabouli reccipe and found yours. Thanks … it sounds great.
I hope you’ll like it Elyn!
How much is a bunch of parsley? Can’t wait to try. Thanks!
They’re sold by the bunch at the grocery store. Very scientific, I know 🙂 but that’s what I mean by “bunch”.
I just made a recipe like this only I added lime juice and an orange bell pepper and carrots. I didn’t think about subsituting my favorites (tomatoes and cucumbers) for a tabouli recipe though!
Thanks for sharing!
titaniumgirl — That sounds yummy! Thank YOU for sharing. I am going to make this and take it to a brunch in a couple of weeks. I might add some lime juice and bell pepper, thanks to you!
Awww — the link to your whole wheat-kamut-millet bread leads to nothing. I really wanted to see how you do it …
Colleen… oh, I am so sorry about that! I took it down to revise the recipe. I will fix it. Give me a day or so. I’ll email you when the link is working. Thanks for pointing it out to me.
In the meantime, you can follow the whole wheat bread — 2 loaf recipe (or the tutorial), but substitute 1-1/2 cups of kamut flour and 1/2 cup of millet flour for some of the whole wheat flour added after the sponge stage.
The Whole Wheat-Kamut-Millet Bread link is working now. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe – I never knew bulgur wasn’t whole – it LOOKS whole…. And quinoa is something I’ve been looking for recipes for. I stumbled in here by accident but am so glad I did!
I hope you enjoy the recipe, critterlover. 🙂
I am making the Quinoa Tabouli for the first time and I am beginning to wonder if I got an exceptionally large bunch of parsley… I don’t usually use it. It appears as though I have a bit more chopped parsley than quinoa volume-wise. Does that sound right?
By the way, I love your recipes. I just made the whole wheat bread yesterday and it is awesome.
Thanks!
You might have gotten an exceptionally large bunch, but that’s okay. You really can’t go wrong on the amounts and proportions. It is very forgiving. Adjust the dressings if you need to. Perhaps though you need to chop the parsley more… it should be very, very fine. Then it might not look like so much. It takes a lot of parsley to make this tabouli. The final test is very difficult — if it tastes good, it is good! 😀
I’m so glad you like the bread! Thanks for letting me know.
Let me know if I can help with anything else.
how much does this recipe serve? i am needing to make enough for 15-20 people.
Diane,
This recipe serves my family of 5 for about two meals, where it is served as a side dish. So I’d say 10 servings. If it were me, I’d underestimate at 7 servings (just in case people want seconds). So you’d want at least a triple batch. Hope this helps you in your planning! Enjoy – it is yummy!
Hi Wardee,
I love that you used the Vitamix for chopping the parsley in the salad. I have been debating buying one for over a month now but this has been one of it’s uses that has been holding me back. Did you find that using the Vitamix left the parsley finely chopped and not mushy in the end?
Thanks,
Sarah
Sarah — If you don’t whizz too long it works great. Since writing this, I got a food processor and find that works better. The wider base allows for better circulation, and the danger of pulverizing it is less, plus you can do more at a time. 🙂
Just curious if you can lacto-ferment this salad?
Susie — I don’t know, and I really don’t think so because how would you submerge the ingredients in brine or liquid for the fermentation? I’d be more inclined to use fermented ingredients in the salad, such as fermented veggies or raw cheese (which is what I do).
Thanks for your reply… I was thinking that you could do it the same way that you lacto-ferment your gaucamole recipe, with a tablespoon of whey..? Would that work?