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How to make Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

Tabbouleh, or tabouli, is a Lebanese salad of mostly parsley, with fine bulgur, tomatoes, scallions, lemon juice and olive oil. Nothing is cooked, because the bulgur soaks in the juices. An hour of chopping, then 4 hours in the fridge.

Written by Xhulio · Updated
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Two slices of bread drizzled with olive oil on a white plate, one topped with tabbouleh, finely chopped parsley with bulgur and bits of tomato

On the very first episode of Cooking with Xhulio, Kiara and I cooked the very famous Lebanese tabbouleh salad. A lot of people might be wondering how to make Lebanese tabbouleh salad. If you prefer written instructions over the video, don’t worry. I’ve got you covered in this recipe.

Fine bulgur

Bulgur is wheat that has already been parboiled and cracked, so the fine kind only needs a soak. In Albania we make hashure with this kind of wheat too, but with the full grain. For tabbouleh we need the fine version, sometimes sold as #1.

A lot of people think that you have to boil the bulgur for it to be actually edible. But as long as you let it soak for a good four to five hours, it should be totally fine. That’s why this salad spends at least four hours in the fridge before you eat it.

Get to chopping

After combining the salad dressing with the bulgur wheat, it’s now time to start the second part, the chopping. Chopping is very important to make Lebanese tabouli salad. This is where you can tell apart a great salad from a beginner one.

A cherry tomato cut into quarters on a wooden board, next to a chef’s knife

Head on over to my YouTube video if you’d like to see the technique on how to protect your fingers.

Why we don’t mix it yet

Everything goes into the bowl in layers. The dressing and the bulgur are at the bottom, then the tomatoes, scallions and garlic, and the parsley goes on top. What salt is going to do is that it’s going to release water from the parsley, which is going to combine with the water from the tomatoes and drip all the way towards the bottom of the bowl. This way the bulgur wheat is going to taste delicious. That’s what makes the wheat cook, in a sense, and it’s how we get the perfect texture for it.

Mint or no mint

A lot of recipes on the internet require mint to be added to the salad, but I prefer to have this without mint. I suggest you try both versions for yourself.

All that parsley

It looks like a lot of parsley, but it’s the perfect amount. The reason why this tabouli salad is so good is the parsley. Parsley is very rich in vitamin C, and one serving of this salad has more than a third of the vitamin C you need in a day. It also has more than twice the daily value of vitamin K, and some vitamin A. The people in the mountains of Lebanon and Syria, where tabbouleh comes from, knew what they were doing.

More from Cooking with Xhulio

The next episode of Cooking with Xhulio was the Albanian watermelon feta salad, and after that a cucumber yogurt salad with sumac and radishes. If you want to make the bread too, here is my Greek pita bread. And if you wish to look at some of my other recipes, make sure to check them out here.

Salad LebaneseMiddle Eastern

How to make Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad

Tabbouleh, or tabouli, is a Lebanese salad of mostly parsley, with fine bulgur, tomatoes, scallions, lemon juice and olive oil. Nothing is cooked, because the bulgur soaks in the juices. An hour of chopping, then 4 hours in the fridge.

Written by Xhulio Tested in my own kitchen
Prep time
1 hr
Chill
4 hr
Total time
5 hr
Servings
6 people
Calories
140 kcal
Course
Salad
Cuisine
Lebanese, Middle Eastern
Cooking for
6 people
Units

As written.

Ingredients

0 of 8 ticked

  • Only have coarse bulgur?

    Look for fine bulgur, sometimes sold as #1. Coarser bulgur is usually boiled, for pilaf, so it isn’t the one for this salad.

  • No extra virgin olive oil?

    I like to use extra virgin olive oil, but any type of olive oil is fine.

You'll need

  • Large mixing bowl (everything goes in it in layers)
  • Chopping board
  • Sharp knife
  • Wooden spoon

Instructions

  1. Make the dressing

    • Start by preparing the dressing for the salad.
    • Squeeze 1 lemon into the big bowl and mix it together with ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil.
    • Make sure you are not dropping any of the lemon seeds in the dressing.
    • After combining the lemon juice with the olive oil, add ¼ cup fine bulgur wheat.
    • Please make sure the bulgur wheat is actually fine rather than the full grain, because the full grain will make it taste uncooked.
    Olive oil pouring from a bottle into a glass bowl of lemon juice and fine bulgur

    No strainer? Squeeze the lemon through your fingers, opened just a little, and they catch the seeds. In the video the bulgur goes in first. It ends up at the bottom either way.

