Not a summer goes by without me making this incredible Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad. It’s so fresh and delicious, quick to make, AND it stays good in the fridge for days. What more could you want from a summer salad?? Plus, it’s a great dish to bring to all those summer potlucks and BBQs, too!
What is Couscous?
Couscous is a small, ball-shaped pasta. It cooks really fast, is a fun texture, and is a great way to bulk up salads. The variety used for this Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad is a larger-sized couscous called pearl couscous, or sometimes Israeli couscous or giant couscous. If you can’t find pearl couscous, you can use regular couscous or even orzo in its place (orzo would be my first choice since it’s similar in size). Regular couscous cooks a little differently, so take a look at this couscous salad (made with regular-sized couscous) for cooking instructions and size reference.
Can I Use Bottled Lemon Juice?
Fresh lemon is key to achieving the powerfully fresh lemon flavor in this Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad, so I do not suggest substituting the fresh lemon with bottled lemon juice. The lemon zest alone is responsible for most of the lemon flavor in this salad, and, unfortunately, you just can’t get that from bottled juice.
What to Serve with Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad
This super fresh summer salad is a great side dish for anything you might cook on the grill, or you could serve it with something like Garlic Marinated Chicken, a giant Veggie Sandwich, or Mediterranean Turkey Burgers.
How Are the Leftovers?
I love this salad so much simply because it stays good in the fridge for days. The couscous sort of acts like a moisture regulator, keeping the cucumbers from getting soft or soggy and keeping the salad almost as perfect as it was on day one. So if you’re looking for something to meal prep for lunch this summer, this couscous salad is it!
And if you love cucumber salads, then you’ve got to try our Creamy Cucumber Salad recipe!
Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad
Servings 6 1 cup eachIngredients
- 1.5 cups pearl couscous ($2.20)
- 1 fresh lemon ($0.89)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder ($0.02)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 1 English cucumber ($1.49)
- 1/2 cup parsley ($0.27)
- 1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper ($0.02)
- 3 oz. feta cheese, crumbled ($1.23)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the couscous and continue to boil for about 5 minutes, or until the couscous is tender. Drain the couscous in a colander or wire strainer. Rinse briefly with cool water to cool off the couscous, then allow to drain while you prepare the rest of the salad.
- Zest the lemon and then squeeze the juice. You'll need about ½ tsp of zest and 3 Tbsp of juice.
- Add the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to a bowl and stir to combine.
- Chop the cucumber into quarter-rounds and roughly chop the parsley.
- Add the cooled and drained couscous to a large bowl along with the cucumber, parsley, lemon zest, and feta. Pour the dressing over top, then stir to combine. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to eat.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad – Step by Step Photos
This is what pearl or Israeli couscous looks like. It cooks exactly like pasta. For reference, check out this couscous salad to see the size of regular couscous. You’ll need about 1.5 cups of pearl couscous for this recipe.
To cook the couscous, bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, add the couscous, and then continue to boil until the couscous is tender. Since the couscous is small, it cooks very quickly (about 5 minutes). Drain the couscous and then rinse briefly with cool water to bring the temperature down.
While the couscous is cooking and cooling, prepare the rest of the salad. Start by zesting and juicing one lemon. You’ll need about 1 tsp zest and 3 Tbsp juice.
To make the lemony dressing, whisk together 3 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder, 1/4 tsp of salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. If you’re a garlic lover, you can mince up a clove of fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. I decided that I wanted the salad to have just a hint of garlic flavor, so I added a touch of powdered garlic instead of fresh.
Roughly chop ¼ bunch parsley (about ½ cup chopped) and slice one cucumber into quarter-rounds.
Transfer the cooked and cooled couscous to a large bowl, then add the chopped parsley and cucumber, and about 3 oz. crumbled feta.
Pour the prepared dressing over the salad ingredients in the bowl.
Stir the salad until everything is evenly mixed and coated in dressing. You can give it a taste here and adjust the salt, pepper, or any other ingredients to your liking.
