I’m still trying to take full advantage of the fresh summer veggies before they’re gone. This Roasted Vegetable Couscous is the perfect side dish for the transitional season when the markets are still full of fresh beautiful produce, but it’s not so hot that you don’t want to turn on your oven. This simple side dish is easy to prepare, but boasts complex and vibrant flavors.
That being said, if it is still too hot to roast your vegetables in the oven, you can make this dish just as easily by grilling the vegetables outside on your grill. Either way, you’ll get that wonderfully sweet caramelized smoky flavor on the edges of the vegetables that contrast so well with the savory couscous.
Originally posted 8-29-11, updated 9-10-18.
What is Couscous?
Couscous is small granules of crushed durum wheat that is steamed and served as a fluffy, starchy accompaniment to soups, stews, and braises. It’s is native to North African countries, like Morocco, Lybia, Tunisia, and Algeria. This delightful pasta-like grain has spread throughout the world and can now be found in many countries, and most major grocery stores in the U.S.
There are several different types of couscous, including different shapes and sizes, and any can be used for this dish. I used a traditional couscous, which has a very fine grain. Just make sure to check the cooking instructions on your package of couscous to adjust the liquid amount or cooking time needed for the particular variety you’re using.
How do you Cook Couscous?
Cooking Couscous is extremely easy. Simply pour the couscous into boiling water (1 part couscous to 1.5 parts water), place a lid on top, turn the heat off, and let it sit undisturbed for ten minutes. The couscous will quickly absorb the hot water. After ten minutes fluff, then serve! You can flavor couscous by cooking it in flavored liquids, like the vegetable broth I used here. Larger varieties of couscous, like Israeli couscous, or varieties made with whole wheat semolina, may have slightly different cooking instructions.
Can I Use Different Vegetables?
Yes! You can use pretty much any vegetable that you have available to you, but I like to make sure I have at least three colors for maximum visual appeal. Some other vegetables that are wonderful in this mix are: eggplant, yellow squash, mushrooms, or broccoli. If using hard vegetables, like root vegetables, you may need to cut them slightly smaller to make sure they soften.
What to Serve with Roasted Vegetable Couscous
This simple recipe makes a really great side dish to any meat, like Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Thighs, Chicken Piccata, or Oven Baked Fish with Tomatoes. To make this part of a vegetarian meal, serve it alongside Marinated Portobello Mushroom Burgers, a Scallion Herb Chickpea Salad sandwich, or just top a bowl of the roasted vegetable couscous with a big dollop of hummus and serve with a side of pita!
Roasted Vegetable Couscous
Servings 8 about 1 cup eachIngredients
- 4 Roma tomatoes ($1.69)
- 2 zucchini ($1.23)
- 1 bell pepper ($1.00)
- 1 red onion ($0.69)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.24)
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 2 pinches salt and pepper ($0.05)
- 2 cups couscous ($1.97)
- 3 cups vegetable broth ($0.39)
- 1/4 bunch parsley ($0.24)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Wash and chop the tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, and red onion into 1 to 1.5-inch pieces. Peel four cloves of garlic but leave them whole.
- Toss the chopped vegetables and garlic with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Spread them out on a baking sheet so they are in a single layer. Sprinkle a couple pinches of salt and pepper over the vegetables
- Place the vegetables in the oven and roast at 400ºF for about 45 minutes, stirring twice throughout, until the vegetables are wilted and browned on the edges.
- While the vegetables are roasting, cook the couscous. Add the vegetable broth to a sauce pot, place a lid on top, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the couscous, turn off the heat, and cover the pot with the lid once again. Let the couscous sit, undisturbed, for ten minutes. Then, fluff with a fork.
- After the vegetables are finished roasting, collect the four garlic cloves, and chop them well. They will be quite soft. Also roughly chop the fresh parsley.
- Combine the couscous, roasted vegetables (including garlic), and parsley in a bowl, and stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. Serve warm or cold!
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Roasted Vegetable Couscous – Step By Step Photos
These are the vegetables that I used for my couscous today, but you can be flexible with the vegetables in this dish. Use whatever you have on hand or whatever is available at a good price! Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Chop the vegetables into 1 to 1.5-inch pieces. Peel the garlic, but you can leave it whole so it roasts and becomes nice and sweet. Place the vegetables (and garlic) on a large baking sheet, drizzle 2 Tbsp olive oil over top, and add a couple pinches of salt and some freshly cracked pepper. Toss until the vegetables are well coated in oil.
Roast the vegetables in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes, stirring a couple of times throughout, or until they are wilted and browned on the edges. Pick out the whole cloves of garlic and mince them.
While the vegetables are roasting, cook the couscous. This is what couscous looks like uncooked. Very small, irregular granules. You can usually find this in bulk bins, or sometimes near the pasta or boxed pasta and rice pilaf mixes. Just keep in mind that boxed versions are always much more expensive than purchasing in bulk.
Bring 3 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth) to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the couscous, replace the lid, and remove it from the heat. Let the couscous sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. The couscous will absorb the hot water as it sits.
Fluff the couscous with a fork once all of the broth has been absorbed.
Chop about 1/4 bunch fresh parsley.
Once the vegetables are roasted, couscous is fluffed, and parsley is chopped, combine them all in a large bowl.
