This Instant Pot Pearl Couscous and Lentil Salad is an easy dump-and-go Instant Pot recipe that’s perfect for al fresco dining, picnics, barbecues, and even meal prep.
This recipe is from my cookbook,The Vegan Instant Pot Cookbook. You can find it on page 115 in the “Satisfying Sides” chapter. For more dishes featuring lentils, be sure to check out my round-up of must-make lentil recipes.
To see how it’s made in detail, check out the video below! This recipe starts at the 00:25 second mark.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot but want a killer lentil salad, try this Lentil Salad with Fresh Herbs!
Why you’ll love this recipe
Dump and go recipe. This recipe couldn’t be easier. Just dump a handful of ingredients into the Instant Pot, pressure cook for just 3 minutes, and once the mixture is cooled, toss in some salad ingredients. A complete, balanced meal made in the Instant Pot without any hands-on cooking.
Light yet hearty. This recipe is light enough for a side dish (also great for a light lunch, al fresco style), but thanks to protein-packed lentils, is hearty enough to stand in as a main dish.
Meal prep AND picnic friendly. This salad stays great in the fridge for many days, and considering it has a grain, a protein, and lots of veggies, it’s a great option for healthy meal prep. But, it’s also such a fun and easy option to bring to a picnic, potluck, or barbecue.
Weeknight friendly. Since this is a dump-and-go recipe, it’s a great option for busy weeknights.
Healthy but flavorful. This recipe is vegan, nut-free, soy-free, and made with wholesome ingredients. But it’s anything but boring! It features refreshing and grassy flavors from a generous amount of fresh dill and has a tangy red wine vinaigrette that brings the salad all together.
Ingredient Spotlight
Couscous and Lentils
Pearl/Israeli Couscous. I’ve never been a fan of regular couscous (it feels like a tastier version of sand to me), but pearl couscous…I am a hug fan! The texture is bouncy and chewy, and overall delightful. It takes just 3 minutes to cook in the Instant Pot!
French Green Lentils. My favorite lentil! typically, they take 6-8 minutes to cook int he Instant Pot, so to ensure they can get fully cooked with the couscous in the same 3-minute time frame, I soak the lentils ahead of time.
Note: In the recipe in my cookbook, I mention you should soak the lentils for 8 hours before using them, but I’ve found that soaking for just 1-2 hours is sufficient.
Bell peppers, carrots, onions, and garlic. Lots of veggies in this recipe, but you can easily substitute your favorites – just be sure to dice them up.
Salad ingredients
Be sure to let the couscous mixture come to room temperature before adding the “salad” components so it feels more like a salad, and not a hot grain lentil dish.
Fresh dill and parsley. I am particularly fond of the dill in this recipe. It brings this grassy, slightly anise-like flavor to the recipe and just screams summer!
Green olives. The olives bring a nice salty bite here and pack a lot of flavor into this recipe. My favorite olive is the Castelvetrano olive (buttery, smooth, not too salty), and I highly recommend it here. If you really hate olives, I recommend subbing with sundried tomatoes or capers.
Red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. The vinaigrette is incredibly simple – just red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Since the vinaigrette is so simple, use the best-quality vinegar and oil you have because their flavors will be fairly prominent.
Tips for making this recipe
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the couscous-lentil mixture into a serving bowl. This will avoid some of the excess liquid leftover from cooking. If you add the extra liquid, your salad will be soggy.
Let the couscous-lentil mixture come to room temperature. If you add the salad ingredients to the hot mixture, it won’t feel like a salad (it will feel more like a hot lentil stew).
If you give this Instant Pot Pearl Couscous and Lentil Salad recipe a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram with your recreations and please comment with your feedback below!
