Everytime my family gets together for a Bar B Q, there is always Tabbouleh Salad being served. It is light, refreshing, flavorful, and loaded with healthy nutrients. The 2 main ingredients in this salad are parsley and bulgar wheat. Bulgar is a highly underrated pre-cooked wheat grain that is super healthy for you. So there is no cooking involved for this recipe–just a lot of chopping!

Tabbouleh salad is a Middle Eastern salad that has turned into an American ethnic food. It is popular to eat this salad as a side dish. Some people like to add cucumbers to this salad but I do not. This recipe is the traditional recipe that I grew up with.

The key to good tabbouleh salad is keeping it crispy and fresh. So follow the steps carefully.

Tabbouleh Salad

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2 large bunches of parsley, chopped finely

1 large beefsteak tomato, cubed very small

1/2 lb of bulgar wheat (about 1 1/2 cups)

1-2 scallion, chopped finely (1/2 cup chopped)

2 tablespoons dried mint leaves (you can also use fresh if you have available)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Juice of 1-2 lemons

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Chop tomato very small and add to a bowl. When chopping and adding tomatoes to bowl, try to lift up as much of the tomato juice from the cutting board as possible. Add the bulgar wheat (don’t wash the bulgar!) to the same bowl, mix together, and set aside for at least 1 hour to overnight. I usually do this step ahead of time and keep it in my fridge overnight. The tomato juices need to soak into the bulgar so that you are not eating hard bulgar wheat.

Wash the parsley bunches very good by soaking them in water and draining several times. Dry the parsley out on a paper towel or lettuce dryer. It is important that all the parsley  is dry when chopping it for the salad. If it is too wet, the salad has a tendency to be watery and soggy. Chop up the parsley very fine and leave it in a separate bowl.

When you are ready to serve the salad, cut up the scallions very fine. Mix together the scallions, tomatoes, bulgar, and parsley in a large bowl. Then take dried mint into the palm of your hands and brush your hands together releasing small mint flakes over the salad. (Making it rain mint!) If you are using fresh mint, chop it up finely and add to the salad.

Add salt, lemon juice, and olive oil. Mix together and serve cold.

Enjoy and please share any comments or questions you may have. I would love to see how yours turns out! Make sure to tag me @lizskosherkitchen if you share it on social media so I can see your masterpiece!

**Tips:

-Keep all ingredients separate when chopping (except the tomatoes and bulgar wheat) to avoid the salad becoming too soggy. 

-Don’t use too much salt in this salad. It can become very salty tasting and the salt also releases more juice from the veggies causing sogginess. 

-Keep the chopped tomatoes and bulgar wheat in a bowl together overnight in the fridge so the tomato juices soften up the bulgar wheat.