Finally! I’ve figured out how to make the best tabbouleh. It’s just as good, if not better than, my favorite local Middle Eastern restaurant’s. If you try it, I think you’ll agree.
Tabbouleh (also spelled tabouli) is a super fresh herb and bulgur salad, with parsley being the number one ingredient. It’s dotted with diced cucumber and tomato, and dressed simply with olive oil and lemon juice. It’s refreshing, light and packed with healthy ingredients.
You’ll often find tabbouleh as a side dish on Mediterranean menus. It’s right at home with hummus, baba ganoush, falafel, feta, olives… all of my favorite things.
I’ve attempted tabbouleh at home over the years, and I’m so pleased to share what I’ve learned with you today. Ready to make some great tabbouleh?
Tabbouleh Ingredients
Bulgur
Bulgur is parboiled cracked wheat, so it’s a whole grain. Once prepared, it’s tender and fluffy. Bulgur is often confused with couscous, but they’re not the same (couscous is actually tiny pasta).
Authentic tabbouleh is made with super fine grain (#1) bulgur and it’s soaked rather than cooked, but I haven’t been able to find it at regular grocery stores. There are several other varieties of bulgurs, and you’ll probably find only one option at the store. So, cook (or soak) it according to the package directions.
Fresh Parsley
Authentic tabbouli uses a ton of parsley. That’s why this salad is so green! I tried both flat-leaf and curly, and for once, curly is the way to go. Even when it’s chopped very small, curly parsley offers some extra volume that makes this tabbouleh so pleasant to eat.
Fresh Mint and Green Onion
Mint is standard and adds even more fresh flavor. That said, it can be expensive if you don’t grow it at home, so you can skip it if you’d rather.
Green onion is my mild onion of choice. It’s perfect in tabbouleh.
Cucumber and Tomato
Fresh cucumber and tomato add more texture and color, and build on the refreshing factor. Have I said refreshing enough yet?
Lebanese readers have informed me that cucumber is unusual in tabbouleh, which is news to me! You can skip it if you’d like, but it’s quite nice.
Olive Oil, Lemon Juice and Garlic
Tabbouleh is dressed in a simple combination of olive oil and lemon juice. You won’t find garlic in every tabbouleh recipe, but I think that one clove makes this recipe extra delicious.
How to Make the Best Tabbouleh
1) Salt your tomato and cucumber, and drain off the excess juice.
Fortunately, this doesn’t take any extra time. Tomato and cucumber release a lot of moisture when they’re exposed to salt, and will make your tabbouleh way too watery if you do not drain it off.
Simply combine the tomato and cucumber in a bowl with some salt (you’ll find these instructions in the recipe below), and set it aside while you chop the parsley. Drain off the excess juice before you stir the salad together. Easy!
2) Use lots of parsley and chop it finely.
This recipe calls for three bunches of parsley, and the easiest way to chop that much parsley is in your food processor. You can do it by hand, but it will take a while. Don’t worry about removing the thin parsley stems—they offer a lot of great flavor.
3) Season sufficiently with lemon juice and salt.
Tabbouleh should be zingy and full of flavor, and you’ll need to use enough lemon and salt to get there.
Watch How to Make Tabbouleh
Tabbouleh Serving Suggestions
Tabbouleh is typically served chilled or at room temperature. It’s a perfect side dish or salad to offer with Mediterranean/Middle Eastern meals. Here are a few suggestions:
- Dips and spreads: Creamy Hummus, Baba Ganoush, Tzatziki, Tahini Sauce
- Crispy Baked Falafel
- Fattoush Salad with Mint Dressing
- Mujaddara (Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions)
- Dukkah with bread and olive oil
Please let me know how your tabbouleh turns out in the comments! I hope you love it.
Best Tabbouleh
- Author:
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Various
- Cuisine: Lebanese
Learn how to make delicious, authentic tabbouleh at home! This tabbouleh (also spelled tabouli) is even better than your favorite Lebanese restaurant’s. Recipe yields 6 servings (a little over 1 cup each).
