This vegan couscous salad recipe is packed with Mediterranean flavors, a healthy and delicious salad that is easy to prepare and works well as a vegetarian main or a great side dish with any meal. A nice light dish for summer and a quick, easy and flexible couscous salad recipe with a lemon and olive oil vinaigrette recipe. Couscous is so fast to prepare and this recipe loaded with a variety of veggies is well suited for doing meal prep. A simple throw together salad it is easy to change it up with your favorite herbs and veggies! Want to go gluten free? Try our Vegetarian Italian rice salad.
How to Make this Vegan Couscous Salad
Our vegan couscous salad recipe is an easy throw together salad, simply add all the ingredients to a large salad bowl, splash with the salad dressing and toss. The lemon vinaigrette is quick and easy to make, but a prepared Italian salad dressing from the store works well.
Cook your couscous nice and fluffy. Make the simple lemon vinaigrette by mixing the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Mix the all the salad ingredients; couscous, tomatoes, sweetcorn, bell pepper, olives, capers, cucumber, parsley, basil and sprinkle with the lemon vinaigrette. This recipe is vegan, but off course you can spice it up and add some cheese or meat like bacon or salami. See our Italian style tuna rice salad.
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How to Cook (rehydrate) Couscous
- Put couscous in sauce pan (150g) add equal volume of boiled water(150 ml), put the lid on. (add some chopped parsley for flavor)
- Leave for 5-10 mins until the couscous is soft.
- Fluff the couscous up with a fork, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper if you like.
- couscous is now ready to serve or use.
Add more flavor by preparing the couscous a vegetable stock or toasting the couscous in the pan before rehydrating. This will add a nutty flavor to the couscous. Just be careful when toasting that you do not burn the couscous, this goes quick!
How to make a Simple Lemon Vinaigrette
Vinaigrette is made by mixing something acidic such as vinegar or lime juice with oil. Make this simple lemon vinaigrette by mixing the ingredients below in a jar, screw the lid on tight and shake well.
- extra virgin olive oil (3 tbsp)
- lemon juice (1 tbsp)
- parsley dry
- oregano dry
- salt & pepper
Vegan Couscous Salad Ingredients
This simple throw together salad is very easy to change, use the ingredients that you love; ad or remove what you want. Some other ingredients to consider; sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts or chickpeas to turn this into a filling meal.
Couscous – it is not a grain, it is tiny pasta balls. Couscous is small steamed granules of rolled durum wheat (semolina). Since couscous is made from wheat it is not gluten free. It is very quick and easy to cook and a great alternative to use for rice.
Tomato – any variety of tomato will work well in this salad, ripe tomatoes work best.
Corn – sweet corn from a can is good or corn of the cob if you want to go fresh.
Olives – we use black olives in this salad, but green will work fine. Did you know that the only difference between green olives and black olives is ripeness; unripe olives are green, and ripe olives are black. Black olives have a more mellow taste, with green olives being firmer and more bitter.
Capers – even though they are small they pack a big punch, adding a tangy, olive like and a lemony burst of flavor to the salad.
Bell Peppers – add multi-colored peppers to make this salad fun and colorful!
Cucumber – present in most salads they bring a fresh and crispiness to this couscous salad, see our post showing how to cut a cucumber.
Onion – Red onions is delicious in salad, it is a bit sweeter and more mild than brown onions. The purple and white color look nice in the salad.
Herbs – we love fresh parsley and basil in any salad, chop up the parsley, only break up large basil leaves.
Recipe Card
Vegan Couscous Salad
Ingredients
- 150 gram couscous (2/3 cup)
- 100 gram black olives (1 cup)
- 50 gram capers (1/2 cup)
- 120 gram corn (1 cob/can sweetcorn)
- 350 gram tomato (2 medium to large size tomatoes)
- 120 gram red pepper (3/4 cup)
- 200 gram cucumber (1 medium fruit)
- 40 gram red onion chopped (1/4 cup)
- 8 gram basil (1/3 cup)
- 10 gram parsley (3 tbsp)
Lemon Vinaigrette
- 3 tbsp olive oil (45ml)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice (15ml)
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 3/4 tsp oregano dry
- 3/4 tsp parsley dry
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Prepare the Couscous – Put couscous in sauce pan (150g) add equal volume of boiled water(150 ml), put the lid on. Leave for 5-10 mins until the couscous is soft. Fluff the couscous up with a fork, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper if you like.
- Lemon Vinaigrette – Add all the vinaigrette ingredients to a jar with a lid that seals well, shake well and sprinkle over the salad.
- Make the Salad – Add all the ingredients to a large salad bowl, splash with the salad dressing and toss.
Nutrition
From the nutritional information you can see this is a low carb, low calorie salad with only 95 calories per serving and only 2% carbohydrates. Nutrition facts were calculated with an online calculator and is an approximate, use your favorite tool to confirm.
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 6 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 95 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 7.6g | 10% |
| Saturated Fat 1.1g | 6% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 217mg | 9% |
| Total Carbohydrate 6.5g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 2.3g | 8% |
| Total Sugars 2.5g | |
| Protein 2.5g | |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium 104mg | 8% |
| Iron 3mg | 15% |
| Potassium 413mg | 9% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. |
Vegan friendly couscous salad.
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