Big Vegan Flavor
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Instant Pot Pearl Couscous and Lentil Salad
Ingredients
Couscous and Lentils
- 1 cup French green Puy lentils, soaked for 1-2 hours*
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup pearl or Israeli couscous
- 3 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- Handful of fresh thyme sprigs
To Finish
- 2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 small bunch of fresh dill (about 1 cup), finely chopped
- 1 cup fresh Italian-flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 15 pitted green olives, sliced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Soak the lentils in water to cover for 1-2 hours. Drain the lentils.
- Place the soaked and drained lentils, onions, bell peppers, carrots, garlic, couscous, vegetable broth, salt, pepper to taste, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs in the Instant Pot and stir well to combine.
- Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Select the Pressure Cook setting at high pressure and set the cook time to 3 minutes.
- Once the 3-minute timer has completed and beeps, allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes and then switch the Pressure Release knob from Sealing to Venting to release any remaining steam.
- Open the pot and discard the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
- Transfer the couscous-lentil mixture to a large bowl and allow to come to room temperature.
- To the couscous-lentil mixture, add the extra-virgin olive oil, vinegar, dill, parsley, olives, tomatoes, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine and taste for seasonings, adding more salt and pepper as needed, or a splash more vinegar for acidity.
Notes
Sadly, mine turned out like mush. The cous cous is way over cooked and the dish’s consistency is like stew. Tastes good! But not as aesthetically pleasing as I had hoped for the potluck I’m attending.
I’m thinking maybe my medium cous cous is smaller than the pearl cous cous – probably has a much shorter cooking time and that’s why it turned to mush. :(
Sorry to hear you had that experience, Angela. We hope you’re able to try out other recipes on the blog and enjoy them!
Horrible recipe. Did exactly as written. Turned to mush. Did u make this yourself? Something so wrong with process or measurements. 3. 1/2 cups was way toooo much. Brought your book and now I am wondering if it was worth it. Sorry
Sooo good & so easy to make. I’m not a vegetarian, just trying to eat less meat. Definitely I would remake this recipe!! Thank you ♥️♥️
Thank you for your lovely comment, Claudia! It makes us happy to know that you enjoyed the recipe.
The printed recipe should say to remove the excess liquid. This would save future makers to avoid having their salad ruined like I did.
Hi Ananda, do you mean the liquid used to soak the lentils? Sorry if there was any confusion about the recipe!
Do we serve this room temperature or chilled in the fridge?
Hi Andrea, you can serve it either way! After cooking, we simply recommend you let it cool down to room temperature.
Loved this recipe a lot. Super easy to make and very refreshing to eat as a side!
What is the serving size of the nutrition facts?
Hi Carli, we’re thrilled you do! The nutrition facts are for the full recipe divided into 4 portions.
This was such a tasty and easy dish to make! We didn’t have a pressure cooker so just cooked it a little longer in the pot. The dill was soooo delicious 10/10 recommend
Thanks for sharing, Jasmine!
I’m about to make this for the second time for a potluck. I’m considering substituting my new pomegranate molasses for the red wine vinegar. Am I about to make a regrettable, potentially dish-ruining, mess-with-success mistake?
From Hannah, our recipe tester: “Hi Sara, I think pomegranate molasses would be delicious here. I always want to add pomegranate molasses to a lot of the recipes I test at RPL but red wine vinegar is more commonly found in pantries. 🙂 Since we’re on the topic of pomegranate molasses, have you tried Al Wadi Pomegranate Molasses? It’s omy all time favorite!”
Yes, I bought that thru the affiliate link to make Actually Good Quinoa Salad, but as usual, I forgot to get quinoa! I wanted another recipe to use this new ingredient. I wound up plant-based-chickening out and using red wine vinegar to make this recipe and it was super delicious!
Thanks for using the affiliate link, Sara! And LOL love that phrase- “plant-based-chickening out!” We’re happy to hear you enjoyed the salad as is but hopefully in the future you will get the chance to try out the couscous and lentil salad with the pomegranate molasses :)
So colorful and summery! Makes the veggies and couscous first and then mixed in minimally soaked beans.