Ingredients
- ½ cup bulgur
- 1 cup diced cucumber (1 small-to-medium)
- 1 cup diced tomato* (1 large)
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- 3 medium bunches curly parsley
- ⅓ cup (⅔ ounce) chopped fresh mint (optional but recommended—you can chop it in the food processor with the parsley)
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced green onion
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 tablespoons lemon juice, to taste
- 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced
Instructions
- Cook or soak the bulgur until tender according to package directions. Drain off any excess water, and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, combine the diced cucumber and tomato in a medium bowl with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Stir, and let the mixture rest for at least 10 minutes, or until you’re ready to mix the salad.
- To prepare the parsley, cut off the thick stems. Then, finely chop the parsley and remaining stems—you can do this by hand, but it’s much easier in a food processor with the standard “S” blade. Process 1 bunch at a time (it should yield about 1 cup chopped), transferring the chopped parsley to a large serving bowl before proceeding with the next.
- Add the cooled bulgur, chopped fresh mint (if using) and green onion to the bowl of parsley. Strain off and discard the cucumber and tomato juice that has accumulated in the bottom of the bowl (this ensures that your tabbouleh isn’t too watery). Add the strained cucumber and tomato to the bowl.
- In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the olive oil, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, garlic, and remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Pour it into the salad and stir to combine. Taste, and adjust if necessary—add another tablespoon of lemon juice for zing, or salt for more overall flavor.
- If you have the time, let the salad rest for 15 minutes before serving to let the flavors mingle. Otherwise, you can serve it immediately or chill it for later. Tabbouleh will keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.
Notes
Make it gluten free: Bulgur is not gluten free (it’s cracked wheat). Substitute quinoa for an untraditional gluten-free option. You’ll use the same amount (½ cup) uncooked quinoa, or 1 ½ cups cooked leftover quinoa. Here’s how to cook quinoa.
*Tomato note: Use the most ripe and red tomatoes you can find! If you’re making this salad when tomatoes aren’t in season, cherry tomatoes might be your best bet.
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Daniel Yakoubian
Great recipe! I’m Armenian and my mother grew up in an orphanage in Aleppo – so she when she prepared tabbouleh, it was the real deal with probably a Syrian tilt. Extra fine bulgur should be more available these days, and is important – and it never needs to be cooked – it readily absorbs the liquids. My mom would add a little tomato paste – I don’t. Most important for me is the TOMATOES. I don’t even bother making it unless I have homegrown – the are critical to the flavor – so is the parsley and mint, but it seems much easier to get flavorful parsley and mint than tomatoes. I wonder if there is a more nutritious dish in the world! Think about those flavorful and nutrient dense ingredients – and don’t skimp on the olive oil!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing your background with this recipe, Daniel! I’m happy you are excited about it.
Debby
Just wanted to let you know that you can get tabouli through Amazon I think it comes with six boxes good luck I have quite a few hi
★★★
Catherine C
I made this with couscous because my store had no barley. It was awesome and my partner who is not a salad man really loved it!
★★★★★
Diane CROTHER
You want Bulgar, not barley. ;-) I use quinoa and it is really good too.
Jacqueline C Flaherty
First time making this. I didn’t have Bulgar I substituted it with wheatabix cereal. It taste fantastic.
Amanda
I, um… I don’t understand how that could even remotely work, but OK.
Hajia
Hello , should I deseed the cucumber and tomato for tabuli Thanks
Lauren Gilroy
Try massaging the dressing into the parsley, then mixing in the other ingredients!
★★★★★
Barry
This salad is AWESOME!
I used pearl barley instead of bulgur but the flavors and the freshness were 10/10.
★★★★★
Alice Hanson
Sorry, I will not make this again. To many greens, not enough bulgher.
Salting the tomatoes and the cukes robs the salad of their juices and flavor, and all you get is salty. Also, I doubled the amount of bulgher because it was so green and and had to add more lemon and even dried mint to make the salad balance out. I’m going back to the taboulleh salad recipe on the back of Bob Red Mill Wheat Bulgher package. This was the worst taboulleh I ever ate.
