All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
In the wide and varied world of hearty, healthy whole grains, bulgur deserves all of the love. Especially common in Middle Eastern cooking and cuisines (think of your favorites like tabbouleh or kisir), it’s versatile, tasty, and—the real selling point for stressed and time-crunched cooks—ridiculously fast to whip up. Just think, it takes 10 minutes to make bulgur compared to an hour-plus for brown rice. “It’s one of the original convenience foods,” says Abra Berens, author of the grains-and-beans-focused cookbook Grist.
What is bulgur?
Bulgur is made from cracked whole grain wheat berries that are partially cooked and then dried. This process is the key to bulgur’s convenience—because the cracked wheat berries are fully cooked (much like instant rice!), all you have to do is rehydrate them.
How do you prepare bulgur?
To prepare bulgur, simply soak it in an equal amount of boiling water for 10 minutes, then fluff it up with a fork. If you’re really in a rush, you can boil it like pasta, and if you want to be especially hands-off, soak it overnight. From there, it’s a mildly nutty, chewy, textural blank canvas for any and all seasonings, dressings, and accompaniments.
How do you serve bulgur?
Dress bulgur as you would any other grain. In Berens’s Crispy Salmon with Bulgur, it gets tossed in fresh dill and topped with a speedy mustard-shallot dressing to accompany fish and thinly sliced fennel. It’s a meal as fitting for a weeknight dinner table as it would be for a dinner party.
Mix bulgur with your favorite vinaigrette or sauce or just a super simple mix of lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add it to homemade veggie burgers or employ it as a binder in meatballs and kebabs like kibbeh. You could also eat it entirely plain, swapping it in as a speedier option for rice, quinoa, or farro to accompany everything from lunch-friendly salads to slow-simmered curries to quick stir-fries.
Look for bulgur at Middle Eastern or South Asian grocery stores, bulk stores, health stores, or online, often sold in fine, medium, and coarse varieties. They’re all delicious and easy to prepare—just know that the coarser varieties may need to soak longer in hot water. Once you’re stocked up, you’re ready to make bulgur your go-to grain for just about everything.
