Create a light yet satisfying meal in no time with this vibrant and wholesome courgette couscous recipe. This delightful dish combines the fluffy texture of couscous with the fresh flavours of summer courgettes and herbs. It’s easy to make and perfect for just about any occasion.
Courgette couscous is one of my go to summer meals. We usually have it as a quick dinner when our courgette plants are in full spate. However, it also makes an excellent side dish and I sometimes use it as part of a greater spread.
Dive Right In
- Why Make Courgette Couscous?
- Ingredients
- How to Make Courgette Couscous
- Make It Your Own
- Other Courgette Recipes You Might Like
- Keep In Touch
- The Recipe
Why Make Courgette Couscous?
Whether you’re looking for a nutritious side dish, a satisfying main course, or easy picnic or lunchbox fare, courgette couscous is a great choice. Enjoy the simplicity, versatility, and wholesome nature of this dish while treating your taste buds to a burst of delicious flavours. Here are a few more reasons why you might want to make it.
- Nutritious – Courgette couscous is a wholesome dish that brings together the goodness of vegetables and fresh herbs alongside the nourishing qualities of wholemeal couscous. It’s packed with fibre, vitamins and minerals, which makes it a nutritious addition to any meal.
- Perfect Summer Meal – Requires little in the way of cooking, which is great for summer when you don’t want to stand over a hot stove for longer than you need to. Courgette couscous feels particularly light on the palate, which makes it just right for warm weather. It’s perfect for buffets, potlucks, picnics, lunch boxes or as part of a mezze spread. Or serve with toasted seeds, crumbled feta or grilled halloumi for a balanced main meal.
- Quick and Easy – This recipe is perfect for those busy days when you want a delicious meal without spending too much time in the kitchen. Courgette couscous requires minimal prep work and cooking time. It can be on the table in twenty minutes.
- Versatile – Couscous is such a versatile medium. It’s super easy to customise it to suit your own preferences or what you have to hand. Try adding spices, swapping the courgette for other veg or adding additional vegetables to up your five-a-day. Use your favourite herbs and swap the lime for lemon. The possibilities are endless.
- Vegetarian and Vegan-Friendly – Courgette couscous is a fantastic option for vegetarians and vegans, as it contains no animal products. If you sprinkle on some toasted seeds or a crumbled feta type cheese, it provides a satisfying and flavoursome meal. It goes particularly well with Greek butter beans.
Courgette Couscous Ingredients
You don’t need lots of complicated ingredients to make this courgette couscous. Apart from the vegetables, you’re likely to have everything you need already in your kitchen. And you’ll probably have the veg too. Here are the main ingredients needed for the recipe.
Courgettes (Zucchini)
Courgettes (zucchini) are the star of the show here, so it’s best to go for smaller tastier ones than bigger waterier ones. That said the one you can see in this photo is quite large. It’s a courgette Romanesco, the variety we most like to grow.
Turns out Romanesco is the tastiest of all the courgettes we’ve tried and even when they grow bigger than I normally like, they’re still good to eat: neither tough nor too watery.
It’s best to go with two small to medium courgettes for this recipe, but one bigger one is fine too.
It may not seem as though there’s much to courgettes, but they are surprisingly high in fibre, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. As long as you eat the skin that is, most of the nutrients are found there.
An eighty gram portion (raw weight) counts for one of your five-a-day.
Wholemeal Couscous
Couscous is a great ingredients to stock up on. It keeps really well, is quick and easy to prepare and you can do a lot with it. As a whole food cook, I like to use whole grain couscous. Not only is it more nutritious and filling than ordinary couscous, but it tastes better too. It has a nuttier flavour and a slightly chewier texture.
One of the reasons that it’s so quick to prepare is that it’s already been quite highly processed. It’s really a type of semolina made from durum wheat and water, and it’s pre-cooked.
This doesn’t mean it’s bad for you though. Wholemeal couscous contains plenty of selenium, which is essential for good thyroid function amongst other things. It’s also a useful source of plant-based protein and fibre. But it does contain gluten, so is not appropriate for those with coeliac disease. (ref: BBC)
If you’re looking for a gluten-free replacement, quinoa is an excellent grain with many health benefits. You will need to cook it though.
