You may be looking at that picture and thinking, “But where is the falafel?” Well, it’s not a salad with falafel, it’s a salad made out of falafel ingredients. Falafel Salad, get it?
You see, I was really craving my falafel the other day, but I was too lazy to make the little patties or fry them. So, I wondered what all of the ingredients would taste like just thrown together in a bowl. Pretty damn good, that’s how it tastes.
I had to do a little tweaking, but all in all this Falafel Salad is super amazing. Instead of regular salad greens, it starts with a bed of fresh parsley and cilantro. Those two herbs are what make the falafel taste so amazing and fresh. Chickpeas add body to the salad and bulgur wheat gives extra texture. Fresh tomatoes went into the mix to make it a little more salad-like, and I would have added diced cucumber if the selection at the store hadn’t looked so pitiful (wrinkly cucumbers are so sad). I had to find a way to get all of the falafel spices into the salad, so I mixed them right into a basic tahini lemon dressing (because you’d probably drizzle some tahini over the falafel anyway, right?). The tahini dressing was so zingy with its fresh garlic that I skipped the red onion that is in the original falafel recipe. It wasn’t missed. The end result was so amazing that I didn’t have time to notice the onion’s absence.
I’m totally IN LOVE with this Falafel Salad and can see myself making it at least once a week, if not only as an excuse to eat this amazing dressing. I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a jar of the tahini dressing in my fridge at all times.
NOTE: If you can’t find bulgur, you can use couscous, or even quinoa as a gluten-free option.
Falafel Salad
Servings 4 to 6Ingredients
TAHINI DRESSING
- 1/3 cup tahini sesame seed paste ($1.08)
- 1/3 cup water ($0.00)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice ($0.18)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled ($0.16)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
SALAD
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley ($0.89)
- 1 bunch cilantro ($0.85)
- 1 19oz. can chickpeas ($1.50)
- 1/2 cup uncooked bulgur ($0.77)
- 2 tomatoes (about ¾ lb.) ($0.75)
Instructions
- To make the dressing, smash the garlic cloves under the blade of a knife or roughly chop them. Add the garlic, tahini, water, lemon juice, cumin, cayenne, and salt to a blender. Blend until the mixture is smooth and the garlic is in small pieces. Refrigerate the dressing until ready to use.
- To cook the bulgur, place the dry bulgur in a sauce pot. Cook and stir the dry bulgur (without water or oil) over medium heat for two minutes to toast it slightly. Add one cup of water and bring the mixture up to a boil. Add a lid to the pot, turn the heat down to low, and let it simmer for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, fluff the bulgur and transfer it to the refrigerator without a lid to cool.
- Wash the parsley and cilantro well under cool water. Shake as much water off as possible. Pull the leaves from the stems and then roughly chop the leaves. Place the chopped parsley and cilantro in a bowl.
- Dice the tomato and add it to the bowl. Rinse and drain the chickpeas, then add them to the bowl. Finally, add the cooled bulgur to the boil and stir to combine the ingredients. Add a liberal amount of the tahini dressing and stir until everything is well coated.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Falafel Salad – Step by Step Photos
Make the tahini dressing first, so that the flavors have a few minutes to blend while you’re making the rest of the salad. Smash or roughly chop two cloves of garlic, then add them to a blender with 1/3 cup tahini, 1/3 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt. Blend the ingredients until smooth and no large chunks of garlic remain. Refrigerate the dressing until ready to use.
Next, it’s time to cook the bulgur. Again, if you can’t find bulgur (I got mine from the bulk bins at the grocery), you can use couscous or quinoa. I used 1/2 cup of dry bulgur for this salad.
Toast the bulgur slightly before cooking it to make it a little more scrumptious. Just add it to a small sauce pot and cook and stir over medium heat for about two minutes. Because there is no moisture in the pot at this point, it will toast the grains. Finally, add a cup of water, let it come back up to a boil (which will be fast because the pot is already hot), then add a lid and turn the heat down to low. Let it simmer on low for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, fluff the bulgur then let it sit in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes to cool. Leave the lid off while it’s in there so the excess moisture evaporates away. That way you’ll have nice little chewy bits, rather than sticky wet bits.
Now on to the vegetables… Wash the one bunch of parsley and one bunch of cilantro well. Nothing ruins a salad faster than sand. Try to get as much of the water off as possible. Pull the leaves from the stems. The stems are soft and edible, too, so you don’t have to be very precise about this. Just pull what you can off.
Give the leaves a rough chop. I probably should have chopped mine just a bit finer, but it’s all good.
Dice two small tomatoes (yes, mine were on sale).
