Lemony Couscous

March 9, 2021
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I mentioned that Israeli couscous was one of my favorite Trader Joe’s food finds in the month of December, and several of you caught on to me teasing a yummy lemon couscous recipe. Well, the wait is over!

Before the year 2020, I’d probably only ever had couscous two times in my entire life. Then, one of our sweet friends gifted us a free Hello Fresh box (we’ll definitely need to chat about food subscription boxes in another post), and lemon couscous was one of the side dishes we made from it. I loved it so much that I just had to replicate it with my own spin. This couscous recipe has a more pronounced lemon flavor, and can be adapted to use water or chicken broth.

We like to pair couscous with salmon because there’s just something about that flavor/texture combo that just works! But for the sake of full disclosure, I must confess that I’ve definitely eaten this as a meal by itself…it is the food so nice they named it twice, after all!

This is the only way I’ve ever made couscous, but I’d love some more inspiration for future couscous dishes…comment below with your suggestions or tried and true faves!

xoxo

Jennifer

Lemony Couscous
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Lemony Couscous

Difficulty: Easy
Prep time

5

minutes
Cooking time

20

minutes
Total time

25

minutes

A bright, fresh, and citrusy couscous – perfect for pairing with fish, chicken, or beef!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Israeli couscous

  • 1.5 cups chicken broth

  • 1 small lemon

  • 2 green onions

  • 1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

  • 2 TBSP butter

Directions

  • Thinly slice green onions, separating white and green parts. Zest and juice lemon and set aside.
  • In a small saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Sauté white part of green onion for 1 minute. Avoid browning the green onion. Add in couscous, and let it toast in oil for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
  • Pour in chicken broth (see notes for alternative), and bring the mixture to boil. Once it is boiling, turn heat to low and cover. Cook for ~10-12 minutes on low until liquid has been absorbed.
  • Remove pan from heat. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter, and gently stir until butter has melted. Stir in green part of green onions.

Notes

  • If you do not have chicken broth on hand, do not fret! You can sub out some or all of the broth for water. If you do that, salt the water when you add it to the pan.
  • If you have a particularly large or juicy lemon, start out by adding half of the lemon juice, as to not make the couscous too liquidy.
  • Optional: Save a little bit of lemon zest and green onion for garnish.
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