And now you’re ready to eat! Or, you can chill it until it’s time for dinner. The flavors get even better as it chills and once it’s cold the salad is extra refreshing!
Seriously, this Lemony Cucumber Couscous Salad is my favorite summer treat. Sometimes I add a grilled chicken breast on top and make it a meal. A dollop of hummus is also good in there!
This looks awesome. I can’t wait to make it. How long will it keep in the frig?
Thanks, Julie
It keeps four days or so, but that can really vary depending on the conditions inside your fridge, the container used, and the freshness of ingredients. :)
DO AS SHE SAYS REGRADING CHOOSING YOUR COUS COUS! hahahaha. I used what I had, not knowing much difference– I think I have Moroccan cous cous, which seems to be a smaller pearl. DON’T try to treat it the same!
But the flavors of this dish were on point! Loved it, even with my pasta flub! Went great as a side for zucchini fritters, made for a great From The Garden dinner!
Perfect summer salad! I made it exactly as directed and it turned out delicious. Will be my new go-to for summer gatherings.
This was amazing! I used dried parsley and added avocado. Wow, I can’t believe this dressing is so simple but tastes so good!
this looks delish! ant recommendations to make it gluten-free? could I use quinoa?
I’ve made it a few times with quinoa and had good success! Enjoy!
This has become my go-to potluck offering, and it’s always very popular! Thank you so much for sharing it!
It’s a great one to share!
So good! Added in about a cup and a half of homecooked chickpeas and some sliced cherry tomatoes. Love how much cucumber there is; along with the lemon it’s super crunchy and refreshing.
Yum! Glad you enjoy it Anna!
Made this up for a fresh lunch on the boat this weekend. Will travel perfectly . Just throwing some cold grilled chicken on top for a complete meal.
Can you use some other cheese besides feta?
Goat cheese or Cotija would probably also be good.
If you want something really mild with a fairly similar texture, you could also try queso fresco (I get mine at Aldi, but I’m sure it’s stocked in lots of places).
Made this with 1 1/2 cups of orzo (couldn’t find Israeli couscous), twice the feta, and a little more lemon zest/juice, and loved it!!
OMG. So good! I tweaked this a bit to bulk it out for a full week’s worth of meal prep lunches. I stirred in a bag of chopped spinach for an extra dose of veggies and I doubled the feta and the dressing. I also served with a dollop of hummus on top, per your suggestion in the post. Such a perfect cold lunch for the summertime! Can’t recommend this recipe enough.
@budgetbytes, do you think Italian Farro (spelt) would work well in this recipe? Thank you!
It might taste a bit strong for this dish, but it probably wouldn’t be terrible. :) I like the couscous because it absorbs the vinaigrette and flavor really easily, too. Farro probably won’t be quite as absorbent.
I ended up using orzo… followed your recipe exactly and it was delicious, a huge hit!
I love this recipe. I like to add a little bit more pepper and lemon. Just a word of warning: I made the mistake of substituting the couscous for quinoa and it was a disaster, it tasted awful, so I highly recommend sticking with the couscous. I did make it with whole wheat couscous as well and that I really enjoyed!!
We love this recipe at our house! Instead of parsley (we’re not huge parsely fans here), I used dill and I did add some halved grape tomatoes to the mix as well for a more Greek/Mediterranean flavor mix that matched what we were eating this with. It made plenty of leftovers as there are just two of us, which is perfect because I can have it for lunch at work! Thank you for another wonderful recipe :)
Made this salad this weekend, with a few tweaks – added some halved grape tomatoes for more veggies, used the full lemon’s worth of juice and zest, used a full 6 oz container of feta, and dried instead of fresh parsley. It was SO good! Such a perfect summer side dish.
This is the perfect summer salad, and we’ve made it every weekend this summer! We usually double the batch, and it’s still never enough for how much we all love eating it. Can’t recommend this recipe enough!