Hi Krupa, thank you so much for your kind review!
I just found your recipes and website. I love your videos. This is the first of your recipes that I’ve made. My wife and I both gave it an A+, meaning that it’s on the repeat list. Having fresh dill is definitely a key ingredient for this recipe. I think your recipes and coaching are going to make my retirement a lot more fun. Thank you.
Aww, we’re delighted you’ve found us and we are so happy to provide you with delicious recipes, Bruce! We hope you enjoy the next one just as much :)
I love all your recipes. Your vegan red lentil curry is my absolute favorite. Unfortunately this recipe missed the mark for me. I followed the recipe exactly as written and it turned out soupy and the couscous was mushy. Ill try again but cook the couscous and the lentils separately on the stove. I really wanted to love this.
I followed this recipie to a T and it was definitely soupy when I took it out of the instant pot. Should the water be decreased? I am in WA state so there is no weird altitude change from San Diego. I cooled in the fridge and added the other ingredients. The flavors are wonderful but the texture was off. Help please!
From Nisha: “Hi there Karen, sorry to hear it! I would thoroughly drain the couscous and lentils in a colander before mixing with them with the salad ingredients. You can also try using 1/4 cup less liquid, but I don’t know much less liquid you can use without triggering the instant pot burn notice (it’s pesky and sensitive!).”
Oh my… so yummy! I could not wait until this cooled because each bite was so delicious. I promise to eat the leftovers tomorrow chilled!
Teresa, So glad to hear you loved this recipe!
Tried and loved several of your recipes, this one however was disappointing. I had the same problem as River And Giselle. It was very soupy, after following the recipe exactly. Could it be due to cooking in the instant pot at a higher altitude? We are at 3500 ft.
Good to hear you enjoyed the recipes, Anna! And that could potentially be it, we found this article online that says “The formula for success when using your electric pressure cooker is to increase pressurized cook time by 5% for every 1000 feet above 2000 feet elevation.”
Fantastic recipe! My husband has celiac, so I substituted sorghum (a gluten free grain) for couscous. It has a very similar taste and shape.
Great to hear you two enjoyed the recipe, Brixie!
How long should you cook it for if you don’t have an instant pot please?
Hi Cathy, we aren’t sure because we haven’t tried this ourselves, but it seems lentils take more time to cook than couscous (15 mins vs 20-30 mins). So Cook the lentils for 10 or so minutes before adding in the couscous. Good luck!
This looks yummy! Can you please tell me how many this serves?
Hi there Rebecca, so glad you think so! It serves 4 as a main or 8 as a side dish. Enjoy!
If I do this without an instant pot would the lentils and cous cous still go on the pit at the same time?
Thank you
Jo
Hi Jo, couscous takes about 15 minutes to cook while green lentils take 20-30, so we suggest adding them in at about the 10-15 minute mark.
Can I use quinoa instead of couscous?
Hi Liz, we haven’t tried that ourselves but we think it would work!
This came out way too soupy out of the instant pot. What could have went wrong?
Hi River, did you add both the drained lentils and couscous? And did you make sure the pressure cook setting was at high pressure and allow a natural pressure release for 10 minutes?
I had the exact same problem as River. I did everything exactly as per the recipe. I did a quick soak of the lentils (boiled for 1 minute and then let them sit in hot water for an hour.) The dish came out like soup, not firm enough for a salad. I am currently draining it to see if it will firm up, but the pearled couscous seems overcooked. Unless a miracle happens while it cools, it will have to be thrown out. :(
Same problem! I have made a ton of recipes out of the instant pot cookbook to perfection. This one, I could tell the flavors were great but I ended up with a stew-like consistency instead of a salad-like consistency. We still ate it but I will try it again with a lot less liquid (maybe 1 cup less) and see if it comes out right.
Sorry to hear you had an issue with this recipe, we appreciate your feedback.