Hearty and tangy, we call this Colorado tabbouleh grain salad, an adaptation traditional tabbouleh that’s rich with garlic, cilantro, chickpeas, and lemon. A staple of our river trip meal planning for years, this protein-packed salad keeps well in your river trip or car camping cooler for days. Plus, it can serve as a substantial main for vegans and vegetarians, and a satisfying side for omnivores.
Colorado tabbouleh grain salad stars in many of our river trip or car camping lunch meals. Just spoon it into a wrap or onto a leaf of romaine, add some additional protein such as tuna, and top with cashews. As a midday meal, it will keep paddlers going for hours. Or you can serve it with crackers before dinner as a substantial appetizer that will keep hungry paddlers at bay until you serve the main course.
Options for adaptations are endless. You could add cucumber, skip the chickpeas (although that makes it less filling), or use a different grain. I love the dense, chewy texture of bulghur.
I typically make this salad the night before we drive to the river and divide it into one or two airtight containers placed in the middle third of the cooler. See our tips on food packing for river trips for recommendations of leakproof containers that work best for grain- and bean-based salads like this.
And check out our post about easy river trip meals for our modular approach to putting river trip meals together to satisfy various dietary preferences—our take on tabbouleh factors into the meal plans in a big way.