★
Christine
Tabbouleh should include alot more parsley than bulgur. You may have never tasted an authentic Lebanese tabbouleh but trust me, I’m Lebanese and you must NEVER add too much bulgur. I’ve never seen anyone in my country add cucumbers to their tabbouleh but it’s not that big of a deal.
★★★
Tracy
I use quinoa instead of the bulgar and purple onion instead of green. I LOVE this recipe. The dressing is perfect.
★★★★★
Wunderlust Wanderer
Thank you for sharing this recipe – all the flavors come through without fighting each other. The salad is refreshing and bright…my husband and children always go back for extra helpings!
★★★★★
carol
wonderful!!! thank you
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Carol! Thank you for your review.
Ellie Milianti
Use hemp hearts to replace bulghur to make it keto. And I add lots of Penzeys Greek seasoning. Yum!
★★★
Ash
Not happy with this recipe :( actually my salad is ruined by following it. I had never made tabbouleh with green onion before and decided to try it following this recipe. I also salted my tomatoes and cucumber. Used my garden harvest and was really looking for a nice salad to enjoy. Now the salad is overrun by an onion flavor. I can’t taste the parsley, tomatoes or cucumbers. What a waste of all my fresh garden produce :(
★
Kate
Hi Ash, I’m sorry you were disappointed with this one. I appreciate your feedback.
Jonathan Morgan
Best combination especially the garlic addition. Thank you.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome!
Cheryl
Thankyou easy to follow steps looks authentic and tastes authentic hubby thinks I’m a genius
★★★★
Kate
I love it! Thank you for your review, Cheryl.
Vaughan
After I have soaked the Bulgar I squeeze out some of the water and spread it out on a towel to dry our a bit. Then I finely chop the onion, mix it with the Bulgar and gently squeeze it together so the onion flavour is absorbed into the grains. Also any liquid from tomatoes is also taken up.
Carmen nieves
Came out veeery good
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear that, Carmen! Thank you for your review.
Chris
Made this twice already !! So delicious thanks for sharing the recipe. I have lots of flat leave parsley and mint in the garden so was so happy to find a recipe to utilise them . Iam waiting for my tomatoes to ripen so I can use them too .
Thanks again . My whole family love this recipe .
★★★★★
Olena Helen Rende
Dear Kate, just made this salad as I was craving it for way too long, I swear to God, im gonna eat it all, heck with sharing and calories. I just added Za’atar as I put that mix on everything, salad is fantastic. Your baked falafel is next on my list. Just need great recipe with greek yogurt to go with it, any suggestion? I usually do yogurt, tahini, lemon juice , salt,peper, za’atar. What is your best oen to go with falafel?
★★★★★
Robbie
Great looking recipe! Another good substitute for bulgur (if you can’t find it) is steel cut oats. Toast ever so slightly in a dry pan then soak as you would the bulgur.
★★★★★
Fateemer
Oh I love this tabbouleh thank you so much
Nova C.
Thanks for the nice, refreshing, and healthy recipe! Like others, I could not find bulgur so I used quinoa (made by your recipe). I am trying to lower salt intake so I skipped the salt to “sweat” the veggies. Instead I used a spoon to remove the center of the halved cucumber and cut the tomato so the juice drained on the cutting board. Also my grocery store’s “bunch” is larger than average, so I used less to keep it equivalent.
★★★★★
Lily
Just made this recipe for a Mediterranean lunch. I like how easy it ended up being to make. I never made tabbouleh before because I found other recipes to be daunting. Used lemons from my yard and a large tomatoe from my sister’s green house garden. Super delicious!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful to hear you loved it, Lily! Thank you for your review.
Katie
So good! Been craving this because my local grocery store used to make it and they quit doing it years ago. Finally craved it enough to hunt down all the ingredients and followed this recipe. Just like I remembered. Yum!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m excited you loved it, Katie!
