Lebanese Tabouli [Vegan, mGF]

Tabouli is an lemony, bright, and easy Levant and Mediterranean favorite side dish that doesn’t require any cook time!

Jentri is a sorority sister of mine who runs her own fitness and health social media accounts. People love seeing her healthy smoothies and rainbow salads, so I asked her to be a guest poster! She provided this family recipe and I executed carefully to maintain authenticity! Here’s what she has to say about it:

Most people had never heard about tabouli until a few years ago when it began to become more mainstream. My grandmother is full blood Lebanese – so tabouli, cabbage rolls, hummus, and all of the other Mediterranean goods are always available when Sito (Lebanese for grandma) is around! I grew up loving tabouli and this recipe is near and dear to my heart because it’s always a family affair when it comes to food. Tabouli is also a great choice if you’re looking to try and be more health conscious. Packed with healthy fats from the olive oil and detoxifying ingredients like parsley, onions, and garlic – it could almost be considered a superfood in my book. You can use this as a side dish or just have it as a snack, it’s great either way! I hope you all like this dish as much as my family and I do!

I learned a couple things in this process that you might also appreciate. For one, Lebanese tabouli has more parsley than the tabouli you probably think of. I read somewhere it was explained like “a salad with grains in it” instead of “grains with some salad in it.” This keeps the recipe light, bright and fresh-tasting. It’s also got tons of accepted spellings (which is hard for me, admittedly, as a grammar nut). So you can enjoy your tabouli/tabbouleh/tabouleh/tabbouleh any way you like it!

Local Spotlight: My tabouli wheat is from Oklahoma! (I found it at my local grocery store.) It is cracked bulgur wheat, and is apparently grown in Bristow. I found this bag sitting out in the produce section, and was so surprised to see that address! Glad my global recipe could also include a local contribution. In the summer, it will be able to be made with local produce and I’m excited for that day!

Do you like Mediterranean food? Where do you eat tabouli? A restaurant? Home?

xxHillary

5 from 1 vote

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Lebanese Tabouli [Vegan, mGF]

Tabouli is a lemony, bright, and easy Levant and Mediterranean favorite side dish that doesn't require any cook time!

Course Salad

Cuisine Mediterranean

Prep Time 15 minutes

Resting Time 30 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 10

Ingredients

• 1 C. tabouli wheat/fine bulghur
• 1 C. olive oil
• 1 C. lemon juice
• 4 bunches of parsley
• 1 onion
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 T. salt
• 1/2 T. pepper

Instructions

1. Combine oil, lemon juice, and bulghur.
   

2. Chop parsley, onion, pepper, tomatoes and mix in with the bulghur and liquids.
   

3. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
   

4. #enJOY! From Jentri: You can eat it immediately but I recommend letting it set in the fridge overnight or for at least a couple of hours so that all of the flavors can be absorbed by the wheat, it tastes much better that way.

Recipe Notes

To modify to be gluten-free, you can substitute quinoa for the bulghur.