Tomato and Bulgur Salad With Herbs
Updated July 28, 2025
Rachel Vanni for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
- Total Time
- 25 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 15 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
1 large ripe plum tomato (8 ounces)
½ cup fine bulgur
¾ teaspoon ground allspice
Fine sea salt and black pepper
1 ½ pounds ripe heirloom and cherry tomatoes, halved, quartered, or cut into large chunks
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Scant ½ cup roughly torn mint leaves
Scant ½ cup roughly chopped parsley leaves and tender stems
1 garlic clove, finely grated
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to serve
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses, plus more to serve
2 teaspoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
36 grams carbs; 246 calories; 8 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 11 grams fat; 7 grams fiber; 711 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 16 grams sugar
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Use a box grater to roughly grate the plum tomato into a large mixing bowl, discarding the skin. Add the bulgur, allspice, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon water, and give everything a good mix. Leave to settle for 10 to 15 minutes, until the bulgur softens.
- Step 2
Stir in the cut-up tomatoes, scallions, herbs and garlic. Add the olive oil, pomegranate molasses, maple syrup, vinegar, another ½ teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper, and toss to combine. Taste and adjust salt quantities as desired, then pile onto a large serving bowl.
- Step 3
Drizzle with more pomegranate molasses and olive oil, and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
Delicious, but just be sure to use the finely ground bulghur, which is sometimes labelled as #0 or #1, as all the others with higher numbers will not hydrate properly or enough to be edible.
There's a comment below that explains different kinds of bulgur, and that would have been helpful in the recipe. I'm not that familiar with bulgur, so merely listing "fine" bulgur was not enough to tip me off that what I had would not hydrate (as the recipe doesn't call for it to be cooked). I ended up with hard, undone bulgur. In addition to a more explicit tip/headnote, I think it would be helpful to offer an alternative using non-fine, cooked bulgur...not many Americans have different bulgurs
Yu-u-um!! Wonderful tabouli variation. I cooked the bulgur first and made a dressing using half of the pomegranate molasses and maple syrup (personal preference). I tossed the tomatoes in the dressing first before adding to the mix. Can’t wait to make again.
I made this yesterday evening and wasn’t thrilled with the prep. However, today, it tastes great. Five stars. I used Bob’s ‘Red Bulger.’ It took multiple tablespoons of water over about 45 minutes to tenderize the bulger. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. As long as I can get good tomatoes, this will be in the rotation.
I really wanted to like this and used many fresh ingredients from my garden, but this was way too sweet for me when making as written. (That said I don't usually eat a lot of added sugar.) To finish a serving I ended up adding in 2 T more of vinegar, more bulgar and feta. I think if I ever try again I would include the feta, more vinegar and skip the maple syrup which others did. Probably just different tastes...
This was very good and fresh! All the liquid from the tomatoes was perfect to rehydrate the fine bulgur. I didn't buy the pomegranate molasses and subbed for more vinegar and maple syrup. Definitely didn't make 4 portions as a main course, more like 2 and a half in our case!