Julie Brothers
Super good!!! The flavors and ratios are perfect!
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful! Thank you for your review, Julie.
Renae
Love your version of Tab and as a parsley loaded version at that! It just goes to show from reading all the comments that we all have different palettes for flavour and texture. The ethical differences are interesting. I’m glad of the basics to work on or adjust to my own liking. For my health conditions I can’t have lots of oil at all – I’d reduce volume. And I would try a little finely grated lemon zest; keep in the juices other wise, soaked into the bulgar or sub depending on what I had available. Your version is terrific Kate and I hope Cookie gets some mixed in with his occasional meal of vegies and grains(minus onion and potatoes – which are poisonous to dogs) Happy vegetarian new year to all.
★★★★★
Amy
Delicious! Refreshing the way tabouleh should be. I cut down the oil a tiny bit–1/4 cup instead of 1/3 and it was fine. Will definitely make again!
★★★★★
Reiko S.
Great recipe! I used only 2 bunches of parsley but it really depends on how big the bunches are. Great balance of flavors with the mint, green onion and garlic…for those complaining about too strong of certain flavors, then use less of that ingredient! If people want more bulgur, they can add more. I used Campari tomatoes that I seeded as well as mini cucumbers that have no seeds. Only salted a little bit to make sure it doesn’t get too salty. I made sure to get rid of excess water by blotting all vegetables with paper towels. Will definitely make this again! Feta cheese and garbanzo beans would be great additions to add a little variety even though this would not be traditional. Thank you for sharing a wonderful recipe!
Kate
Thank you for your detailed comment, Reiko.
Lucy
It is also a wonderful topping for black beans.
★★★★★
Elaine
Very easy and very tasty
Need to drain the liquid well from the tomato and cucumbers
★★★★
Kate
I’m glad you loved it, Elaine!
Rachel D.
Help! I made a batch of this and accidentally left it out in the counter for about 5 hours. Is it bad now or can I still eat it? (Made it yesterday, had it in fridge overnight)
★★★★★
Kate
Hi! Sorry to hear that. Been there. I can’t provide direction per food safety like that. That does seem too long to me.
Jake H
This was my first time to use cucumber and I really liked it. To deal with the “too wet” issue in tabbouleh, I dewater chopped and salted tomato in a sieve over a bowl containing (uncooked) bulgur for about 30 mins while chopping the parsley etc.
★★★★★
James K
Well explained and great. Thank you.
I know I can make it faster next time. I tried to use a blender to chop the parsley and mint.. my fault. A sharp knife doesn’t take long to cut 3 bunches so was better for me.
I’ll add more mint next time. I tried to portion by the video. Wasn’t clear in the recipe.
Anyway, I looked at many online and yours looked the best, so I used yours and it was great. Many thanks.
★★★★★
Siri
Hi I made this tabbouleh today. It turned out so good just as we eat at restaurants. Thanks for sharing. I just added 1 sp of crushed red pepper to olive oil and added peper to parsley.
Lisa Pelekis
Why would you tell people to order off Amazon?? This recipe is excellent! My husband is a chef and we make it all the time…thanks Kate!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Lisa! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Nora
Tabbouleh -does not- have garlic in it. That is fatoush. Not all Arabic salads are the second -__-
★★
Kate
Hi Nora, thank you for your comment. If you glance through the comments, I know others have indicated that this is a variation that’s similar to authentic versions they were taught to make or had growing up. Tabbouleh can have many variations or interpretations so I hope you try this one and let me know what you think!
Dave
Oh my goodness, this was definitely THE BEST TABBOULEH salad I’ve ever had! I’m even more amazed that even I was able to make it. All ingredients listed were easily available from local stores (nothing exotic or expensive required) and the directions were well organized and VERY easy to follow. I’m a klutz in the kitchen, but this dish was pretty easy to prepare and oh so delicious. I will be making this again and again.
Thanks for making this recipe available to the masses.
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Dave! I’m excited you loved it.