Spiced chickpea tabouli

Tabouli recipes

Popular in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries, tabouli is everything you want in a salad - fresh, full of colour and flavour with a tangy hit of lemon juice. It’s said to have originated from Lebanon and is considered the country’s national dish. Packed full of healthy ingredients, tabouli or tabbouleh is often served alongside grilled meats, in shawarmas and as part of mezze, a selection of small plates or snacks.  While these days there are different variations of tabouli, with some adding beans, olives, feta or chickpeas, the most important component of tabouli is parsley – one look at any tabouli salad and you’ll know there is plenty of parsley in it!

Essential tabouli ingredients

So what’s in tabouli? As mentioned above, the first and perhaps most important is parsley. Flat-leaf parsley is the most commonly used, but some prefer to use curly parsley, which works just as well. Another star herb used in tabouli is mint, which adds even more freshness. Tomatoes not only add vibrant colour to the salad, they also offer a variation in texture and a wonderful sweetness. While not essential to a traditional Lebanese tabouli, cucumber enhances the salad’s cooling qualities and a welcome crunch. To give the salad some bite, red onion is added, and in tabouli, red onion trumps brown onion as it’s milder and sweeter - and looks great mixed in with all the other colourful ingredients. And tabouli just isn’t tabouli without lemon. Lemon juice brings all the ingredients together in one zingy hit. For this recipe we’ve swapped a typical tabouli ingredient, bulgur, for spiced chickpeas, which takes the salad from a side serve to a light meal on its own.

How to make tabouli

The key to a great-looking and even greater-tasting tabouli is making sure you chop your ingredients to roughly around the same size. So whether you decide to finely chop or coarsely chop the herbs and veggies, ensure they’re evenly sized. We’ve included crisp Lebanese bread for this recipe, which is perfect for scooping up the salad. Simply spray 3 pieces of Lebanese bread on a lined baking tray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with some paprika and season. Bake in a 180°C oven for 8-10 minutes or until crisp, then remove from the oven and set aside to cool. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and add rinsed and drained canned chickpeas. Add some cumin, turmeric and paprika for a hit of Middle Eastern flavour. Cook the chickpeas and toss them in the frying pan for about 5 minutes so they’re coated in the aromatic spices. To make the salad combine chopped ingredients - mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes and onion - with pomegranate seeds, which will give pops of sweet, tart flavours to the salad. Drizzle with some lemon juice and toss to combine. Create a creamy dressing to complement the fresh zesty flavours of this tabouli by combining Greek-style natural yoghurt with tahini and lemon juice.

How to serve tabouli

Tabouli is commonly served with grilled meats, providing a sharp, fresh flavour to perfectly balance the smokiness of the meat. The salad is also great in shawarmas or kebabs, falafels, baba ganoush and in mezze plates or grazing boards. 

This recipe makes a meal out of the tabouli, serving it with hommus, crisp spiced bread and a creamy yoghurt dressing. When you’re ready to serve, spread some hommus dip on a serving platter then spoon over the tabouli salad and spiced chickpeas. Drizzle over the yoghurt dressing and serve with the bread pieces. It’s the perfect light lunch and also makes for a substantial side.

Now get cooking

Once you’ve tried our take on tabouli with chickpeas, experiment with different ways to make this delicious Middle Eastern side dish. Finely chop or grate cauliflower to make the base for a cauliflower tabouli topped with spiced chicken or our cauliflower tabouli with BBQ lamb chops, or take a shortcut with ready-made veggie rice in this easy veggie tabouli recipe. When spring veggies are in season, make the most of them with Courtney Roulston’s spring greens tabouli recipe. Plus, if you love the flavours of tabouli, try them in a dressing like the one on this show-stopping BBQ seafood platter recipe.