Quinoa Tabbouleh salad with fresh parsley & mint, hemp hearts, tomato, and cucumber is full of color, flavor, and can be served as a side or light meal!
Tabbouleh – also known as tabouli or tabouleh – is a popular traditional Middle Eastern side dish. The key ingredient for tabouli is finely chopped parsley, and lot’s of it adding wonderful freshness and bright flavor.
Traditionally, tabbouleh is made with bulgur wheat, but here we’ll be using gluten-free quinoa in its place. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is full of protein and fiber, and is a perfect replacement for the bulgar wheat. We’ll also be adding hemp hearts, for extra nutrients and healthy omegas!
Quick and easy to make, quinoa tabbouleh is light, fresh and delicious! The fresh parsley and mint are a winning combination leaving a fresh, clean taste bite after bite. The cucumber is refreshing and the tomatoes add juiciness, while the lemon is lively zesty.
Serve tabbouleh salad on its own as a side, or in a pita for a light lunch or dinner. It’s ready in 30 minutes and you’ll most likely have leftovers which taste even better after chilling in the refrigerator!
I can easily make this tabbouleh salad and graze on it throughout the day, it’s so light and refreshing, and perfect for when you want something healthy and fast. I think you’ll love it too!
Quinoa Tabbouleh Ingredients
The ingredient list for quinoa tabbouleh is simple and comes together creating pleasure for all your senses – visually, texturally and flavor wise. Not to mention the smell is fresh and delicious too!
Here is everything you will need, including substitution ideas:
- Quinoa – use white or tri-color
- Garlic powder – can sub with a 1 or 2 minced garlic cloves
- Parsley
- Mint
- Cucumber – regular, English, or Persian
- Red onion – can sub with shallots
- Cherry/grape tomatoes
- Hemp hearts – can be optional
- Good extra virgin olive oil – can be optional
- Lemons
- Mineral salt & cracked pepper
How To Make Quinoa Tabbouleh
- Quinoa. Start by making the quinoa. Bring quinoa, water & garlic powder to a boil, reduce heat, cover, let simmer on low for 15 minutes. Remove cover, let rest for 10 minutes. Perfect quinoa every time!
- Herbs. While the quinoa is cooking, finely chop your parsley and mint.
- Veggies. Prep the cucumber and onion. Be sure to finely dice them as well, you want them on the small side. The cherry tomatoes can be halved, or quartered if on the larger side.
- Assemble. To assemble the tabbouleh salad, combine the quinoa with the parsley, mint, cucumber, onion, tomatoes, hemp hearts, add a drizzle of olive oil and the juice of your lemons, and add salt & pepper to taste.
Simple, clean & healthy – any day is a good day for quinoa tabbouleh. Now all you have to do is eat and enjoy!
How To Store
Leftover quinoa tabbouleh will keep for 5 – 6 days in the refrigerator, stored in a covered container. I don’t recommend freezing this tabbouleh since the cucumber may become mushy once thawed.
Serving Suggestions
Serve tabbouleh at room temperature or chilled with an extra squeeze of lemon juice. I prefer to let it chill for about an hour before eating, but either way is delicious!
Quinoa tabbouleh makes a great side, or light lunch or dinner, and can easily be made into a hearty meal by adding a can of cooked chickpeas. Perfect for meal prep too!
More Easy Quinoa Recipes
- Cherry, Pistachio + Mint Quinoa Salad
- Kale, Quinoa & White Bean Soup
- Sesame Quinoa + Tofu
- Strawberry, Apple + Quinoa Spinach Salad
- Greek Quinoa Salad
- See all vegan Quinoa recipes on TSV!
If you try this quinoa tabbouleh recipe, I’d love to hear from you! Have you made tabbouleh before? What ingredients did you use? Share any tips you might have in the comments below!
PrintQUINOA TABBOULEH
Healthy Quinoa Tabbouleh recipe with hemp hearts comes together creating pleasure for all your senses – visually, texturally and flavor wise!
- Prep Time: 15 min
- Cook Time: 15 min
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 - 6 1x
- Category: Side
- Method: simmer, mix
- Cuisine: Mediterranean
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa (I used tri-color)
- 1 ¾ cups water
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 bunch parsley (about 2 cups lightly packed), stems removed
- 1 small bunch mint (about 1 cup lightly packed), stems removed
- 1 small English cucumber (skin on), diced
- 1 small red onion, diced or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
- 1 ½ cups cherry/grape tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
- ¼ cup hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds)
- drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil
- juice of 2 large lemons
- mineral salt & cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
Quinoa: Rinse your quinoa in a fine mesh strainer to remove any dust (sometimes I do this, sometimes I don’t). In a medium size pot, bring water, quinoa and garlic powder to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer on low for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove cover and let set for 10 – 15 minutes, fluff with fork.
Prep: In the meantime, finely chop your parsley and mint. Dice your cucumber, tomato and onion.
Assemble: Once quinoa is ready, add in the parsley, mint, cucumber, onion, tomatoes, hemp hearts, drizzle of olive oil and the juice of your lemons, salt & pepper to taste, gently mix together.
Serve with a few whole mint and/or parsley leaves and lemon wedges.
Serves 4 – 6
Store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for 5 – 6 days, in a covered container.
Notes
Make this a light lunch or dinner by adding a can of chickpeas.
Omit the oil to make oil-free.
UPDATED: This Tabbouleh with quinoa and hemp hearts was originally posted in August 2013, and has been updated with new photos and helpful tips in May 2019. The recipe has stayed the same and is just as wonderful today as it was 6 years ago!
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Lea says
This is such a good idea! I can’t wait to try :)
Melodi says
I made this and it was delicious and easy. I love the mint flavor. I was hoping it would be a success and it was!!!
debbies says
While shopping for parsley I picked up cilantro by mistake (why do stores put them next to each other?). I really didn’t want to go back so I went with it. I must say it was very good. I imagine it is just as good with parsley.
★★★★
Julie says
Delicious salad! And it was a great way to use the mint and parsley in my garden! Thank you!
★★★★★
Hunter says
Absolutely delish. My mom can’t have oil, so I had to leave it out, and even so, it was packed with flavor. Can’t believe lemon juice could do that much on its own. Thanks so much for your great recipes!
★★★★★
Julie | The Simple Veganista says
Perfect! So glad you both enjoyed this recipe. It’s so light and refreshing, I love it too! Cheers :)
Megan says
This turned out great. I opted out of using hemp hearts and used shallot instead of red onion. I added kidney beans for bulk and texture. 10/10 would make again!
★★★★★
Sherry says
Very good! Used couscous instead of quinoa and everything else the same.
★★★★★
Maria says
Great salad, so easy to make! Served with baked sumac tofu and it was delicious.
★★★★★
Anonymous says
You always should rinse Quinoa otherwise bitter taste can develop.
The Vegan Cookie Fairy says
Hm, I keep wanting to try tabbouleh but never do because I don't like cucumbers AT ALL and have only recently begun to learn to like raw tomatoes… but this does look so yummy. :)
[email protected] says
You can omit them or use zucchini if you like…why not! Some regions don't use any cucumber, I just happen to like it. It's so good and refreshing. I love the mint & parsley together too. You will get around to it someday…it took me almost a year. So glad I finally did. :)