Oil Free Parsley Macaroni Chopped Salad! We love our greens, and we are always looking for delicious and different ways to use them. This fun salad twist is just the dish to bring you all those healthy plant-based ingredients in a flavorful way!

Healthy, vibrant, and tasty, this Oil Free Parsley Macaroni Chopped Salad is a bowl of nutritiousness. Finely chopped cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, kale, tomatoes, and green onions pair with elbow macaroni and bathed in a deliciously creamy green dressing that is packed with parsley, spinach, and hummus. It tastes like an amazing bite of freshness with every forkful.

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

Hi there, Ameera here!

This recipe was created for all those parsley lovers out there.  If you love the Middle Eastern Parsley Salad called ‘Tabbouleh’, then you will love this salad. No, it isn’t a Tabbouleh salad, but it is reminiscent of it simply because parsley dominates the dressing flavor.

This salad is a cross between a chopped salad and a macaroni salad.  We freakin LOVED it, and Yasmeen devoured it!

This salad is pure nutrition in a bowl.  It is loaded with fresh garden ingredients and the dressing is bursting with vitamins and antioxidants.  It totally checks off a number of Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen Checklist items.

• Beans – hummus
• Greens – kale, spinach, parsley
• Grains – macaroni
• Cruciferous – cabbage
• Vegetables – cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, green onions
• Nuts – sesame seeds (from tahini in the hummus)
• Spices – garlic powder

You gotta give this one a try!

Tips for Success:

• Flavor Profile: The main flavor profile of this salad is parsley.  If you love tabbouleh (Middle Eastern Parsley Salad) and/or parsley, then you will enjoy this chopped salad.  It is not a tabbouleh salad, but the parsley is the dominant flavor. This salad is very fresh tasting from all the fresh garden ingredients:  parsley, spinach, kale, cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, etc.  It tastes exactly like those ingredients – very fresh!
• Cabbage Dicing: This salad is very “dip like” meaning that the ingredients should be very finely diced.  If you have a food processor, then use the slaw/grate attachment.  You can also use a hand-held box grater as well. If you do not have a food processor or box grater, then we suggest slicing the cabbage thinly, then chopping the thin strips into very fine pieces.  Do not use more than 2 cups of finely diced cabbage or you will end up with a drier salad.  You can also use a store-bought slaw package, but you may need to chop it if the slaw pieces are on the larger side.
• Cucumber Dicing: Slice the baby cucumber in half lengthwise, then again lengthwise.  You now have 4 long strips of cucumber.  Now take each cucumber strip and slice it in half again.  You will end up with 8 long strips of cucumber.  Then dice the long strips.
• Food Processor: We used the food processor with the slaw/grater attachment to chop the cabbage and to grate the carrot.
• Pasta: The pasta is optional, but we feel it tastes great in this salad. We used elbow macaroni.  We suggest using a small pasta like elbow, ditalini, or small shells.  The 2 cup measurement is after the pasta has been cooked.  Do not measure 2 cups of dry pasta, you will end up with too much cooked pasta.
• 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 out the flavor over time.  The refrigerated leftovers flavor (if dressed) will not be as vibrant.
• Hummus: We use our The Best Hummus recipe as the base for the Dressing.  Feel free to use your favorite hummus recipe.
• Kale and Spinach: We used fresh baby kale and fresh baby spinach.  You can also use mature kale in place of the baby kale if you wish.  When it comes to the fresh baby spinach, we strongly suggest sticking to baby spinach.
• Sea Salt: Our family was totally divided over the amount of sea salt used in this salad.  We suggest using ½ teaspoon (or less), then tasting the salad after it has been dressed, then sprinkling on more until the desired seasoning has been achieved. Ultimately, we landed on ¾ teaspoon of 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 to 5 days (undressed salad) in the refrigerator.  Store in a covered container.  We suggest only dressing the amount of salad that you plan to eat in one sitting.

This dish does not freeze well.

Kitchen Products Used:

• High-Speed Blender
• Food Processor (optional)
• Stock pot to cook the pasta (optional)

We certainly hope you give this deliciousness a try.

If you try this vibrant 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 Parsley Macaroni Chopped 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
• Diet: Vegan

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Description

Healthy, vibrant, and tasty, this Oil Free Parsley Macaroni Chopped Salad is a bowl of nutritiousness.

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Ingredients

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Base Salad Ingredients:

• 2 cups green cabbage, fine chop
• 2 baby cucumbers, small dice
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, diced *
• 6 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup baby kale, finely chopped
• 2 cups cooked elbow macaroni (optional) *

Dressing Ingredients:

• ½ cup hummus
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach
• 1 cup fresh parsley
• 3 Tablespoons water
• 1 Tablespoon distilled white vinegar (+/-)
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice (+/-)
• 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• pinch to ¾ teaspoon sea salt (+/-) *

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Instructions

1. If adding pasta, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and rinse with cold water, shake well to remove any excess water, set aside.
2. In the meantime, prepare and place all the Salad Base Ingredients into a large bowl, mix well, set aside.
3. Add the Dressing Ingredients into a high-speed blender. Blend on high until the dressing is creamy, emulsified, and smooth. Taste test for flavor, add more ingredients to reach the flavor you desire.
4. Pour the sauce over the salad ingredients (use less sauce if omitting pasta), mix well to completely coat the salad ingredients. Taste test, add more seasonings, if needed.
5. 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

*Nutritional Information: If using tahini free hummus, the fat content will drop significantly. Additionally, if using less pasta or no pasta, the carb content will drop significantly.

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