How To Make Roast Vegetable Salad With Couscous

Last Updated on 31st January 2023 by Pauline Loughlin

Roasted vegetables are a simple and healthy addition to just about any meal. Today, I’m pairing them with couscous in a hearty salad that can be a meal on its own. The mixture of flavors and textures makes for a vibrant dish that can be the centerpiece of a healthy meal or filling side dish.

I’ll be showing you how to cook couscous with vegetables, combining two types of food into one incredible one. The couscous has a savory flavor to them that makes a great base for your dish, and when you roast the vegetables, they become slightly caramelized and slightly sweet.

The two different types of flavors work so well together, contrasting with one another in a harmonious pairing.

What Is Roast Vegetable Couscous

When durum wheat is crushed and steamed, it becomes a little grain was called couscous. This starchy, fluffy food is often added to stew or soup, and it’s commonly served throughout Africa. It’s a grain with a lot of the qualities of a pasta.

You can find couscous in a few varieties of sizes and shapes. No matter which one you get, it will be fine to use for this veggie salad dish. You may need to adjust the cooking method a little bit for the specific kind of couscous you purchase. Check the package instructions to see how to cook it properly.

Combining veggies and couscous together into a salad is a great way to pair them. The conflicting textures and tastes work very well together, and you can dress it as you like or put a little parmesan cheese on it, making it as flavorful and vibrant as you want or just keeping things simple.

Can Vegans Eat Couscous

Since couscous comes from wheat, it is both vegan and vegetarian. It’s often served with a little bit of meat when added to a stew or soup. So, if you’re vegan, you should be careful about eating couscous dishes at someone’s house. You may want to ask specifically if there’s meat in the dish.

What Should I Serve with Couscous

Couscous is most commonly served as a soup filler, adding a lot of the texture to soup to give it a little bite. Incidentally, roasted vegetable salad with couscous pairs really well with a soup, particularly something acidic like a tomato-based soup.

You can also try serving it with something that has a completely different texture, like crispy toasted bread, a meat dish, or a creamy food, like mashed potatoes.

How to Prepare Couscous with Vegetables

You may be wondering if you can cook the vegetables and the couscous together or if they need to be cooked separately. You may have all sorts of questions about preparing couscous if you’ve never made it before.

Let me share with you a roasted vegetable couscous salad recipe that may have quite a few ingredients but is pretty simple to put together.

Ingredients:

2 cups of couscous
4 Roma tomatoes
1 bell pepper
4 cloves of garlic
2 zucchini
1 red onion
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper
1/4 bunch of parsley
3 cups of vegetable broth
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
As the oven is heating, wash and chop your vegetables- zucchini, red onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Cut them into about 1-inch pieces.
Peel your garlic cloves but don’t chop them.
Combine the garlic and vegetables with two tablespoons of olive oil. Place all of that onto a baking sheet, creating one layer with little to no overlap. Season with some salt and pepper.
If your oven is heated fully, you can put the pan of vegetables into the oven and roast for 45 minutes. You want to stir them twice during the cooking process and continue to cook until the vegetables start to wilt and develop brown edges.
As the vegetables are cooking, you can prepare the couscous. Heat the vegetable broth in a sauce pot, covering with a lid and cooking on high heat until it starts to boil.
When the broth starts to boil, you can add the couscous, take the heat off, and cover the pot back. Allow the couscous to sit for 10 minutes. Then, you can fluff it with a fork.
Once your vegetables are done roasting, you can chop up the garlic cloves and add the parsley, after you chop the parsley roughly.
Combine the roasted vegetables, couscous, parsley, and garlic into a bowl together and mix to combine. This salad can be served either hot or cold.

What Can I Add to Couscous

Couscous benefits from working together with contrasting textures and flavors. Because it is savory, it combines well with something sweet. Because it is soft, you can add something crunchy or creamy to it.

You can use couscous in similar ways to how you would use rice or pasta, adding many of the same garnishes, seasonings, and ingredients to make more robust and flavorful dishes.

How Do You Make Moroccan Couscous

I mentioned before that couscous is primarily an African dish, and Moroccan couscous is an internationally known couscous dish that you can try to make yourself.

You will be mixing together almonds or pine nuts with shallots, salt and pepper, couscous, golden raisins, and parsley. Add in some brown cumin, a little lemon juice and some olive oil for flavoring, and you have Moroccan couscous.

You will want to toast your nuts in the oven and cook up the shallots with some of your seasonings on the stovetop. Then, add the broth to a pan on the stove and heat until it starts to boil.

From there, follow the directions above for cooking couscous, adding it in to the boiled liquid, covering, and leaving it to rest for about 10 minutes.

Then, fluff the couscous, adding your raisins, lemon juice, olive oil, nuts, and parsley and stir everything together.

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Pauline Loughlin

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I'm Pauline, a retired patisserie chef, mother of four and now a full time food blogger! When i'm not cooking i love long walks, reading thriller novels and spending time with my grandkids. Head to my about me page to learn more about the woman behind the food! You can find my Facebook here