Wholemeal couscous takes a little more liquid than ordinary couscous, so don’t worry if the amount of stock given in the recipe seems like a lot.
Fresh Herbs
Fresh green soft herbs are an essential component to this courgette couscous. They give freshness, vibrancy and flavour. Use as large a bunch as you can muster and chop them as fine as you can.
Which ones you go for are a matter of personal choice, but a mix is always good. In the dish you can see here, I went for coriander (cilantro), parsley and mint. Dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, sorrel, chives and garlic chives are all good options.
Garlic
Everyone knows that garlic is good for you. But did you know it has different beneficial properties in both its raw and cooked state? This dish gives you the best of both worlds: you cook the garlic along with the courgettes and use raw garlic in the couscous.
If you can, it’s best to chop garlic ten minutes before it hits the heat. It’s something I try to do since hearing gut health guru, Doctor Tim Spector, talking about this on the radio a few months ago. Doing this enables allicin to form. Allicin is a veritable powerhouse of the antioxidant world and is relatively heat stable. (Ref: Healthline)
Citrus
In keeping with the green theme of this courgette couscous, I like to use a lime to dress the dish. Having said that, I sometimes only have lemon to hand, so I’ll use that instead. Either works, though you’ll get a slightly different flavour profile depending on which one you use.
You’ll need both the juice and zest, so it’s best to buy organic if you can. If not, go for unwaxed fruit as the next best thing. If you can only find ordinary citrus, give the fruit a really good scrub with warm soap and water before grating the rind.
How To Make Courgette Couscous
As I may already have mentioned, courgette couscous is a quick and easy dish to make. You should be able to get it onto the table within twenty minutes. Here’s how.
Step 1. Soak Couscous
The couscous takes a while to become tender and fluffy, so for speed and efficiency you need to get on with soaking it before you do anything else.
In a large saucepan, heat the veg stock to boiling point. Pour in the couscous along with a pinch of salt, if needed. This will depend on how salty your stock is.
Clamp the lid on the pan, turn the heat off and leave to steam for fifteen minutes.
Step 2. Prepare Veg
Top and tail the celery stick then finely slice it. Slice the spring onions (scallions) into rings. Then top and tail the courgettes and dice into roughly one centimetre (half an inch) cubes. You can do this bit whilst the celery and spring onions are frying.
Place another large lidded pan over a moderate heat and add the olive oil. When it’s good and hot add the celery and spring onions and give them a good stir. Fry for a minute, then add the courgettes and give everything another good stir.
Place the lid on the pan, turn the heat down a little, then let the vegetables steam in their own liquid, for six to eight minutes, until soft. Give an occasional stir to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom.
Once the vegetables are tender or nearly so, add the crushed garlic and a pinch of salt and stir. Place the lid back on the pan and cook for a further minute or so.
Taste test for seasoning. If you feel it needs a bit more salt, now is the time to add it.
Step 3. Fluff Couscous
Whilst the courgettes are cooking, finely chop the herbs.
Fluff up the couscous with a fork, then add the lime juice and zest, the crushed garlic, a good grinding of black pepper and the chopped herbs. Using the fork, gently stir everything together.
Add the hot vegetables to the couscous and again gently stir everything together. Transfer to a serving bowl or pile onto plates.
Serve immediately whilst still warm or let it stand for a while and serve at room temperature.
Leftovers store well in the fridge for a couple of days if kept in a sealed container. They make great lunch box fare.
Courgette Couscous: Make It Your Own
With some simple swaps and additions, it’s really easy to adapt courgette couscous to make it your own. Here are a few suggestions.
Enjoy as a side dish or scatter some toasted seeds, feta cheese or both over the top for a summer main meal. Grilled halloumi works well too.
Swap the courgettes for other summer veg of your choice : aubergines, sweet peppers, peas and green beans are all good. Or keep the green theme and just add a few peas to the courgettes whilst they cook.
