This pesto couscous salad has a bit of everything. Fresh, tasty pesto, creamy avocado, fluffy couscous, and crisp veggies. These tastes and textures go together beautifully to create the most delicious couscous salad that you will ever lay your eyes and tongue upon.

If you’ve never put pesto in a couscous salad, just do it! The coriander pesto seriously bumps up the couscous salad to a whole new level. I love this addition so much and I seriously recommend you don’t leave it out! If you don’t have coriander or don’t like it, don’t worry. Basil and rocket also work great, and you can even do a mix.

This yummy couscous salad is perfect for a bring-and-share or a picnic. It can also be enjoyed as a side, or as a vegetarian meal.

It’s so convenient because you’re getting your starch and veggies, all in one tasty dish. To make it a fully fledged vegetarian meal, all you have to do is add beans of your choice!

How to make this Pesto Couscous Salad

The salad has three different elements, but don’t worry, it’s quick and easy to make. The couscous is done within minutes, then all that’s left to do is quickly processing the pesto ingredients and chopping up the veggies.

Making the Couscous

To make the couscous, simply combine the plain couscous and hot water (not boiling) in a medium bowl. Cover the bowl for a few minutes. 

Take off the cover and fluff up the couscous with a fork, adding in the salt as you stir. You should now have soft, fluffy couscous. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil for a deeper flavour, but the couscous is still delicious without it.

Alternatively, you can just follow the instructions on the couscous box…

Making the Coriander (or other herbs) Pesto

You then need a batch of my coriander pesto. If you don’t have coriander on hand, just sub in basil or rocket, or do a mix. It all works great!

To start off, toast the almonds (you can also use cashews, or sunflower seeds if you’re on a budget). Toasting them really brings out the nutty flavor and gives them an irresistible crunch. To toast them, I always just pop them in a hot pan for a few minutes until they are dark brown on the sides.

Put the toasted almonds into the food processor and process for about 10 seconds, until the almonds are in small pieces.

Now add the coriander, lemon juice, olive oil, ground pepper, salt, and garlic and process until everything is well blended together, and no large chunks remain. This will take about 30 seconds or so, depending on the power of your food processor.

Add in the water and mix to make the pesto runnier. You want a pesto that is quite runny so that it is easy to incorporate into the couscous.

Vegetables & Mixing

Finally, prep your veggies. Chop the cucumber, mini plum tomatoes, avocado, and optional red onion into whatever sized chunks you fancy. 

Add the chopped veggies, pesto (about ⅓ cup), feta and sweetcorn to the couscous and mix everything together well.

Serving & Storage

Serve the salad immediately, or cover and chill it in the fridge.

This is a lovely addition to a picnic or can be served alongside braaied/grilled meat (delecious!). It can even serve as a vegetarian meal, and you can add beans to get in your protein.

This pesto couscous salad is still delicious the next day, but I wouldn’t recommend keeping it much longer than that, as the avocado will go brown and mushy. To keep it for longer, add the avocado at a later stage.

Print Recipe

Pesto Couscous Salad

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Side Dish or Vegetarian Meal

Serves: 6 servings

Prep Time: 25 minutes – Cooking Time: 0 minutes – Total Time: 25 minutes

A quick and easy salad that is packed with fresh flavors. Made extra tasty by the pesto, this couscous salad will leave you wanting more.

Ingredients

• Couscous
• ½ cup plain couscous
• ½ cup hot water
• ¼ tsp salt
• Pesto
• ¼ cup almonds (substitute with cashews/sunflower seeds
• 1 heaping cup coriander, washed and half stalk removed + ⅓ cup extra for garnish (basil, rocket, or a mix also work well)
• 1T lemon juice
• 1T olive oil
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• Pinch salt
• ½ small garlic clove, minced
• 1-2T water
• Salad
• ½ cup cucumber, chopped (about ¼ English cucumber)
• ¾ cup mini plum tomatoes, halved
• 1 cup avocado, chopped (½ large avocado)
• ½ cup whole kernel sweetcorn (approx. ½ a 400g tin)
• ½ round feta, crumbled
• ½ red onion, finely chopped (optional)

Instructions

Couscous

1

Add the hot water to the couscous in a medium bowl, cover, and let it rest for a few minutes.

2

Once it has rested for a few minutes and it is softer add the salt. Stir the couscous with a fork until it is light and fluffy.

3

Leave the cooked couscous uncovered so that it can cool.

Pesto

4

Roast the almonds in a hot pan over medium heat until golden brown. Make sure you don't burn them, they only take about 5 minutes.

5

Place the cooled roasted almonds into a food processor and process until the almonds are in small pieces (only about 10 seconds).

6

Add the coriander, lemon juice, olive oil, ground pepper, salt, and garlic to the food processor and process until everything is well blended together, and no large chunks remain. This will take about 30 seconds, depending on the power of your food processor.

7

If the pesto is too firm, add the water slowly until the pesto is runnier.

Salad

8

Once the couscous is cool, add all the salad ingredients into the couscous along with the pesto (about ⅓ cup pesto).

9

Mix the salad gently, until all the ingredients are mixed in well, and all the couscous is covered by pesto. Feel free to garnish with extra coriander.

Notes

Serve the salad immediately, or cover and chill it in the fridge. This is a lovely addition to a picnic or can be served alongside braaied meat (delicious!). It can even serve as a vegetarian meal, and you can add beans of your choice to get in your protein. This pesto couscous salad is still delicious the next day, but I wouldn’t recommend keeping it much longer than that, as the avocado will go brown and mushy. To keep it for longer, add the avocado at a later stage.