Cauliflower Tabbouleh

Cauliflower tabbouleh salad is such a flavorful, healthy side dish. A veggie packed version of traditional tabbouleh, but without the grains! Naturally gluten free, vegan, low carb, paleo and Whole30 friendly! This simple salad is great for meal prep or summer cookouts!

Why you will love this recipe

• Everything you love about traditional tabbouleh! Bright and flavorful, this gluten free tabbouleh salad replaces the bulger with cauliflower rice for a lower carb take on a traditional dish!
• You won’t believe how many veggies on in this dish! This Mediterranean cauliflower salad will quickly become your go to way to get in lots of veggies at once!
• Perfect for meal prep or to make ahead for parties or cookouts! Because this salad doesn’t have any dairy or mayo in it, it is great for summer cookouts! The flavors are great the next day (up to 3 days later).
• Pairs perfectly with greek chicken, or 10 minute Italian chicken, falafel, chickpeas, or grilled shrimp for a super simple weeknight dinner idea!

Ingredients

• Riced cauliflower (fresh is best) – the riced cauliflower replaces traditional bulgur making this dish low carb and grain free!
• Veggies: Bell peppers, Cucumber, Tomatoes – these veggies add crunch, color and flavor!
• Flat leaf parsley – this gives the tabbouleh it’s signature flavor. Many recipes will recommend curly parsley but I do not love the flavor of curly parsley.
• Fresh mint (optional) – this can add a bright pop of flavor to the dish. If you don’t have mint, the dish will still turn out great!
• Lemon juice – paired with the parsley, this gives the dish the signature flavor!
• Salt and garlic powder – I like garlic powder because it doesn’t overwhelm the dish like fresh garlic can. Salt is used to brighten all the flavors.

Instructions

Check out a step by step story on how to make gluten free tabbouleh salad.

• Rice the cauliflower using a food processor or a box grater.
• Preheat a large skillet over a medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, spray with non-stick and add the cauliflower rice.
• Cover and cook the cauliflower rice over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• While the cauliflower is cooking chop the bell peppers and cucumber.
• Finely chop the parsley and mint. The finer you chop the fresh herbs the easier they are to distribute throughout the dish.
• Once the cauliflower is done cooking, add it to a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.
• Serve room temperature or cold.

What is tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is a traditional middle eastern salad that is made with chopped herbs, lemon juice and veggies all mixed together with bulger. The traditional recipe is not gluten free or low carb friendly, but it is super flavorful and one of my favorite summer dishes.

I wanted to find a way to serve this salad that would be just as delicious but also gluten free and could easily fit into my day whether I was eating low carb or not. Adding riced cauliflower is the perfect way to get the same texture without any of the gluten!

Other mix ins:

• Red onion
• Capers
• Olives
• Pepperoncini peppers
• Avocado (only if going to eat right away)
• Chickpeas or white beans (not paleo or Whole30)
• Broccoli crowns or broccoli rice
• Spinach or kale

How to make cauliflower rice

Cauliflower rice can be bought at most grocery stores now. You can often find it in the fresh and frozen sections of most grocery stores.

I find that the fresh cauliflower rice sold in grocery stores can spoil quickly and is often cut into larger chunks than you want for this Mediterranean cauliflower salad recipe.

Frozen cauliflower rice can be used for this recipe, however I find that fresh cauliflower that was riced at home is my favorite way to enjoy this dish.

To make cauliflower rice at home you can use a food processor or a box grater.

• Food processor: Chop the florets off the main stalk of the cauliflower and cut the florets down into smaller pieces (to fit in the food processor).
  • Add the cauliflower florets to the food processor (about ½ a head at a time), process on high for 30 seconds or so until the cauliflower resembles rice.
  • Repeat with the second half. Store in the fridge up to 2 days.

• Box grater: Keep the cauliflower intact with the stalk and simply grate it with the box grater like you would a piece of cheese. Move the cauliflower around so you can get the entire head grated. You don’t want to grate the stalk though.
  • Store in the fridge up to 2 days.

Why cook the cauliflower

I really enjoy the flavor of the cauliflower rice being slightly toasted and steamed  before adding it to the salad. Fresh cauliflower is often a little overpowering and tough to chew.

Cooking the cauliflower on the stove gives it a texture that resembles the bulger in the traditional recipe.

If you are making this recipe with frozen cauliflower rice, you don’t need to cover the saute pan while cooking, as you want the water to evaporate off as it cooks.

How to store tabbouleh

Store the cauliflower tabbouleh in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Substitutions

• Veggies: If you don’t have cucumber, tomatoes or bell pepper, you can simply omit them and add more of the veggies you do have on hand. You may also want to add chopped artichoke hearts, hearts of palm or zucchini.
• Lemon juice: Red wine vinegar can replace the lemon juice, but lemon juice is the best option for the traditional tabbouleh flavors.
• Flat leaf parsley: I do not like curly parsley but it is what is in traditional tabbouleh. If you cannot find flat leaf parsley, you can look for curly parsley. If you don’t love parsley, you could add fresh mint and basil in place of the parsley for a tasty alternative.

If you love this recipe, you should try

• Spring asparagus salad
• Shaved brussels salad with balsamic tahini
• Crunchy broccoli salad with lemon tahini dressing
• Kale brussel sprouts salad with cranberries