Toss everything together, give it a taste, and add salt if needed (this will depend on the salt content of the broth you used. I did not add any extra salt.)
Talk about a PRETTY side dish! This Roasted Vegetable Couscous is as delicious as it is beautiful. :)
Wow! This is amazing! The veggies are so sweet when roasted. My kids and I love love love this, can’t get enough! Will be making this on regular rotation from now on!
This was delicious, healthy and easy! In fact all the recipes I have tried from this site are excellent. And I love that there are so many vegan recipes. And many of the ones that are not have alternative options to make them vegan. Thank you so much for having this site :)
I am disabled and can’t do much in the kitchen anymore. I have made something very much like this only much easier. I use cous cous from a box (Middle East brand I think) that comes with a flavoring packet (I like the Parmesan). Cook according to package directions. I cook my veggies (roughly cut into bite size chunks) very quickly on top of the stove in a skillet with a little olive oil over high heat until they are slightly charred on the edges but still kind of crispy inside. My go-to veggies are onion, bell pepper, and yellow squash. Season with garlic salt and pepper, dump on top of the cous cous.
Love this! I’ve made it several times, using about half the recipe since I wasn’t sure how well couscous would reheat. I’m looking forward to the asparagus popping up (we have several places on our property and along the road where we live) and using that in place of the zucchini. Great recipe, as always, Beth! I love that you have so many meat free recipes since my husband is a vegetarian. The recipes are always pretty straight forward and don’t have some way-out-there expensive ingredient, one of those that you have to hunt for and then wonder what you are going to do with the rest of it. I always look forward to receiving your latest recipe each week. Thank you!!
Followed the recipe exactly save for one small thing: I doubled the recipe for more people, then realized at the last second I didn’t have enough couscous. So I also made a brown rice/quinoa blend I had on hand, and mixed it with the couscous at the end. My veggies were mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini and squash. DELICIOUS. I will be trying this with other veggies!
Question: does it hurt to use frozen veggies or a mix of fresh and frozen? I bought some veggies super cheap this summer (bell peppers, squash, cucumbers), chopped and froze what I didn’t eat, but I also have a ton of sweet potato and onions that I bought cheap around Thanksgiving. Some of the combos seem like they’d go well with the couscous, but I don’t know if roasting from frozen will mess with the texture too much.
Higher water content vegetables get very soft and watery after freezing and thawing, so those won’t do so well when roasting (they’ll just stew in their juices). But harder vegetables like broccoli and sweet potato roast pretty well after being frozen. :)
The first time I set out to make this recipe, I found out I was out of couscous! I subbed quinoa and it worked well. This weekend I tried it with couscous and it was really delicious. I think quinoa is a good substitute if you find yourself without couscous.
I fried up some halloumi and topped with a little drizzle of mayo to recreate a dish my husband and I like from a local spot but is too heavy and greasy the way they make it.
I needed two sheet trays for the vegetables to roast properly. The last time I tried it with just one the pan was too crowded and it took a lot longer than 45 minutes.
Great recipe, it’s one we’ll make often!
Do you by chance have nutritional information on this dish?
No, I’m sorry, I do not have nutritional information.
I plan to try this basic idea with quinoa instead of couscous in order to add protein. Seems it should work; like the flavor combinations!
I really like this recipe and will definitely make it again (I added some balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard to my veggies) the only thing I found is that the veggie to couscous ratio was off for me so I’d probably cut back the amount of couscous i made by 1/2 to 1 cup or increase the amount of veggies
Beth, I’m making this right now, but I’m this and in several other recipes, I have been so enamored with that pan! Do you live it? Is it cast iron or coated enamel? Can you give us the details?
Thanks for all you do!
Thanks! It’s an enamel coated pan from Roveandswig.com I wouldn’t say it’s anything special to cook with compared to my regular sheet pans, but it’s GREAT for photos, so that’s the main reason I use it. ;)
Hi, daft question, but what does couscous taste or feel like when eating? Sorry for the question, it’s just weve recently made the switch to a healthier lifestyle. So far weve cut all the rubbish food out, and are juicing every single day. Feling great so far but wanting to improve the meals a bit further still, so trying to broaden my horizons…!
Ive also got to try and increase my range of veggies I eat, dont like too many ooops..!
Thanks
Not a daft question at all. :) It tastes just like pasta, but since it’s in super small pieces it’s more light and fluffy rather than dense like a lot of pastas can be.
Your timing for this recipe is perfect! I just remembered I have a potluck tomorrow, and I have all of these veggie on-hand. Thanks!
That knife is GORGEOUS, what brand is it??
It’s a Shun knife, which strangely enough I won in a contest that I didn’t even know that I was entered into!
Here’s a tip if you want to save dishes. Instead of putting the couscous in a pot of boiling water, you can put it directly in the bowl you use for serve and mixing. Add the broth powder of your choice and mix it with the couscous. Add boiling water until the couscous is covered plus roughly 1 cm more. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes. If the couscous has absorbed all the water and is still a bit tough, you can simply add a splash more water.
For obvious reasons, be a bit careful when you use glassware. Adding boiling water on top may cause it to break if the bowl itself is cold.
I do this! It’s super quick and reliable. I just boil a kettle and pour it over until the couscous is covered, then stick a plate on top of the bowl to trap the steam leave for 5 mins, before stirring with a fork.