Butternut Tabbouleh

This fresh winter tabbouleh salad recipe features butternut squash instead of tomatoes, plus some dried cranberries for good measure! Simple and delicious.

Updated by Kathryne Taylor on November 13, 2025

16 Reviews
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butternut tabbouleh on plate
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Make this herbaceous salad when you’re craving a healthy side dish this fall and winter. It’s beautiful, fresh and relatively simple to make. You could serve it on your Thanksgiving or Christmas table, or make it for any meal between now and spring.

The recipe is a very abstract interpretation of tabbouleh, the classic Lebanese salad. Like tabbouleh, this recipe includes chewy cooked bulgur, chopped parsley and mint, and a simple lemon-olive oil dressing.

In this rendition, tiny cubes of tender, caramelized butternut squash replace the traditional tomatoes. I added some cranberries for pops of color and sweetness. Lastly, I replaced the usual green onion with shallot, though green onion would be nice, too. The sprinkle of tangy, crumbled feta is optional, but I recommend it.

butternut tabbouleh ingredients
sauteed butternut squash

How to Make This Bulgur Salad

You’ll find the full recipe below, but here’s a brief preview. This recipe is not complicated, but it requires some careful chopping.

1) Prepare the butternut squash

Slice the butternut into cubes approximately 1/4 inch in size, or as close to that size as possible. Sauté the butternut squash in olive oil, first covered to help it steam through, then uncovered until the edges are golden. Stir just every minute or so to give the edges time to caramelize.

    2) Cook the bulgur

    Bulgur is a quick-cooking grain, so it will cook while you work on the butternut squash. Set it aside to cool.

    3) Chop and toss

    While the butternut squash and bulgur cool down, chop away! Combine everything in a bowl and drizzle in olive oil and lemon juice. Taste, and add more lemon juice for more zing, or more olive oil for richness, or another pinch of salt for more flavor overall—or all of the above.

    cooked bulgur
    how to make butternut tabbouleh
    butternut tabbouleh before stirring
    butternut tabbouleh with feta

    More Fall & Winter Salads

    These hearty salads feature cool-weather produce:

    Please let me know how your butternut tabbouleh turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.

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    Butternut Tabbouleh

    • Author: Kathryne Taylor
    • Prep Time: 10 mins
    • Cook Time: 20 mins
    • Total Time: 30 minutes
    • Yield: 4 servings
    • Diet: Vegetarian

    5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 16 reviews

    Print

    This fresh winter tabbouleh salad recipe features butternut squash instead of tomatoes, along with some dried cranberries for complementary flavor. This recipe yields 4 side salads. Feel free to double the recipe; if you do, you’ll likely need to cook the butternut squash longer than indicated below.

    Ingredients

    Butternut

    • 1 small butternut squash (about 1 ½ pounds), sliced into little ¼-inch cubes
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon fine salt

    Bulgur

    • ½ cup bulgur
    • 1 cup water
    • Pinch of salt

    Everything else

    • 1 cup (about ½ bunch) chopped fresh parsley
    • ½ cup (1 small bunch) chopped fresh mint
    • 1 shallot, minced (about ⅓ cup minced)
    • ¼ cup dried cranberries
    • ¼ cup lemon juice, more to taste (1 to 2 lemons)
    • 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
    • Optional garnish: crumbled feta cheese

    Instructions

    1. To cook the butternut, warm 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the cubed butternut and 1 teaspoon salt. Toss to coat. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, then uncover and continue cooking until the butternut is tender and the edges are nice and caramelized, about 7 minutes. Transfer the butternut to a medium-sized serving bowl to cool.
    2. While the butternut is cooking, combine the bulgur and water in a pot. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat, then cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let the bulgur rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the bulgur with a fork and season to taste with salt. Set it aside to cool.
    3. Once the butternut and bulgur have cooled, toss them together in your serving bowl. Add the chopped parsley, mint and shallot, as well as the dried cranberries. Drizzle in the lesser amounts of lemon juice and olive oil. Taste, and add another tablespoon of lemon juice for more acidity or another tablespoon of olive oil for richness. Toss and serve with crumbled feta on top, if you’d like. Leftover keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.

    Notes

    Make it vegan/dairy free: Skip the feta!

    Make it gluten free: Substitute quinoa for the bulgur, cooked according to these directions.

    Nutrition

    The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.

    • Category: Salad
    • Cuisine: Lebanese-inspired

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