Extra Special Tabbouleh Salad with Halloumi
Have you ever had tabbouleh? It’s the perfect fresh and tasty summer salad.
Well, this isn’t your usual tabbouleh salad – it’s made extra special with the addition of some of my all-time favourite ingredients: crispy halloumi, hearty chickpeas, salty olives, and lots more. Every bite has a different mixture of tasty ingredients – it’s pretty healthy, but totally irresistible at the same time (and that’s not always an easy combination to achieve!).
This tabbouleh is a total game-changer for this warm weather. I cooked up a big batch and it kept us going for a few days, served alongside something different each time – it’s so nice to have something tasty in the fridge that I can grab whenever I need a nice, quick side dish.
Because of the variety of ingredients in this tabbouleh, it can be served as a standalone meal, or as a side dish alongside something else. Check below for some serving ideas!
🥗 What Is Tabbouleh?
Tabbouleh is a salad that originated in the Eastern Mediterranean, that’s usually made from bulgur wheat, parsley, mint and tomatoes. It’s super simple, but with heaps of flavour.
The traditional tabbouleh recipe is undoubtedly delicious, but I decided to make this version even more tasty by adding a few additional ingredients, like chickpeas, olives, cucumber, and halloumi cheese. They make the salad more hearty too, so it can function as a whole meal on its own.
🌾 What is Bulgur Wheat?
If you’ve never had bulgur wheat before, you’re missing out! It’s similar to couscous, in that it’s tiny pieces of wheat-based grain, almost like tiny pieces of pasta. It’s mild and nutty, and just like other grains, it can take on any flavour profile you want it to.
Bulgur wheat is a whole grain, so it’s really good for you too.
🍚 What to Serve with Tabbouleh
A big batch of this extra special tabbouleh will probably last you a couple of days in the fridge (depending on how many people you’re serving!), so it’s perfect to cook in bulk. I like to have a few different things ready to serve alongside it. Here are a few ideas:
- pitta bread and hummus (as in my photos)
- falafel
- tofu steaks
- a simple green salad
- homemade quiche
Sign up to get recipes by email, and get a FREE e-cookbook!
(1-2 emails per week, no spam)
🥗 Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- bulgur wheat. If you have the choice, go for a fine bulgur rather than a coarse one. Quinoa or couscous would also work, if that’s what you have on hand; check the cooking instructions on the packet if you’re using an alternative grain.
- canned chickpeas
- olives. I used a mixture of whole green olives and sliced black olives, which gave a nice variety of texture and flavour.
- halloumi cheese. The halloumi will be served cold in this salad, and can become a little ‘squeaky’. I personally love this, but if you’re not a fan of cold halloumi, you could easily swap this for crumbled feta or any other cheese.
- pine nuts (or an alternative nut or seed)
- lemon juice (I used fresh)
- fresh parsley and mint
- tomatoes. Use good quality tomatoes with lots of flavour – the ones that smell like a greenhouse!
- cucumber
- vegetable stock. I used a stock cube, which I crumbled into hot water. You can use liquid stock if that’s what you have – just heat it up before adding to the bulgur.
Since I’ve already added lots of different ingredients to the traditional tabbouleh recipe, there’s no reason you couldn’t change up the recipe again with your own choices. The more you change, the further away from a ‘proper’ tabbouleh you will get, but it will always end up delicious, and I don’t believe in having too many rules when it comes to food!
Here are a few ideas for other no-cook ingredients you could add (but don’t use all of them at once!):
- pumpkin seeds
- tinned sweetcorn
- soft goat cheese
- crumbled feta cheese
- sliced spring onions
- diced red onion
- balsamic vinegar
- black beans
- chopped cilantro (fresh coriander)
- chopped basil
- sun-dried tomatoes
- cooked baby potatoes (or tinned potatoes)
Becca’s Top Tip
When I made my tabbouleh, I toasted the halloumi cheese and pine nuts in a pan to give them extra flavour. If you’re in a rush, you can easily add them raw instead, or swap them for an alternative ingredient.
