Curried Couscous Salad
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Positively LOADED with flavor, this delicious Curried Couscous Salad recipe is sure to become a favorite! Chewy couscous, crispy carrots, buttery garbanzo beans, sweet raisins, and a curry vinaigrette make this salad an absolute feast for the taste buds!
Be sure to also try our tasty Thai Quinoa Salad and Greek Orzo Salad!
There’s a story behind the creation of this dish. Years ago my husband and I went on our usual Friday night date night. I was trying to shed a few holiday pounds and didn’t want to go out to a restaurant for dinner. I just wanted something relatively light and quick to eat. So here’s what happened…
Before we moved on to the “date” portion of the night we had to pick up a couple of groceries from the store. We headed over to the deli where my husband grabbed a sandwich and I got a small portion of a couple of different salads to try. One of them was a curried couscous salad and after one bite I was sold. I knew I’d have to recreate it at home so I left a few bites of it to take home so that I could do a side-by-side taste comparison as I worked on a copycat recipe. The end results was perfect: the flavor and texture were spot on!
Below left is my copycat. Below right is the original salad from the deli.
The contrasting flavors and textures in this curried couscous salad are sure to win you over. Crispy carrots and plump chewy raisins mingle with buttery garbanzo beans, tender couscous, and a lemony honey-curry vinaigrette that’s simply heavenly.
You can serve this as light main dish or as a side dish paired with grilled chicken, pork, fish, etc. This salad is quick to assemble it’s perfect for taking to work for lunch. It’s also a terrific salad to take on your next picnic, potluck, or backyard BBQ.
This curried couscous salad is a sensory adventure and a real treat for the palate!
Can I Substitute a Grain for the Couscous?
You sure can! Quinoa or millet, for example, both make great options.
Can This Couscous Salad Be Made In Advance?
Absolutely! In fact, it’s much better the next day after the flavors have had time to meld. So if you can resist, make it in advance for optimal flavor. This couscous salad will keep for 4-5 days in the fridge.
Curried Couscous Salad Recipe
Let’s get started!
A ton of healthy ingredients go into this salad: Garbanzo beans, carrots, celery, parsley, green onions, extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, honey, raisins (or zante currants if you prefer, they’re smaller – or you can use dried cherries or cranberries), curry powder, and turmeric. And if you want to bump up the health factor you can even substitute quinoa or millet for the couscous.
To prepare the couscous, simply add the water to a medium saucepan along with the salt and olive oil, bring to a boil, add the couscous, immediately turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, fluff with a fork and place it in a very large mixing bowl. Set aside.
Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined. Set aside.
Add all the veggies, the parsley, raisins and garbanzo beans to the couscous. Look at that beautiful array of colors and nutrients.
Stir to combine, then pour the dressing over it, about 1/3 at a time, stirring between additions to combine the salad.
That’s it! The couscous absorbs the color of the curry and turmeric beautifully.
Cover the couscous with a lid or plastic wrap. Because of the vinegar/acid content, make sure it’s in either a glass or plastic bowl. Refrigerate overnight for best results. The flavors need time to meld.
This couscous salad is perfect as a light lunch or as a side with dinner. Enjoy it along with some grilled chicken or fish.
Enjoy!
For more delicious salads try our:
- Thai Quinoa Salad
- Greek Wheat Berry Salad
- Lemony Quinoa Cannellini Bean Salad
- Southern Sorghum and Black Eyed Pea Salad
- Greek Orzo Salad
- Asian Wheat Berry Salad
- Mexican Wheat Berry Salad
- Italian Barley Salad
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Curried Couscous Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked couscous
- 1 cup finely shredded carrot
- 3/4 cup finely chopped celery
- 3 green onions , finely sliced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 cup canned drained garbanzo beans
- 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
- 1-2 tablespoons finely minced preserved lemon (optional but fabulous)
- For the Dressing:
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons honey (Vegans: use agave nectar)
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- homemade curry powder recipe
- 1 tablespoon turmeric powder
- 1 tablespoon vegetable broth powder
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- To prepare the couscous, bring 2 cups of vegetable or chicken broth along with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil to a boil in a medium saucepan. As soon as it's boiling, add the couscous, immediately turn off the heat, cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork and put it in a very large mixing bowl. Let cool completely.
- Add all veggies, parsley, garbanzo beans, raisins/currants and preserved lemon to the couscous and stir to combine. To prepare the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until emulsified.Pour the dressing over the couscous salad, 1/3 at a time, stirring to combine between additions. Cover and refrigerate overnight so the flavors have time to meld. Because of the vinegar/acid content, use a glass or plastic bowl.Serve as a light main course or as a side dish along with chicken, pork, fish, etc.Will keep for 4-5 days in the fridge.
Nutrition
First published on The Daring Gourmet January 9, 2014
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
I just made this with Cauliflower rice instead of couscous, and I added chopped cashews and IT IS DELISH. Thanks for the recipe.
Great idea, Haven, and I’m glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the feedback!
Can this salad be frozen?
do you have the nutritional values per a one cup serving …..absolutely love this salad!
I never follow a recipe exactly – just my nature. I added some garam masala to the dressing in addition to the other spices and some lemon juice. I had no green onions so used sweet Maui – just a little and used a Trader Joe couscous mix that has quinoa, orzo, Israeli couscous, etc. then I added shrimp for some protein. I didn’t see the step to chill over night – so it’s chilling now – I love the dressing and think it’s going to be fabulous!
That sounds great, Izzy, happy eating! :)
Love this! I didn’t have honey so I used maple syrup. I added roasted red peppers and pine nuts because my huband loves them :) Didn’t have preserved lemons so I added lemon zest. Sharing with my food and wine club. THANKS!
Fantastic, Erica, thank you, and those sound like great additions!
what is really silly about the layout of this recipe is that all the ingredients are listed at the BOTTOM of the page …..
What’s silly about that? The step-by-step preparation pictures are shown first followed by the recipe. It’s a pretty logical progression and is typical of most recipe blogs. Best of all, this recipe and all others on my blog are provided to you for FREE – you’re welcome.
My ex and i have a running joke about all the cooking blogs that put the ingredients at the very bottom…it’s super annoying when you pull the page up to double check the ingredients and you have to scroll all the way to the bottom again.
And honestly sometimes all the back story about how great aunt sally always made this dish etc gets tedious to read through. We just want the instructions.
Hey Allison, we food bloggers have a running joke as well about the people who complain about having to take an extra couple of seconds to scroll to get a FREE recipe. If you’d rather bypass the talk about Great Aunt Sally, you can always BUY a cookbook. Otherwise, the next time you find yourself having to do a bit of scrolling on whichever food blog you’re visiting, please realize that we work very hard in order to provide a FREE service to our readers.
Great recipe! I have made it twice and each time it just tasted better. I did add half a lemon and more honey as my curry powder was way too spicy. I also added dried apricots, it added a nice sweetness to offset the spice.
Fantastic, Mary, thank you! We love this salad too and I just made a batch of it last week for an outdoor potluck.
Wonderful salad. I substituted Cilantro for the parsley and added 1/2 C of Craisins.
Fantastic, Brent, thank you! I just made this again last week as a side dish for an outdoor get-together. We love it, too!