Roasted Vegetable Couscous Salad

This roasted vegetable couscous salad is a delicious warm side dish or cold vegetarian salad. It uses pearl couscous and a variety of colorful veggies all tossed in a delicious lemon dressing. You can top it with feta cheese and toasted pine nuts or eat as is! A delicious and hearty meal in itself. 

You might also like this roasted vegetable salad with goat cheese recipe!

This is a very old post that I am redoing. I initially made this roasted vegetable couscous salad for Sunday Supper potluck event and really loved it. At the time I had developed a crush on pearl couscous. I just loved it’s chewy texture of this Mediterranean pasta.

So when I came across some Israeli couscous at Trader Joe’s I thought I’d remake it. This dish is great as a warm vegetarian side dish or as a cold salad.

This has become one of my favorite recipes. We usually eat this as a warm side dish with a meaty main dish. I also look forward to eating the leftovers as a cold salad for lunch. Hot or cold it tastes great and it’s an easy way to get more veggies in your diet.

The difference between regular and pearl couscous.

It’s important to note the I used Israeli couscous which is also known as pearl couscous in this recipe. It’s much larger than regular and has a chewier texture like a pasta ball.

Below you can see that they look different and they are also made a little differently.

Regular couscous is Mediterranean pasta made from semolina which is a type of wheat. Tiny pieces are made by rolling this wheat and then they are dried and cooked in boiling water. This similar to regular pasta.

Pearl couscous is also made from semolina but also wheat flour. It larger and in the shape of a pearl hence the name. Rather than dried it is toasted after it’s shaped and has a chewier bite to it. It also has a nutty flavor. (source)

Ingredients I used and substitutions.

The simple ingredients I used for the dish were chopped vegetables, olive oil, salt, pepper, thyme, garlic cloves, pearl couscous, feta cheese, fresh lemon juice and zest, fresh parsley and toasted pine nuts.

• vegetables – You can use any kind of vegetables you want but I used yellow squash, green zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers, grape tomatoes and red onion. This combination cooked well and taste delicious together IMO but you can use any of your favorite veggies. 
• pearl couscous – While I love pearl couscous you could use also regular couscous. Or you could substitute white or brown rice, pasta, quinoa or any kind of grain you want really.
• feta cheese – I like the creamy and tangy flavor of feta cheese and it goes great in the recipe but if you are lactose intolerant you can eliminate it. You can also substitute with goat cheese, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, asiago cheese etc. The goat cheese is most like the feta cheese.
• fresh lemon, fresh garlic and thyme – These are the basic seasonings. I really like thyme with my roasted vegetables but you can substitute with other spices like oregano, basil, rosemary or even an Italian seasoning blend. I like the zest from fresh lemons but you can use bottled lemon juice if you want and skip the zest. And the fresh garlic is my preferred form of garlic but you can use garlic powder if you don’t have any. The substitute ratio is 1 cloves equals ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder.
• pine nuts – I LOVE pine nuts in many kinds of dishes and it’s great in this one but it’s expensive and you might not have any. You can substitute toasted almond slivers or slices. You can also use chopped pistachios, walnuts or pecans or just not add any nuts if you don’t like them.
• fresh parsley – I use fresh parsley for color, flavor and nutrition but it’s mostly a garnish and if you don’t have it you can eliminate it. You can also try other fresh herbs like basil or cilantro leaves if you want.

How to make roasted vegetable couscous salad.

Step 1: Chop all of the vegetables and preheat the oven to 400°F. Prepare a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Step 2: In a large mixing bowl mix the chopped veggies, olive oil, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper. Spread them out on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer so they cook uniformly.

Step 3: Place in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the vegetables brown nicely. Cooking time may vary depending on the size of your vegetables. You can even stop here and eat just the roasted veggies as a side dish and it will be quite tasty.

Step 4: In the meantime cook pearl couscous according to the package instructions while the veggies are roasting.

If you are using quinoa, rice, pasta or another grain go ahead and cook that and set aside as the vegetables roast. Note you could make this or any grain with vegetable broth or chicken broth instead of water for another layer of flavor but I just kept it simple.

Also you can whisk together the lemon vinaigrette.

Step 5: When the veggies are golden brown, mix them with the cooked couscous in a medium bowl and toss with the lemon vinaigrette. Then add the feta cheese, parsley and toasted pine nuts for a yummy warm side dish.

Note you can use other fresh herbs like basil in this dish and different types of cheeses and nuts. See ingredients above for more substitutions.

Place leftover Mediterranean couscous salad in an airtight container and eat as a cold salad the next day if you wish. (Please scroll down to view printable recipe card.)

A fun way to serve this as a cold couscous salad.

As I mentioned you can eat this Mediterranean couscous salad either hot or cold. Eat straight after you make it for the warm version. Or you can pop it in the refrigerator and let it cool into a tasty couscous salad.

So if you decide to go for the cold salad this is a fun way to serve. Just clean out a pepper like the colorful orange bell pepper pictured below and stuff it with the couscous salad. This would be great for brunch or to take along to a picnic.

Essentially this is a container you can eat!

So there you have one of my older but delicious recipes that I just rediscovered. Using a combination of pearl couscous and roasted vegetables you can make a delicious side dish that would go great with any meaty main dish. Or eat this roasted vegetable couscous salad as a vegetarian meal on a meatless Monday.

Adding crumbled feta cheese and toasted pine nuts at the end gives it extra flavor but even without it, this will tasty awesome. Enjoy!

And if you dig pearl couscous, check out my Middle Eastern chicken & couscous soup or my arugula couscous salad which also uses it.