Rinse and drain one 19oz. can of chickpeas. If you can’t find the 19oz. size can, you can just use a 15oz. can, or if you want extra chickpeas, go for the gold and use two 15oz. cans.
Add the cilantro, parsley, chickpeas, tomatoes, and cooled bulgur to a bowl and stir them all together.
Now remember that amazing dressing? OMG it’s so good…
Pour it ALL over the salad. Honestly, the more dressing the better with this one. I used about half of the batch of dressing… and still kinda wanted more.
And then stir it all up so that everything is drenched in that amazing dressing. NOW EAT.
This made about 5 cups of Falafel Salad. Four large servings or six smaller side salad type servings. Of course, if your bunches of parsley and cilantro are different sizes than mine, you may get a different yield. Either way, I could have probably eaten at least half the batch in one sitting because it was so good. RESTRAIN YOURSELF, BETH.
I made the dressing a little while ago so that I could have this tomorrow with your naan recipe for Sunday supper. I can’t wait! (Made your guacamole for a simple supper tonight and added a little cilantro and some lime juice for a little extra kick. Addictive!)
Just mixed this up with cuke and feta, substituting red quinoa for the bulgur. And I used ALL the dressing. It rings my falafel chimes with a fraction of the work. Thanks again, Beth.
Looks a lot like tabouleh with added chickpeas–never a problem, IMO, since I LOVE chickpeas. The added cilantro is BRILLIANT. I am going to add cucumber, though.
Beth, thanks so much for all you do for us cheap foodies! We aren’t hipsters…we are seasoned eaters who love to eat tasty and cheaply! Thanks again!
This looks delicious. I can’t wait to try the tahini dressing. I know I’m going to love it. I made a similar salad for lunch yesterday using couscous, chick peas, grilled chopped chicken, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley and mint in a simple lemon dressing. It was delicious but I think your lemon tahini dressing would have totally rocked it!!
Thanks! I have a picnic planned for Mother’s Day and this will hit the spot. I love your site!
im totally digging this salad!
What a great idea of a mix! I’ve made a similar tahini dressing but it did not have cumin…I love cumin AND cayenne. I have a batch now sitting in my frig.
Re the cucumbers. If you can find them in your area, the little Persian cukes are very good. Here in my rural corner of NW Montana a local hydroponic grower provides them all year. They are labeled mini-English cucumbers but I asked and was told the seed variety was “Persian cucumbers”. They sometimes do look wrinkly but they are sweet, tender and full of flavor. You can peel or not.
Sounds so great! But you dont have to cook the bulgur! Cooking it makes it too mushy and gummy. Just soak the bulgur in cool water for about 30-40 minutes. Best way if you are making a cold salad with it.
Awesome tip, thanks! Mine was nice and chewy/firm, too, so I guess it works both ways. :)
That dressing!! – Those spices are perfect. I know this is similar to tabouleh but the spicy dressing and garbanzos really do make it different. I added a bit of goat cheese. Also used the dressing on shredded kale and quinoa with black beans.
Very good – thanks, again!
I am sooo going to make this next week! My AC is out (and no one can come for over a week), so it has been HOT and I’m trying not to heat up the kitchen!
I don’t have any bulgur, and I’m still not quite sure what it is. Do you think quinoa would be a good substitute?
Yep, quinoa or couscous would work too. :)
Beth, I love you and your site to pieces, but you kind of just reinvented tabbouleh (example link): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lebanese-Tabbouleh-106589
Anyway, if you want to try another middle eastern salad (one of my favorites!) have a look at this one. It is excellent with large fava beans: http://syriancooking.com/salad/arabic-bean-salad
Similar flavors, but with more beans!
Yes, I love tabbouleh! I’ve made it many times. While I was making this I thought about how it was a mix between the falafel and tabbouleh :)
This looks amazing! How long do you think it would stay good for? I’d love to make this the night before for lunch at work but would the cilantro and parsley not last?
I ate it the second day and it was still fantastic (there was none left after day 2!). If you want it to last even a little longer, you can wait to add the dressing until just before you eat it. :)
How long do you think this would keep with the dressing mixed in? I can’t eat cilantro, so I was thinking of using mixed greens or maybe kale. Any thoughts?
I ate mine for two days and it was great, but you can wait to add the dressing to each serving if you want it to last longer. I think if I were to skip the cilantro, I’d just do double parsley.
Oh. My. Stars. I can’t wait to make this. I see this working with a side of flatbread and maybe grilled chicken skewers or something.
NEED. Thank you, I love when you have something vegan or vegan-izeable!