Couscous Salad with Citrus Dressing

Want a colorful, healthy salad that’s fast and easy? This is it. This will be one of your easy potluck recipes, one of your “what to take to a cookout” recipes, one of your “holiday salad recipes”, and definitely one of your overall go-to easy salad recipes. It’s got veggies (feel free to change them up), its dressing is made out of fresh herbs, citrus juice and olive oil, and couscous cooks in no time at all. Best. Salad. Ever.

Veggie and Black Bean Couscous Salad with Citrus and Herb Dressing Recipe

• 1 cup couscous
• Juice of 1 lime
• Juice of 2 large lemons
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1/4 cup diced red onion
• 2 large radishes, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup diced sweet bell pepper; use red, orange or yellow
• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans – if using canned beans, be sure to rinse and drain well

Directions

• Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• Add couscous and quickly bring water back to a boil, stirring constantly.
• Cover pan and remove from heat.
• Let sit, covered, for 5 minutes.
• Strain couscous in a colander and briefly rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.
• Drain well
• In a large bowl, add the juice of lime and lemon, herbs, olive oil and salt and whisk well.
• Add veggies and beans and toss well with dressing.
• Add drained couscous and gently toss well with a large spoon.
• For the best flavor, let sit at least an hour at room temperature or refrigerate overnight before serving.

As I mentioned earlier, please feel free to mix up the veggies with ones that you like or have on hand. I’ve made this couscous salad with spinach, arugula (my favorite!), steamed asparagus and broccoli, thinly sliced kohlrabi, carrots…the list is endless.

Also, the herbs can be changed up too; I love this with fresh cilantro or basil, depending on the veggies I add.

If you want to add feta, fresh mozzarella, burrata or a little grated Parmesan, do it! They’re all great in this salad.

As a serving side note, I love serving this salad in one of my Pier One pasta dishes like I show here. No, this isn’t a sponsored post, I just have to point out that these pasta bowls double as a gorgeous backdrop for colorful salads such as this one. For the record, the serving spoon is also from Pier One. And this is honestly not a sponsored post…I just happen to love the funky, bohemian vibe of the gem-colored handle. I try to have fun when I serve food; they say you eat with your eyes first!

If you didn’t love couscous before, I hope you do now. It cooks so quickly and is the perfect backdrop for a veggie and bean salad such as this.

Mangia!