Pearl Couscous Salad

From the author: I tried to recreate this couscous salad from a meal my friend Lindsay made for me a while back. It’s a great potluck or picnic dish, and with the exception of the olive oil and the olives that I already had, the dish cost me about four bucks. You can make it with regular couscous or quinoa, but pearl couscous (also called Israeli couscous) is my favorite. You can also put any other veggies that you’d like.

Couscous Salad 4 scaled 3

Pearl Couscous Salad

Toni Okamoto

This super easy to prepare Pearl Couscous Salad is a great choice for those days when you don't have much time to hustle in the kitchen!

5 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 10 mins

Total Time 20 mins

Course Lunch

Cuisine Middle Eastern

Servings 4 servings

Calories 377 kcal

METHOD Stove

DIET Vegan

Equipment

• ▢
  Medium Bowl
• ▢
  Measuring spoons
• ▢
  Measuring Cups
• ▢
  Medium Pot

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups of pearl/Israeli couscous
• ▢ 1 tablespoons of olive oil
• ▢ 1 vegetable bouillon cube dissolved in 2 cups of water
• ▢ ¼ of a small red onion diced
• ▢ 10 Greek pitted kalamata or green olives halved
• ▢ ½ of a cucumber diced

Instructions

 

• In a medium pot and over medium-high heat, stir couscous and olive oil until it’s lightly browned. Add the vegetable broth, bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes.
• If you're dying to eat it right away, mix in the veggies and eat up. However, I like to wait until the couscous is completely cooled. Since I can be really impatient, I sometimes throw it in the freezer for about 10 minutes and then take it out and stir in the veggies.

Video

Notes

Any variety of couscous and even quinoa will work in this dish.

Nutrition

Calories: 377kcalCarbohydrates: 69gProtein: 11gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 285mgPotassium: 207mgFiber: 5gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 54IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 31mgIron: 1mg

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Couscous Salad: Super-Easy Lunch

This pearl couscous salad is the simplest and quickest lunch you can throw together. Just cook the couscous for 10 mins and while you wait, you can cut up your veggies. Another plus is you can use any veggies you have. Diced tomatoes, shredded carrots, corn, or green peas. Choose your favorites and add away!

Add Some Extra Protein

This recipe is a complete lunch on its own but, why not take the chance to add some extra protein? There are so many ways we could do that. If you want to keep it super simple, add some black beans straight from the can (rinse them first!). But if you want something a little more elaborate, you could add some crispy spicy tofu or some tasty roasted chickpeas. So many possibilities!

Veggie Broth Magic

One of the reasons this recipe is so tasty is because of the flavors from the vegetable broth. You could use plain water but you’d miss out on a much tastier pearl couscous salad. Vegetable broth is such a staple when it comes to healthy plant-based cooking. You can use it on dishes such as risotto, veggie soup, and many others. As you can see in the recipe, we prefer bouillon dissolved in water instead of buying cartons of vegetable broth because it’s more flavorful.

This recipe is also a great dish to make when you’re batch cooking for the week ahead! You could even double up the recipe and customize half of it. Either by adding new ingredients to it or eating it as a side with something like a bean burger.