Mmm! Grain salads.
Grain salads are seriously some of my favorite recipe. Toss some fiber-filled grain with a ton of veggies, some tasty dressing, and I am a happy camper!
Mix It Up!
The best part about this salad, or any grain salad, is that they are SO easy to make your own. You can personalize this recipe based on your taste preferences or nutrition needs. After all, a renal diet is different for everyone.
Don’t love cucumber? Swap it for some green bell pepper.
Don’t have couscous on hand? Swap it for quinoa.
You get the idea.
How to Serve Greek Couscous Salad
All By Itself
This recipe can be a wonderful low protein entrée all by itself! This low protein option is great for people with advanced kidney disease who need to follow a very low protein diet. I recommend increasing the portion to 2 cups to make sure you get enough energy.
Plant Based Meal
If you need some extra protein, top it with your favorite kind! For a plant based protein option, add a can of low sodium garbanzo or other type of bean.
Or, top it with some baked or pan-fried tofu. Boiled lentils would also be a tasty addition.
With Animal Protein
Or, top this salad with some grilled shrimp, salmon or chicken. Yum!
Happy Eating!
Melanie
Greek Couscous Salad
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup Israeli pearl couscous
- 2 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes halved
- 1 large cucumber chopped
- 4 green onions chopped
- 1/4 cup kalamata olives halved
- 1 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 1/2 cup feta crumbled
Instructions
- Cook the couscous. In a medium saucepot, bring broth to a boil over high heat. Add couscous and reduce heat to low. Cook, covered for about 10 minutes, until couscous is tender and liquid is absorbed. Fluff cooked couscous with a fork. Let cool.
- Meanwhile, make dressing. Combine olive oil, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, oregano, pepper and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Combine cooked and cooled couscous with dressing and remaining ingredients. Mix and enjoy!
Nice recipe; it would be helpful if you included carbs on your nutrition breakdown for completeness, since those of us to watch our macros would want to know how to balance this- and given that the cous cous is not whole wheat, it would be good to know this for this and all your very reasonable recipes.! TY for all you do for the community.
I actually DO include carbohydrate amounts in the recipes – but this recipe was missing the information. It has been updated!
I’m going to try this. I should have about 50mg of protein based on my weight so if I double this as you mention, is that too much protein at one time?
Not necessarily! It really just depends on what else you eat during the rest of the day. There isn’t a limit on how much protein you should eat at one sitting – just your daily total!
Can Orzo be used instead of couscous I do not like couscous.
Absolutely! The nutrition would be essentially exactly the same!
Thank you for all the recipes. What I need to know could Orzo be used instead of couscous I do not care for couscous and how would do to the nutritional value
Absolutely! The nutritional content would actually be VERY similar!
Quinoa and couscous are extremely high oxalate! I’m not allowed to eat those grains at all
Quinoa is fairly high in oxalate. Couscous actually is a lower oxalate grain. I provide oxalate counts for all of my recipes in the Nutrition Facts under each recipe. Know that a kidney friendly diet is different for everyone! So, not all recipes are necessarily low in oxalate.
Love this recipe! Can you share the best type of water to drink with kidney disease? If a home has a water softener, the water is “softened” with salt. Is this water bad to drink for people with kidney issues?
Hi Teri! Thank you! I love this recipe as well. Honestly, plain old tap water is completely fine for most people with kidney disease. Even if your water is softened, the amount of sodium that gets added is minimal. BUT, if your water is VERY hard, a decent amount of sodium may be added – the harder your water, the most sodium gets added. I actually wrote this article about hard water and kidney stones, but it should help explain how much sodium gets added to your water and how to check for it!
Hi Melanie, I love that I found this website! My father has been battling complications with his kidneys for the last year. I just found out that he is supposed to be in a renal diet and I have no idea what that means. I love the look of this salad, but it calls for tomatoes…I thought that was one of the foods he should avoid??
Hi Kristin! Thank you so much! It is REALLY important to know that a “renal diet” is really different for everyone. Tomatoes are sometimes put on “no” lists for kidney health, because they have a bit more potassium in them than other fruits/veggies. BUT, not everyone needs to limit potassium (for some, potassium is even very good!), and even if you do, it is all about portion size. Here is my overview article of what a renal diet is and how it is different that might help!