Israeli Couscous Salad with Hummus Vinaigrette is a new favorite for me. It’s hearty, delicious, and delivers layers of contrasting flavors and textures.
Ever since Juliana posted her easy pomegranate-seeding method, I’ve been keeping my eye out for recipes that use those precious little sweet-tart jewels. I wanted to put this magical secret to good use.
Israeli Couscous Salad is an ideal potluck dish
This Israeli Couscous Salad incorporates pistachios and pomegranate seeds, both beautiful and flavorful salad add-ins. I was going to a potluck luncheon, and this seemed like the opportunity to bust out my new pomegranate-seeding expertise.
As it turns out, most people don’t care that much about how to seed a pomegranate. Although my hosts did their best to humor me, they were rather nonplussed by my masterful way with this exotic Mediterranean fruit.
The good thing is that everyone loved my Israeli couscous salad. I used large Israeli couscous and added crumbled Feta cheese for extra flavor.
Check out these other salad recipes
- Israeli Salad with Egg and Feta Cheese
- Mexican Corn Salad
- Green Bean Salad with Crispy Fried Onions
- Beet Salad with Harissa Dressing
- Superfood Kale Salad with Miso Dressing
More Jewish holiday recipes you’ll love
Israeli Couscous Salad with Pomegranate Seed, Pistachios, and Hummus Vinaigrette
Adapted from Food & Wine. This is a great way to use up leftover cooked couscous. The dressing can be whisked together in a bowl, but is especially easy to make in a food processor—chop the parsley leaves in the processor first, then add the other ingredients and process until smooth.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley (or ½ cup whole flat-leaf parsley leaves)
- ½ cup prepared hummus
- 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 4 cups cooked Israeli couscous
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped roasted unsalted pistachios
- 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
- 4 ounces crumbled Feta cheese
Instructions
- Combine the parsley, hummus, white wine vinegar, and water and mix until smooth and well combined.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cooked couscous and the vinaigrette, stirring to ensure that the pasta is well coated.
- Stir in the pomegranate seeds and pistachios, reserving some of each for garnish.
- Crumble the cheese over, top with the remaining seeds and nuts and serve.
Jewish Recipes
Jewish recipes are the heart of every Jewish holiday celebration. There’s a special dish (or five!) for every occasion, from the high holidays to Shabbat dinners! Here are my favorite Jewish recipes for the holidays or any day.
Brisket with Apricots, Prunes, and North African Spices
Brisket is braised in a mixture of red wine, beef broth, dried fruit, and North African spices for a Mediterranean take on the traditional Jewish holiday dish. This recipe was adapted from a recipe by Jayne Cohen in Bon Appetit.
Potato Latkes
You can make a gluten-free version by substituting gluten-free brown rice flour for the flour. You can also jazz up the recipe by adding thinly sliced scallions or substituting sweet potatoes, parsnips, or apples for some (or all) of the potatoes. This recipe serves about 4 people and is easily doubled or tripled.
Instant Pot Applesauce
This Instant Pot applesauce is super quick and easy to make. It's delicious on top of crispy potato latkes--or just eat it plain!
Instant Pot Falafel
Crispy, golden brown patties are tender and moist on the inside. They're seasoned just right with cumin, coriander, cayenne, and fresh parsley.
Instant Pot Hummus
This Instant Pot hummus from scratch starts with dried chickpeas and takes less than an hour to make—and that's start to finish time. There's no need to soak the beans. The result is lush, rich, creamy, and full of flavor.
Israeli Couscous Salad with Pomegranate Seed, Pistachios, and Hummus Vinaigrette
This is a great way to use up leftover cooked couscous. The dressing can be whisked together in a bowl, but is especially easy to make in a food processor—chop the parsley leaves in the processor first, then add the other ingredients and process until smooth.
Lamb Kofta Kebabs
Ground lamb is mixed with lots of fresh herbs, aromatics, and spices and then grilled on skewers. I like to serve these with pita bread, hummus, tzatziki, harissa or chermoula, and a salad of romaine, cucumbers, and tomatoes with lemon dressing. Brown basmati rice is a great accompaniment as well.
Homemade Pita Bread
Pita bread is surprisingly easy to make and watching the rounds puff up in the oven is so, so satisfying. Use them for sandwiches or cut them into triangles and use them to scoop savory Middle Eastern dips like my Instant Pot Hummus, baba ganoush, or tzatziki.
Matzoh Fattoush or Bread Salad for Passover
This bright, fresh, kosher for Passover salad—a take on the popular Middle Eastern bread salad called fattoush—gives the plain crackers new life. Spiced, baked matzo “chips” replace the usual flat bread, but other than that, this hearty salad packs all the fresh herby, tangy, spicy flavor you expect from fattoush.
Whipped Feta Spread with Garlic and Fresh Dill
Whipped Feta Spread is a great addition to a mezze appetizer platter. It's a tangy, salty, creamy dip with a punch of garlic and fresh dill. Scoop it up with pita chips or raw veggies.
Grandma Fran's Vegetarian Chopped Liver
Made of mostly walnuts, butter, and onions, this chopped liver is just as good as the original, but meat free!
Easy Homemade Jelly Donuts or Sufganiyot
Sufganiyot are traditional Israeli jelly donuts often eaten during Hanukkah, along with other fried foods. Because, of course, fried foods celebrate the miracle of the oil! This recipe makes a simple, lightly sweetened fried dough that can be filled with jelly or the fillling of your choice and dusted with powdered sugar.
Israeli Salad with Egg and Feta Cheese
Israeli Salad, distinguished by finely diced tomatoes and cucumbers, is described (by Wikipedia) as "the most well-known national dish of Israel." Variations on the theme are limitless. Our version includes hard boiled eggs and feta cheese.
Beef Kreplach
Kreplach are tender dumplings plump filled with a savory filling of ground beef and onions. They are super easy to make because they use wonton skins in place of homemade dumpling dough.
Orange Sponge Cake
This simple orange sponge cake is light, moist, and full of citrus flavor. It's perfect for Passover, but delicious any time of year.
your hosts loved this dish & look forward to more meals soon. xo
YUM!!! I’ve been fantasizing about this ever since I read Robin’s post. I finally made it today. So easy, delicious, and rather beautiful, too. I used mint instead of parsley since that’s what I happened to have had in the fridge. Delicious.