Oil Free Middle Eastern Couscous Salad! This is the best of two worlds: nourishing greens and carbolicious pasta.

Healthy, flavorful, and vibrant, this Oil Free Middle Eastern Couscous Salad is a simple and delicious chopped salad filled with delightful veggies, protein-packed chickpeas, and tender couscous. This hearty and satisfying salad is coated in a mouth-watering Middle Eastern inspired vinaigrette, so get those forks ready for some good eats!

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients.

Hi there, Ameera here!

I loved chopped salads! I could eat one every single day of my life and never get tired of them. Although we call this a “salad” versus a “chopped salad,” it pretty much is a chopped salad. LOL

We like to chop the Romaine lettuce into smaller bite-size pieces rather than a traditional chopping of lettuce that you would find in most salads. The small pieces just add to the fun of eating a chopped salad.

I love the freshness of this salad with pops of tang and mint. All those lovely garden veggies make it taste so refreshing and utter delish!

You gotta give this one a try!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile: This salad has a Middle Eastern vibe to it.  The flavors of the veggies are not weighed down and come through as a beautiful, healthy salad.
• Couscous: We tested both a whole wheat couscous and a regular pearl couscous in this salad. You can use any very small cut pasta (gluten free or otherwise) in this recipe.
• Lemon Juice: The recipe has lemon juice in both the Base Salad Ingredients and the Dressing Ingredients.
• Base Salad Ingredient Amounts: We suggest not using more than the indicated amounts or you could end up with a dry salad.
• Beans: You can pretty much use any bean you wish in this salad.
• Romaine Chopping: This is a chopped salad, so we suggest slicing the Romaine into small bitesize pieces.
• Chopped Green Onions: Be sure to use a good portion of the green part of the green onions as well.
• Taste Testing Salad Dressings: There is an art to arriving at the salad dressing that perfectly suits your tastes.  The best way to test salad dressings is to place a few leaves of lettuce (or other greens) in a tiny bowl, put a tiny bit of the salad dressing over top and mix really well, then taste test.  Some salad dressings taste amazing before you dress the salad, then once dressed, they fall flat.  That is because the salad dressing has to cover all the salad ingredients and it flattens the flavor.
• Dressing the Salad: We strongly suggest adding the dressing only to the portion of the salad that you plan to consume in one sitting as the salad ingredients tend to really soak up the dressing and mellow it out the flavor over time.  The refrigerated leftovers flavor will not be as vibrant.
• Sea Salt: Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container, undressed.  We suggest only dressing the amount of salad that you plan to eat in one sitting.

This dish cannot be frozen.

Pantry Products Used:

• Couscous: We used Baron’s Whole Wheat Toasted Pasta Couscous.
• Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free.  Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil.  You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.

Kitchen Products Used:

• Whisk (or fork)
• Medium sized stock pot (to cook the couscous)

We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.

If you try this flavorful salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us!  We would love to hear from you.

Oil Free Middle Eastern Couscous Salad

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• Author: Monkey and Me Kitchen Adventures
• Prep Time: 20 Minutes
• Total Time: 20 Minutes
• Yield: 3-4 Servings 1x
• Category: Salad
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: Middle Eastern Inspired
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Healthy, flavorful, and vibrant, this Oil Free Middle Eastern Couscous Salad is a simple and delicious chopped salad filled with delightful veggies, protein-packed chickpeas, and tender couscous.

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Ingredients

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Base Salad Ingredients:

• ¾ cup uncooked pearl couscous *
• 6 to 7 cups chopped Romaine lettuce *
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced (+/-)
• 2 small cucumbers, fine chop
• 1 cup chopped tomatoes, small dice
• 1 – [ 15 oz. can ] chickpeas, drained and rinsed *
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Dressing Ingredients:

• ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon tahini
• 1 Tablespoon miso *
• 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup (+/-)
• 2 Tablespoons water
• 1/8 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *
• Pinch black pepper

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Instructions

1. Cook the couscous according to package directions, drain, rinse well with cold water, shake well to remove excess water, allow to drain, set aside.
2. Place all the Salad Base Ingredients into a large bowl, mix well, set aside.
3. Add the Dressing Ingredients into a bowl, whisk well until emulsified.
4. Taste test the dressing for flavor, add more ingredients to reach the flavor you desire.
5. Pour the dressing over the salad ingredients, mix well to completely coat the salad ingredients. Taste test and add more seasonings as needed.
6. Serve and enjoy!

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Notes

*Please reference the blog post for Tips for Success, Pantry Items Used, Storage and Freezing, and Kitchen Products Used. 

*Sea Salt:  Please adjust the sea salt based upon your family’s sea salt preferences and/or based upon dietary needs.   

*Servings: 3 to 4

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