Pickled Bulgur Veggie Crunch Salad
Inspiration and thoughts
This salad is the perfect easy, quick and heathy recipe for any meal. It uses bulgur, which is a Middle Eastern grain that is so easy to use and you can eat it cooked or uncooked, as long as it is soaked in water first.
Two of these ingredients, if you didn’t notice, are pickles and pickle juice. If you know me, you know that I love pickles. I initially made this salad for my mom to take to work with her and have on her lunch break. My mom is not as big of a pickle fan as I am though, and me being obsessed with pickles, I of course included them in the salad and just didn’t mention it to her. She got back from work and told me that even though she wasn’t expecting it, the pickle flavor was so good and mixed so well with the other ingredients that she was glad I added them in there and didn’t tell her!
Then I thought of a fun little experiment: what if I soaked the bulgur in the pickle juice instead of water for more added flavor? Definitely yes. And it was so good. Plus, the added pickles in the salad give it a delicious vinegary and tangy flavor that mixes so well with the other ingredients. Pickle juice always has delicious spices and herbs in the mix like garlic, peppers, dill, and others that make it extra yummy. So I remade the salad with pickle juice-soaked bulgur and never went back.
How it’s make, notes, substitutions
This recipe is not just healthy and delicious, but also super easy and quick to make.
Start with the bulgur. Soak it in the pickle juice (just pour it out from the pickle jar) and let it be for 20 minutes while you chop the veggies.
I always have pickles on hand so pickle juice is always at the ready, but if you don’t have any or want to skip the pickle juice that is totally fine. You can always soak the bulgur in the same amount of water, or half water half pickle juice. The salad will still taste great if you don’t use pickled bulgur, I just prefer that and do think it adds great flavor.
Chop up the cucumbers, green onions, pepperoncinis, pickles, and parsley and add to a large bowl. Add the spices, olive oil and lemon and mix everything together. 
Once the bulgur is done soaking you can add that to the bowl. Here is the general how-to for preparing bulgur. Again, soak it in the pickle juice for a minimum of 20 minutes. The pickle juice should be completely or almost completely soaked up by that time. The bulgur will be soft and chewy and that is when you want to get rid of excess water. With clean hands, take one handful of bulgur at a time and squeeze out the excess pickle juice. The bulgur will still be soft and delicious, but removing the excess water will avoid having soupy salads. Sometimes the pickle juice will be completely absorbed and there will not be much excess – even easier!
Mix everything together in a large bowl and serve. This recipe is for two large servings, or as a side dish for four. Enjoy!
Pickled Bulgur Veggie Crunch Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups dill pickle juice right from the pickle jar!
- 1 cup bulgur size #1 the smallest bulgur grain size, see notes below
- 4 Persian cucumbers chopped
- 1 cup dill pickles chopped in small pieces
- 3 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pepperoncinis chopped in slices
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Instructions
- Pour the bulgar into a small bowl and add the pickle juice on top of it. The bulgur should be completely covered in liquid. Let it sit for at least 20 minutes to soak up the pickle juice.
- Add the cucumbers, green onion, parsley and pepperoncini to a large bowl.
- Add the olive oil, lemon juice, paprika, salt and garlic powder to the bowl and mix together. When the bulgur has soaked up all or most of the pickle juice, add this to the bowl: with clean hands, take a handful of bulgur at a time and squeeze out the excess liquid over the sink or into another small bowl before adding it to your salad (see notes below!).
- Mix everything together and serve. Enjoy!
Your pickled bulgar salad is so fresh and delicious with the bulgar pickled or not. All of the ingredients are healthy and the parsley gives it an earthy flavor that I love. When I tasted it for the first time, I was impressed because there weren’t many ingredients but the ones used have so many flavors.
Thank you, that is the best thing to hear! Glad you love it!