Hi friend, yup this is the best tabbouleh salad! This salad makes for a perfect summer salad, it is refreshing light and easy to make. If you are planning a pinic this is a perfect side dish and fun to take along with some hummus, pita bread making for a simple and middle eastern not your every day picnic.

Side note if you are vegan this is an easy vegan dish.

The fresh herbs in this dish make it so refreshing and flavorful. When chopping, the herbs give off a beautiful aroma. The lemon adds a bit of zing to the salad. 

Tabbouleh also spelled tabouleh, tabbouli, or tabouli, is a traditional salad served in the Middle East. It is made mainly of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, and bulgur, and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.

Bulgur wheat, an ancient grain, kicks this dish up a notch. Bulgur wheat not only tastes good but is packed with nutrient-dense vitamins and minerals. 

Bulger wheat is very versatile and has a mild, nutty, or earthy flavor. It gives this dish a bit of weight to balance out the lightness of the fresh herbs and lemon.  

Below is my favorite tabbouleh recipe. The bright green color and fresh aroma of the herbs, along with the zing of the lemon, make this dish a great fresh summer salad, perfect for that picnic. 

This salad is a great meal on its own or as a nice side dish. I made some falafel the other day and paired it with this Tabbouleh salad. It was fantastic! Here is the link to my easy authentic falafel recipe if you want to try it out. Easy Authenitc Falafel

We were full-on Middle Eastern that night at my house for dinner, and it was so much fun to mix things up with some international cuisine. 

For the salad, the ingredients that you are going to want to have on hand are:

• Bulgur wheat—Bulgur wheat will add some bulk to the salad and give it that nice, nutty, earthly flavor. If you’re unfamiliar with bulgur, it is cracked wheat that’s been partially cooked and dried. Traditional Tabbouleh would be made with fine bulgur; however, depending on the grocery store, they may or may not carry fine bulgur wheat, so you can also use coarse bulgur. Either one will work just fine in this recipe. 
•  Cucumber—I like to use French or any seedless cucumber for this salad. If those are not options for you, you can also use any cucumber; try to remove the seeds. And if that is not working for you because of time or whatever, seeds are fine, too. The cucumber will give this salad a nice crunch. 
•  Tomato-I like to use big beef tomatoes for this salad. I find them just to be easier to work with. Any large tomato will do just fine, too. 
• Salt– Salt here is really to taste. Add more or less depending on you. 
•  Curly parsley—for this recipe, make sure to get the curly and not the flat-leaf parsley. In terms of flavor, flat-leaf parsley tends to have a more robust taste than curly parsley, which will have a slightly milder taste compared to flat-leaf parsley. 
•  Fresh mint—Oh, the mint!! In a way, I find this herb to be the star of this salad; it brings a fresh, satisfying taste to the dish. You don’t think it is really going to make a difference, but then you take one bit of the salad, and that one ingredient takes this salad to the next level, in my opinion. 
•  Green onion and garlic—The onion and garlic are very subtle in this salad. Garlic is an excellent antioxidant and has anti-inflammatory properties.
•  Olive oil and lemon juice—This mixture will be the dressing for the salad, which is fresh and brings a zing to it. I like to add more oil to taste. If I have this the next day, I like to add a bit more oil to give the Tabbouleh some more monster if it is looking a bit dry.    

Tip: If you have a food processor, you can chop the parsley and mint. This will cut down on the chopping and save you some time. 

Aside from this being vegan, you can also make this dish gluten-free by substituting bulgur wheat for quinoa. You will use the same amount of quinoa as the bulgur wheat. 

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