Greek couscous salad that everyone will love! Perfect for any occasion, with meal prep options and tips to make it even easier.
The Best Greek Couscous Salad
Meal prepping has always been my go-to for quick, convenient meals. During college, I prepped every Sunday, making salads, overnight oats, and prepping veggies and grains for the week. It made eating well so much easier, even with a busy schedule.
This Greek couscous salad is perfect for meal prep—4 dinner servings or 6 meals for the week. Even if you’re not into meal prepping, this salad makes an ideal weeknight dinner or quick lunch. If you like variety, try switching up the dressing or veggies. It’s a simple way to have a satisfying meal ready whenever you need it.
Greek Couscous Salad Ingredients
- Pearled Couscous Mix: Cook it as directed on the package and let it cool before adding other ingredients.
- Cucumber, Bell Peppers, Red Onion, Cherry Tomatoes: Cut these all to a similar size so each bite is similar. Soak the red onion in cold water or lemon juice for 10 minutes to make it milder.
- Italian Parsley: Make sure you use flat leaf Italian parsley.Chop it finely so it mixes well in the salad.
- Chickpeas: Adds protein and a nice texture. For extra crunch, you can roast or air fry them before adding.
- Feta Cheese: Crumble it over the salad right before serving.
- Lemon Wedges: Adds a fresh, zesty kick. Serve with the salad to squeeze over just before eating.
- Dressing: This dressing brings all the flavors together. Mix in a jar and shake well before using.
How To Make Greek Couscous Salad
- Cook Couscous: Follow the package directions to cook the couscous. Let it cool.
- Chop Veggies: While the couscous is cooking, chop the cucumber, bell peppers, red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Finely chop the parsley.
- Prepare Chickpeas: Drain and rinse the chickpeas. If you want extra flavor, you can roast them.
- Make Dressing: In a jar, mix together red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. Shake it well.
- Assemble Salad: In a large bowl, mix the cooled couscous with the chopped veggies, chickpeas, feta cheese, and dressing. Stir everything together.
- Serve: Squeeze fresh lemon juice over the salad and enjoy!
For meal prep: Divide the salad into containers, and keep the dressing separate until you’re ready to eat.
How To Make It For Meal Prep
- Get Containers: Use 6 meal prep containers and 6 small containers for the dressing. Keep the dressing separate to avoid soggy salad. You can use small Tupperware, bulk dressing containers, or even snack-sized plastic bags.
- Prep Couscous: Cook the couscous first. While it’s cooking, chop the veggies—bell peppers, cucumber, red onion, parsley, and cherry tomatoes. Divide them equally among the 6 containers. Feel free to swap out veggies based on your preference.
- Add Protein: Use chickpeas for protein. You can roast them for extra crunch with salt and pepper. Or, swap them with other beans or grilled chicken.
- Finish: Top with freshly cracked salt and pepper, a lemon wedge (to squeeze before eating), extra parsley, and feta cheese.
More Delicious Meal Prep Options:
- Italian Sausage and Veggies
- Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Sweet Potato Taco Bowls
- Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Ground Turkey Meal Prep
Greek Couscous Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 2 packages (4.7 ounces each) Pearled Couscous Mix (I use one made by Near East) Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil flavored
- 1 english (or hothouse) cucumber, coarsely chopped
- 3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow), coarsely chopped
- 1/2 of 1 large red onion, chopped
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup flat leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
- 2 cans (15 ounces EACH) chickpeas
- Feta cheese, to taste
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- Prepare the couscous mix according to package instructions making sure to add in the seasoning mix. If you don't use couscous from a package, you'll want to add some of your favorite seasonings because a lot of the flavor in this salad comes from that seasoning.
- While the couscous is cooking, prep the veggies: coarsely chop the cucumber, the peppers, the red onion, and cherry tomatoes. Finely chop the parsley. To take the "bite" out of the raw red onion you can soak it in cold water (or freshly squeezed lemon juice) for about 10 minutes.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas. If desired, roast them in the oven (see the last paragraph in this post).
- Prepare the dressing by adding all of the dressing ingredients to a mason jar. (I add about 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, but add to your personal preference). Seal the jar and shake until combined.
- TO SERVE AS A SALAD: Add the prepared couscous to a large bowl and allow to cool. Add in all of the veggies and chickpeas. Add in some feta cheese, freshly squeezed lemon, salt and pepper to taste, and the dressing. Only dress what you will enjoy as this salad doesn't sit well for a long time with the dressing on it.
- TO MEAL PREP: Divide the dressing evenly into 6 small containers. Divide the couscous evenly among 6 meal prep containers. Next add in equal parts of all of the chopped veggies and chickpeas. Add a lemon wedge, some feta cheese, and cover everything with some salt and pepper. To enjoy, add the dressing, squeeze the lemon over everything, stir together, and eat!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excited to try this recipe!! Looking for healthier meals to lose weight!! Thank you
Is the calorie count for the full bowl before splitting it into 5 containers- or is that for each container serving?
Per serving!
Absolutely amazing, this is my favorite homemade salad now. The funny thing is I hate bell peppers but they taste great in this salad!
Yay! So happy to hear! Thanks Kate! ๐
Great recipe, thank you! Added kalamata olives also for our second try.
Yum! So glad you enjoyed! ๐
Tried this recipe as my meal prep last week for the first time and it was delicious thank-you, my only issue was the dressing, separating them into little containers as directed and by the third day the dressings ended up going all hard. Anyway of fixing this for next time.
If the dressing separates or forms clumps, itโs just the olive oil solidifying, which it does at cold temps. Take the vinaigrette out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes or so before you need it and bring it back up to temperature. Then shake it up to remix.
Thank you so much for that. Iโm making it again now for my meal prep and I am loving this dish thank you so much. Makes me so happy to find healthy and easy meals that I can make so quickly and be so delicious.
I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks Mark! ๐
Delicious! I will make this again. Even my 6 year old enjoyed this meal. I used the calculator to make a half batch. The calculator was a great idea.
Thanks so much Beth! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed! ๐
This was an awesome recipe and was way more filling than I thought! Definitely making again!
Yay! So happy to hear! Thanks Ashley! ๐
This recipe is amazing! Very light but also very filling. Any tips on how to get the couscous to be less clumpy? I think maybe I didn’t let it cool enough before assembling my plates.
I’m so happy to hear Caitlin! Adding a bit of olive oil to the couscous and fluffing it as soon as it’s done cooking helps! ๐
Amazing! All the flavors mixing together tastes sooo delicious. The dressing is the cherry on top. Will definitely make this again!
So glad to hear this was a hit!! Thanks so much for the comment and review ๐
Easy to make and was delicious! Meal prepped for the rest of the week
I’m so happy to hear this Tania! It’s one of my favorite meal preps! ๐