Mediterranean Couscous Salad

This Mediterranean Couscous Salad is not only delicious with ripe avocado and grape tomatoes but summer-friendly couscous.

Refreshing and easy, the combination of roasted corn, mozzarella balls, and fluffy couscous is perfect as a side dish poolside. Serve this salad recipe with burgers, hot dogs, or chicken sandwiches at your next potluck.

Why Couscous Salad is the perfect Side Dish

It’s light – Couscous is fantastic with a variety of flavors. From traditional Mediterranean flavors to fresh fruits like strawberries, these itty bitty rolled flour balls are actually considered pasta. Even so, the result is a really light and fluffy bite that doesn’t weigh you down as much as potato salad or macaroni salad dishes.

Bright flavors – Balls of pasta make up the perfect summer salad. Nature does its best work when combining creamy avocado and, well, anything so be prepared to chow down, guilt-free, on this delicious salad.

Salad Ingredients:

• couscous – Normally, when it comes to salads, pearl couscous is most often used. However the store was out of pearl couscous so I went with regular
• corn – Please see below on corn options, but we always recommend fresh or frozen corn over canned.
• oil
• salt and black pepper
• grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• fresh mozzarella cheese pearls
• avocados
• creamy balsamic dressing – I went with Brianna’s Creamy Balsamic and that’s really good.

How to make Mediterranean Couscous Salad

1. In a small saucepan, add 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and add 1 cup couscous. Remove from heat and stir. Let stand for five minutes. Fluff with a fork and remove tender couscous from the pan to cool completely.
2. In a skillet, add corn, extra virgin olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cook over medium-high heat, until fresh corn begins to brown.
4. Remove from heat and remove from pan to cool completely.
5. Once cool, combine cooked couscous, sweet corn, fresh tomatoes, smooth mozzarella cheese, and diced creamy avocados. Mix well.

1. Stir in dressing and mix to evenly coat.
2. Serve flavorful salad immediately or refrigerate salad bowl until ready to serve.

Fresh or Frozen Corn

When making a salad, fresh roasted corn (right off the cob!) works great. However, we understand that sometimes time can be of the essence when cooking. And while I highly recommend fresh corn when it comes to salads (it’s a texture issue) that doesn’t mean you should NOT make a salad over it.

Canned – Corn comes in a variety of types. Find fire-roasted corn for lots of flavor in this dish. Drain well and skillet warm. Del Monte makes a canned version and you can get it at most grocery stores.

Frozen – Boil or pan-fry frozen corn but try to reserve some of its crisp nature. Overcooking corn can mean a soggy pasta salad.

Alternative Ingredients

Make it more Mediterranean – Try adding kalamata olives, roasted chickpeas, red onion, and feta cheese. Plus change out the herbs from balsamic dressing to fresh basil leaves and a little tzatziki to mix in. Squeeze fresh lemon (or a little lemon juice) on top for garnish.

Make it Fiesta – Again, skip the balsamic dressing and add drained black beans, small diced and seasoned juicy chicken, and fire-roasted tomatoes over cherry.

Make it Fresh – Couscous is very complementary to fresh fruit. Cut strawberries go great with mozzarella balls and tomatoes as well.

Related Salad Side Dish Recipes

While it doesn’t have balls of couscous, this fiesta corn salad recipe is full of bright and bold flavors.

If you haven’t tried crouton-filled Panzanella Salad, you may be missing out. More bread than salad, this dish goes great with one of our viral dinner recipes.

Also with bold flavors and colors, a summer Greek salad recipe is a perfect poolside lunch option.