Easy Falafel Salad
Falafel Salad: This is one of the easiest and freshest salads I've made. It keeps great for days and makes great lunches or side dishes.
Easy Falafel Salad
Jump to RecipeThe weather in Denver has taken a turn for the best this last week. It has been almost T-shirt weather, but you can still see the snow-covered Rockies in the distance.
So, while we aren’t completely into springtime yet, I was kind of over heavy dishes last week. I wanted something light and fresh that we could eat out on the porch with a light beer or chilled glass of wine.
While normally you fry or bake falafels and serve them with pita, this falafel salad is a totally fresh take on the ingredients. Same flavors, but easier to make and lightened up!
Easy and Fresh Falafel Salad
Ingredients
- ½ cup uncooked bulgur
- 1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup cilantro minced
- ½ cup parsley minced
- 1 cup diced tomatoes
- 1 small cucumber seeded and chopped
- ½ red onion diced
Tahini Dressing:
- ⅓ cup tahini
- ⅓ cup water
- 1 small lemon juice only
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of cayenne pepper
Instructions
- Cook bulgar by toasting it in a dry pot over low heat for 1 minute. Then add 1 cup of water to the bulgar, cover and cook for about 20 minutes until bulgar has absorbed all the water (if the pot looks very dry, add more water). Once bulgar is cooked, remove it from heat and fluff with a fork.
- While bulgar cooks, chop the veggies. Take your time to chop the onion and cucumber so there aren’t any huge chunks.
- In a large bowl, toss together chopped herbs, veggies, and chickpeas. Stir to combine and then stir in the cooked bulgar.
- For the dressing, whisk together ingredients until the tahini is smoothed.
- You can either serve the dressing on the side and let people drizzle it over the salad or toss the salad with the dressing. Personally, I like to let people dress it to their liking.
Notes
Nutrition
Did you make this?
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- Want a full falafel sandwich? Try these lentil falafels!
Easy Falafel Salad
Most of the ingredients in this recipe are very basic and stuff you might even have in your kitchen. The one thing you might have to hunt down is bulgar. Bulgar is basically wheat grains that have been cracked and partially cooked. You should be able to find it cheaply in most bulk stores.
If you can’t find it though you could honestly substitute couscous or something like brown rice. (Just cook those things according to instructions.)
To make the bulgar though, toast it in a DRY pot for a minute over low heat and then add the water to it, cover the pot, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes until the bulgar absorbs the water.
When the bulgar is done, remove it from the heat and fluff it a bit. This stuff is so good in all kinds of salads.
The Veggie Business
Lots of veggies go into my version of this salad. Grape tomatoes, cucumbers (no seeds) and red onion, plus a boatload of parsley and cilantro!
Toss that all together with the drained and rinsed chickpeas.
Then add in the bulgar! Adding in the bulgar last will help it from clumping together.
Look how fresh and delicious this salad looks!
The Tahini Dressing
Don’t forget the dressing! You don’t need a food processor or anything for this. Just whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl until the tahini is smooth. You can taste the dressing and adjust it if you want it spicier or saltier.
You could stir the dressing into the salad, but personally I like to drizzle it over and serve the dressing on the side.
As the weather gets warmer, this falafel salad needs to be on your menu! Whether it’s for a picnic or a light dinner, you can serve it with so many things!
I saw the box of Bulgar in the pantry the other day and wondered why I had it and what to do with it – NOW, I know what I am going to do with it. Thanks, Nick, this sounds awesome for these beginning spring days. I, too, am tired of the “winter” foods!
I literally just tossed about half a cup of bulgar that I had leftover last night and am now kicking myself in the butt. I’ll definitely be picking up some this week to make this, looks delicious!
I made this for dinner last week, and it was fantastic! And happily enough, leftovers stored well for lunch the next day. Definitely a keeper – the only change I’d make next time would be to leave the cilantro out, but that’s a personal preference, and maybe increase the parsley in its place. But regardless – a perfect light supper on a hot evening! Thank you so much!
Awesome Kris! Yea… substitutions are easy. Glad you liked it!