Lactose Free Gluten Free Quinoa Tabbouleh
This bright, herby salad is everything a great tabbouleh should be — fresh, punchy, and loaded with texture from crisp cucumber, juicy tomato, and mountains of flat-leaf parsley. Quinoa steps in as the grain base here, and it does the job beautifully, cooking up light and fluffy before soaking in a simple lemon and olive oil dressing. The whole thing is naturally free of any dairy, so there's no swapping, substituting, or label-checking required — just clean, whole ingredients from start to finish. A generous handful of fresh mint lifts the flavor even further, giving every bite a cool, garden-fresh finish that makes this salad feel genuinely special. The dressing is nothing more than lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper, but it ties everything together with a brightness that's hard to beat. This is the kind of dish that tastes even better after a short rest in the fridge, once the quinoa has had a chance to absorb all that citrusy goodness. Whether you're serving it as a side or eating it straight from the bowl, it's a seriously satisfying recipe that earns a permanent spot in the rotation.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the quinoa
- ½ cup white quinoa
- 1 cup water
- ¼ tsp salt
For the salad
- 2 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (about 2 large bunches)
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
- 2 medium tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
- 1 medium english cucumber, finely diced
- 4 scallions (green tops only), thinly sliced
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1 large lemon)
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Instructions
- 1
Rinse the quinoa in a fine-mesh strainer under cold running water for 30 seconds, then drain well. Combine the rinsed quinoa, 1 cup water, and 1/4 tsp salt in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the water is fully absorbed and the quinoa tails have unfurled, about 12–14 minutes.
- 2
Remove the saucepan from the heat, uncover, and fluff the quinoa with a fork. Spread it in a thin layer on a large plate or sheet pan and let it cool to room temperature, about 20–30 minutes.
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