Israeli couscous salad is packed with vegetables, pearl couscous, and Instant Pot chickpeas. With simple lemon dressing and loads of fresh herbs, this salad is great for a light lunch, picnics, and potlucks on any day.
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Pearl couscous salad with chickpeas
- This salad is fresh, vibrant, easy to make, and packed with nutrients, fiber, and protein.
- It’s light yet filling and satisfying. Couscous is a complex carb that makes the salad filling/hearty meal rather than just a side. It’s a great summer salad.
- The salad is loaded with fresh vegetables and loads of fresh herbs too.
- Easy to customize, pearl couscous can be substituted with regular tiny couscous. You can add vegetables of your choice.
What is pearl couscous?
While many believe that it’s a grain like rice or barley, couscous is a type of pasta and it’s made of semolina flour.
Pearl couscous is bigger than regular tiny couscous and when pearl couscous is cooked, it looks like pearls of pasta. Regular tiny couscous is prepared to be soaked in water before use, pearl couscous is required to be cooked on the stove.
You can infuse by cooking with aromats like onion, garlic, and chicken stock. I sometimes use Instant Pot bone broth to cook couscous and it tastes wonderful. Once cooked it turns out light, and fluffy, and each bead is separated.
Ingredients
All the ingredient’s exact measurements are mentioned in the recipe card below. Scroll down to the recipe card or click on the “Jump to recipe” tab on top for a quick scroll.
- Pearl couscous – Pearl couscous is bigger than regular couscous. Works great in salads.
- Chickpeas – use canned chickpeas or cook chickpeas easily at home using an instant pot. No need to soak them, just cook dry chickpeas in a pressure cooker that is ready in an hour.
- Cherry tomatoes – Cherry tomatoes make the salad look pretty. Tang of the tomatoes enhances the flavor of the salad.
- Red onions – add crispy crunchy texture to the salad. Note – If you can’t handle the astringent flavor of raw onion, a pickled red onion can be used as a substitute!
- Fresh herbs – use any fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, fresh mint, dill leaves, and fresh basil. I used a mix of cilantro and fresh mint.
- Jalapenos (optional) – for an extra kick. You can use pickled jalapenos to add flavor and texture to the salad.
Salad dressing
- EVOO – Use the best quality extra virgin olive oil for the best taste.
- Lemon zest & lemon juice – The zest of one lemon and freshly squeezed lemon juice adds fresh, tang flavors.
- Mustard – use Dijon mustard or stone ground mustard. I used stone ground mustard paste.
- Salt & pepper – for seasoning, as required per taste.
Variations
Add crumbled or cubed feta cheese.
Vegetables: Chop zucchini, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and red onion, and spread them on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, or use seasoning salt. Roast in preheated oven at 400F for 30-30 minutes. Allow roast vegetables to cool and then stir into pearl couscous salad.
Fruits: Use pomegranate arils, chopped green apples, dried cranberries, dried raisins, and dried apricots (chopped), to the salad.
Nuts:
- Silvered almonds (toasted)
- Pine nuts (toasted)
- Walnuts
- Macadamia nuts
Step-by-step instructions
No canned chickpeas? No problem. Use the pressure cooker to cook chickpeas (need to soak overnight).
If using canned chickpeas, drain chickpeas from the liquid and rinse it once in a colander before using.
Step 1: In a large pot, heat EVOO. Sauté minced garlic and onions for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 2: Once onions begin to sweat, add in pearl couscous.
Step 3: Pour water or chicken stock (or any other stock), and stir well.
Step 4: When water begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-low.
Step 5: Cover the pot with the lid and let it simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
Step 6: Couscous should be light and fluffy. Open the lid, and fluff it with a fork gently. Set aside to cool.
To make the salad dressing:
Step 7: While couscous cools down, make salad dressing. Add EVOO, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper into a jar.
Step 8: Cover tightly with a lid. Shake well.
Toss salad
Step 9: Into a large salad bowl, add cooked couscous. Add in the rest of the salad ingredients – halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, red onions, roughly chopped baby spinach, chickpeas, chopped fresh herbs (cilantro or parsley, dill and fresh mint), chopped green onions, chopped jalapenos (leave the seeds on if you like it hot).
Step 10: Pour salad dressing over it.