Or add a drained can of chickpeas to the courgette cubes five minutes into their cooking time.
Add some spices to either the couscous or cooking veg. Cumin is always a good option for courgettes whilst sumac, paprika or chilli make good additions to couscous.
Swap the lime for lemon, if you prefer. Unless your lemon is small though, just use half a one instead of a whole.
As an alternative to steaming the veg in a lidded saucepan, stir-fry it in a wok or large frying pan instead. The veg will have a firmer texture and a more intense flavour. However, the resulting couscous may be on the dry side.
Other Vegan Courgette Recipes You Might Like
- Chocolate courgette cupcakes
- Courgette corn soup
- Courgette tempeh hash
- Freekeh with chilli chickpeas and herbed vegetables
- Roasted Mediterranean vegetables
- Vegetable curry for a low histamine diet
And if that’s not enough, how about this post on all the courgette recipes you will ever need?
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make this courgette couscous, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making couscous?
Please rate the recipe. If you post pictures of your creations on social media, use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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If you’d like more summer recipes, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
Courgette Couscous. PIN IT.
Courgette Couscous: A Quick And Easy Meal
Ingredients
Couscous
- 250 ml vegetable stock
- 120 g wholemeal couscous
- 1 bunch fresh soft green herbs finely chopped (I used a mix of mint, parsley and coriander (cilantro)). Dill and chives work well too.
- 1 lime zest and juice. Can use half a lemon instead.
- 1 clove garlic finely grated
- sea salt to taste
- good grinding of black pepper
Courgettes
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 celery stick finely sliced
- 4 spring onions (scallions) (scallions) sliced into rings
- 2 small courgettes (zucchini) (or 1 large one)
- 1 clove garlic finely grated
- 1 pinch sea salt
Instructions
Couscous
- Bring the veg stock to boiling point in a large pan, then add the couscous. Depending on how salty your stock is you may want to add a pinch or more of salt. Clamp the lid on the pan, turn off the heat and leave it for at least fifteen minutes, by which time the couscous should have swelled and soaked up all of the liquid.250 ml vegetable stock, 120 g wholemeal couscous, sea salt
- Fluff up with a fork, then stir the garlic, herbs, pepper, lime zest and juice through the couscous.1 bunch fresh soft green herbs, 1 lime, 1 clove garlic, good grinding of black pepper
- Gently stir in the hot vegetables (see below), again a fork is best for this, then serve warm or at room temperature.
- For a main meal, serve with toasted seeds, crumbled feta cheese or both scattered over the top. Grilled halloumi also makes a good accompaniment.
Courgettes
- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a moderate heat.1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Add the celery and spring onion slices, stir and allow to fry for a minute.4 spring onions (scallions), 1 celery stick
- Meanwhile chop the courgettes into small cubes of roughly one cm (half an inch) in size. Add these to the pan and stir. Place the lid on the pan, turn the heat down a little, then let the veg steam in their own liquid, for six to eight minutes, until soft. Give an occasional stir to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom.2 small courgettes (zucchini)
- Add the garlic and a pinch of salt, stir and cook for another minute or so.1 clove garlic, 1 pinch sea salt
nancy says
This couscous recipe is super refreshing. I love how easy it to put together. Perfect for lunches and picnics
Choclette says
It really is. This couscous is a favourite with us for picnics as it’s just as good served at room temperature as it is warm.
Katie says
This couscous recipe is fantastic! Love how easy it is to throw together and how it’s full of healthy ingredients!
Choclette says
Throwing healthy ingredients together to make something delicious is what I aim to do. I’m glad you like it.
Tavo says
You’ve truly outdone yourself with this Courgette Couscous recipe! It was a refreshing blend of ease and robust flavor that converted my quick weeknight meal into a delightful culinary experience. The gentle crunch of the courgette combined with the fluffiness of the couscous hit just the right balance of texture, and the flavors were complementary yet distinct, which I loved. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us – I’m looking forward to exploring more of your creations!
Choclette says
Thank you so much Tavo, that’s very kind of you to say. We love quick weeknight meals like this – easy to make, nourishing and tasty.