📹 Recipe Video
🖨️ Printable Instructions
Extra Special Tabbouleh with Halloumi Cheese
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 200 g (~ 1 cup) bulgur wheat
- 400 g tin chickpeas, drained (240g, or ~ 1 1/4 cups, when drained)
- 350 ml (~ 1 1/3 cups) vegetable stock (I use low salt)
- 6 inch piece cucumber
- 250 g (~ 9 oz) good quality tomatoes
- Small bunch fresh parsley
- Small bunch fresh mint
- 75 g (~ 2 1/2 oz) olives (black, green, or both)
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice (I used fresh)
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 225 g (~ 8 oz) halloumi cheese
- 2 Tbsp pine nuts
Instructions
- Place the bulgur wheat and the drained chickpeas in a mixing bowl, and add the hot vegetable stock. I used a stock cube, so I crumbled that into the bowl and added boiling water straight from the kettle. If you’re using liquid vegetable stock instead, bring it to the boil in a saucepan, and then add it to the bulgur. Mix to combine, cover the bowl with a plate or lid, and set aside. Give it a stir every 5 minutes or so.
- While the bulgur is soaking, cut up the cucumber and tomatoes into small dice. Add it to a large mixing bowl (not the same bowl as the bulgur).
- Sort through the mint and parsley, removing any particularly tough stems. Chop the leaves thoroughly.
- Check on the bulgur mixture, giving it a good stir. It should have absorbed any excess liquid from the bowl. If the bulgur still tastes a little hard, add a splash more hot water, replace the lid, and leave to sit for a little longer. Once the bulgur is softened up to your liking, uncover the bowl, and allow it to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- Add the (mostly) cooled bulgur mixture to the tomatoes, along with the chopped herbs, olives, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, and black pepper. Mix thoroughly to combine, and place in the fridge to chill fully.
- Cut the halloumi cheese into 1cm dice, and add it to a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes or so, stirring regularly, until the cheese has released its liquid. Add the pine nuts to the pan, and cook for a few more minutes, until both the cheese and the nuts are golden brown. They can burn quickly, so keep an eye on them.
- Add the cheese and nuts to the salad. You can serve it immediately, while the cheese is still warm, or chill again to serve later.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Tabbouleh is the perfect salad to prepare in advance, and keep in the fridge to last you a couple of days. The only part you might prefer to cook fresh is the halloumi cheese. It goes a little squeaky as it cools, which I really enjoy, but if you prefer, you can cook and add the cheese just before serving.
You don’t need to do anything special to leftover tabbouleh – it’s perfect served straight out of the fridge. If you don’t want to eat the exact same meal multiple days in a row, there are a few ideas for serving suggestions in the blog post above.
No, as bulgur wheat contains gluten. If you need to make your tabbouleh gluten-free, you can swap the bulgur for a gluten-free grain instead, like quinoa or rice.
Absolutely – just skip the halloumi cheese, or swap it for your favourite vegan cheese, and you’ll have a delicious vegan salad.
This looks utterly delicious. In France, they make their tabbouleh with couscous rather than bulghur wheat – you can buy it in little tubs in the supermarkets, which makes for a very nice base for a salad. I plan to make this in the near future, probably with quinoa as I bought some recently and I don’t think I have any bulghur!
It would be great with quinoa or couscous!
Oh yum. Tabbouleh is a favourite of mine when the weather turns warm (which it’s trying to do in Southern Ontario) and we love Halloumi. Thanks for sharing. That would be an ideal warm weather meal.
Hello from across the pond. What is Halloumi??
Hi Terese. Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese that you can slice and grill without it melting :) It’s widely available in the UK, I guess you might need to hunt a bit harder in the US but you should definitely try to find it, it’s really delicious!
This looks really good. great pic too.
mmmm this looks incredible! another one of yours to add to my must make list!
I am soo sick of winter I can’t even take it! Looks like a beautiful salad. Can’t wait to try :)
Happy Blogging!
Happy Valley Chow
Just had amazing tabbouleh while out for dinner and was googling recipes which brought me to your lovely site! I’m in LOVE with halloumi (seriously… deeply in love) so I can’t wait to make tabbouleh and pair with with some delicious golden fried halloumi (or “squeaky cheese” as our waiter once called it my friends daughter!)
can’t wait to check out more of your blog!
You must, the halloumi and tabbouleh go so well together! :) And thanks, I hope you’ll come by again!
Your blog post about halloumi-pineapple pancakes finally inspired me to try halloumi for the first time the other day. I was like, halloumi and pineapple? Sounds yummy! Pancakes sounded too complicated though, so I decided on kabobs. And then my kabobs fell apart. So I basically just ate a gigantic pile of grilled pineapple and halloumi — and god was it good! Not pretty, but very, very good. So thanks for introducing me to my new favorite cheese! :D
Ooh sounds great! Who cares if it wasn’t pretty :) I’m so glad you tried halloumi, it’s amazing isn’t it!