Step 11: Gently toss the salad until well combined.
Serve the salad immediately for the side dish.
Serve
It’s best to serve it after a few hours the same day. Couscous soaks in all the wonderful flavors from the lemon salad dressing and tastes great.
Storage
Leftover salad can be stored in an airtight container covered with a lid in the refrigerator for 2 days. Consume salad within 2 days.
Tips
- Perfectly cooked couscous– For 1 cup of pearl couscous, use 1 ½ cups liquids. Gummy, sticky, or overcooked couscous will ruin the salad.
- Cook pearl couscous in advance – You’ll need to cook pearl couscous at least 1 hour before so it has ample time to cool completely.
- Fresh is best – use fresh, best-quality ingredients.
- Best quality EVOO – Salad dressing is a flavor enhancer for any salad. Using the best quality EVOO will make the salad taste its best.
- Serve it the same day – let the salad rest for a few hours so couscous will soak in all the flavors from the dressing.
Recipe FAQs
Well not exactly! It may be called pasta of the Middle Eastern countries, but it’s smaller in size compared to pasta and has a slightly slippery texture, so my mind might not be able to register it as pasta.
Yes, you can. Regular tiny couscous is prepared to be soaked in water before use.
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📋Israeli Couscous Salad
Ingredients
Couscous-
- 1 cup pearl couscous
- ¼ cup cooked chickpeas (canned chickpeas works too)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons onion finely chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons EVOO
- 1 ½ cups water or stock use vegetable stock for vegetarian option
For Salad-
- 8 oz cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 small cucumbers diced
- ¼ red onion diced
- 1 cup baby spinach finely sliced
- ½ cup chopped parsley or cilantro, chopped
- ½ cup fresh mint chopped
- 3 stalks of green onions chopped fine
- 1 jalapenos chopped fine (reduce it to half if you don’t want too spicy and remove seeds)
For Lemon Salad Dressing-
- ⅓ cups EVOO use best quality
- 1 lemon zest
- 1 lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- If using canned chickpeas simply drain chickpeas from the liquid and rinse it once in a colander before using.
- In a large pot, heat EVOO. Sauté minced garlic and onions for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Once onions begin to sweat, add in pearl couscous.
- Pour water or stock (use vegetable stock for the vegetarian option), stir well.
- When water begins to boil, reduce heat to medium-low. Cover the pot with the lid and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Open the lid, and fluff it with a fork gently. Keep it aside to cool completely.
- While couscous cools, make salad dressing. Into a jar, add EVOO, lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper. Shake well.
- Into a large salad bowl, add cooked couscous. Add in the rest of the salad ingredients – halved cherry tomatoes, chopped cucumbers, red onions, roughly chopped baby spinach, cooked (or canned) chickpeas, chopped fresh herbs (cilantro or parsley and fresh mint), chopped green onions, chopped jalapenos (leave the seeds on if you like it hot).
- Pour salad dressing over it. Gently toss the salad.
- Rest for a while at room temperature, and serve immediately.
Video
Notes
-
- Perfectly cooked couscous– For 1 cup of pearl couscous use 1 ½ cups liquid. Gummy, sticky, or overcooked couscous will ruin the salad.
- Cook pearl couscous in advance – You’ll need to cook pearl couscous at least 1 hour before so it has ample time to cool completely.
- Fresh is best – use fresh, best-quality ingredients.
- Best quality EVOO – Salad dressing is a flavor enhancer for any salad. Using the best quality EVOO will make the salad taste its best.
- Serve it the same day – let the salad rest for a few hours so couscous will soak in all the flavors from the dressing.
Nutrition
Created by Jyothi Rajesh
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I’m Jyothi Rajesh (Jo for short) and i’m the founder of the food blog, Curry Trail where I share my culinary Adventures. I live in Bangalore, India. I’m a mom of two beautiful kids. My passion is creating and sharing delicious and easy recipes for the home cook. I have been blogging since 2014 and many of my recipes have appeared in both online and print publications over the years. Learn more about Jyothi Rajesh.
Comments & Reviews
Linda says
The quantity of chickpeas, either canned or dried, is missing from the ingredients list.
Jyothi Rajesh says
Oops, sorry about that. Corrected it now. Thanks for pointing it out.