Lebanese Tabbouleh
A parsley salad in the truest sense — finely chopped herbs with just enough bulgur, tomato and lemon to hold it together.
Tabbouleh gets misunderstood outside the region almost as often as any dish on this site — many versions sold as tabbouleh are really a bulgur salad with a bit of parsley stirred in, which is the reverse of the real thing. The parsley is the point.
Because there’s so little to hide behind, ingredient quality matters more here than in a heavily spiced dish: use parsley and mint that are genuinely fresh, ripe tomatoes, and lemon juice squeezed to order rather than bottled.
Served the traditional way, tabbouleh is scooped up with small lettuce leaves rather than eaten with a fork — it’s worth trying at least once if you haven’t.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp fine bulgur wheat
- 4 cups, tightly packed flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped — about 3-4 large bunches, stems removed
- 1/4 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
- 3 medium tomatoes, finely diced
- 4 green onions, finely sliced
- 1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tsp, or to taste salt
- for serving romaine or gem lettuce leaves — optional, used as scoops
Method
- Soak the bulgur
Rinse the bulgur, then soak it in cold water for 15 minutes until softened. Drain very well and squeeze out any excess water — too much moisture will make the salad soggy.
- Chop the parsley finely
This is the part worth taking time over: chop the parsley as finely as you can, closer to minced than roughly chopped. Tabbouleh is a parsley salad with a little grain in it, not the other way around.
- Combine
In a large bowl, combine the chopped parsley, mint, tomatoes, green onions and drained bulgur.
- Dress just before serving
Whisk the lemon juice, olive oil and salt together, then toss through the salad right before serving. Tabbouleh dressed too early goes watery as the tomatoes and salt draw out liquid.
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