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Couscous Salad with Chickpeas, Fresh Veggies, Lemon Vinaigrette, and Fresh Herbs

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Course: Salads
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients

Salad Ingredients

  • 1 cup dried couscous instant, 5-minute preparation
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 small can (14oz/400grams can) of cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed
  • 1 and 1/2 cups of baby tomatoes or cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 small red onion finely chopped
  • 1/2 large English cucumber deseeded and chopped
  • 1 cup Kalamata olives pitted
  • 1 bell pepper fresh or roasted, chopped
  • 8 oz feta cheese

Lemon Vinaigrette and Herbs

  • 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil plus more to taste
  • zest and juice from 1 lemon about 2 tbsp of fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • salt to taste
  • black pepper to taste
  • a handful of fresh herbs cilantro, parsley, and mint; about 1/2 cup total when finely minced

Instructions

  • Make the couscous. Add 2 cups of boiling water and a pinch of salt to 1 cup of couscous in a bowl or pot. Cover with a plate or a lid and let it steam for at least 5 minutes. After steaming it, add 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice and fluff up the couscous with a fork.
  • Make the lemon vinaigrette. Mix (with a whisk or a fork) 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil with 1 tbsp of lemon juice, lemon zest, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 1 tsp honey, about 1/2 tsp kosher salt, and 1/2 tsp ground black pepper.
  • Chop the herbs finely. I generally use a mezzaluna chopper (pictured in the article) to finely mince the fresh herbs, as I tend to use a lot of fresh herbs in my recipes, and I find it’s easier to mince herbs with one. I mostly use it on fresh herbs (rarely anything else) and would recommend it for that. Otherwise, a good chef’s knife does a great job too!
  • Chop all the remaining ingredients to go in the salad. Halve the baby tomatoes, chop the red onion, chop the cucumber (I also deseed it first so the salad is not too watery, but that’s optional), crumble the feta cheese, deseed and chop the bell pepper.
  • Combine all the ingredients. Add everything to a large bowl and combine. Give it a taste and adjust the seasoning (adding more salt and pepper to taste). I love the salad just like that, but you can also add more olive oil and lemon juice if you prefer!

Notes

Note 1: Fresh Herbs – I know some people don’t like cilantro, so you can use other combinations of herbs. Here are some good combinations for this salad:
  • mint+parsley+oregano,
  • basil+parsley+oregano,
  • mint+basil+parsley, or
  • basil+oregano.