    • You need
    • 1 lemon
    • ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
    • ¼ cup fine bulgur wheat

    Fine bulgur, not the full grain.

  2. Slice the scallions

    • We are going to start by chopping the scallions.
    • To chop the scallions, slice them really thin.
    Hands slicing scallions into thin rounds on a wooden board
    • You need
    • 2–3 scallions

  3. Cut the tomatoes

    • Once you are done slicing the scallions, start to slice the small tomatoes, also known as the cherry tomatoes.
    • We are going to cut the cherry tomatoes in very small pieces.
    • Start by making a half first and then cut that half into quarters.
    • After cutting the quarters you can also make a few smaller pieces.
    • Add the tomatoes and the scallions on top of the bulgur wheat, but do not mix them.
    • You need
    • 1 cup cherry tomatoes

    On top. Don’t mix.

  4. Mince the garlic

    • We are also going to mince 1 garlic clove, and add it on top of the tomatoes.
    • Hit the garlic with the flat side of the knife first, so it’s flat and doesn’t roll.
    • Then cut it line by line, put your hand on top of the knife and rock it until the pieces get smaller and smaller.
    • You need
    • 1 garlic clove

  5. Chop the parsley

    • Grab the parsley bunches and begin by cutting the stems off.
    • Once you cut the stems off, start chopping the parsley really, really thin.
    • Make sure in this case to be really careful with your fingers.
    • You may use your knuckles to protect you from cutting your fingers.
    • After the parsley has been fully chopped, make sure to add it on top of the bowl.
    Hands chopping a bunch of flat-leaf parsley very thin with a chef’s knife on a wooden board
    • You need
    • 2 bunches fresh parsley

  6. Salt the parsley

    • We are going to season the parsley with just a little bit of salt, but make sure to not mix everything together yet.
    • Sprinkle it evenly everywhere.
    • Then mix the salt a little bit into the parsley on top, and only the parsley.
    • You need
    • ½ tsp salt

    Only the parsley. Don’t mix yet.

  7. Into the fridge

    • Make sure to cover the bowl up and put the Lebanese tabouli salad in your fridge for at least four hours.
    • If you’d like to be extra, you may leave your tabouli salad in the fridge overnight.

  8. Mix and serve

    • Once you are ready to eat it, make sure to mix everything together and serve with pita bread or sourdough bread.

Nutrition per serving

Calories
140 kcal
Protein
2 g
Fat
12 g
Carbs
8 g
Fiber
2 g
Sugar
1 g
Sodium
210 mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central.

Ju bëftë mirë!

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Questions

Questions about how to make lebanese tabbouleh salad

Is this authentic Lebanese tabbouleh?

It’s close. Lebanese tabbouleh is mostly parsley, with a little fine bulgur, tomatoes, onion, lemon juice, olive oil and salt, and so is this one. The classic recipe also has mint, which I leave out. It doesn’t usually have garlic, and mine does.

What is tabbouleh made of?

Mostly parsley, with fine bulgur, tomatoes, onion, mint, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Mine uses scallions, adds a garlic clove and leaves out the mint. It comes from the mountains of Lebanon and Syria.

Do you cook the bulgur for tabbouleh?

No. A lot of people think you have to boil it, but fine bulgur only needs a good soak. Here it soaks in the lemon juice, olive oil and the juices from the tomatoes and parsley for at least 4 hours.

What is the dressing for tabbouleh?

Just the juice of a lemon and extra virgin olive oil, with the salt going on the parsley. The juices from the tomatoes and parsley finish it in the fridge.

Can you make tabbouleh without mint?

Yes, that’s how I make it. A lot of recipes add mint, but I prefer it without. Try both versions and see which one you like.

Can you make tabbouleh ahead, and how long does it last?

It has to be made ahead, because it needs at least 4 hours in the fridge, and overnight is even better. Keep leftovers covered in the fridge and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Don’t freeze it. Fresh herbs and raw tomatoes go soft and mushy when they thaw.

How many calories are in tabbouleh?

About 140 calories per serving, with 6 servings in this recipe, from USDA data. Most of them come from the olive oil.

Is tabbouleh gluten-free?

No. Bulgur is cracked wheat, so tabbouleh made with bulgur has gluten.

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