Bulgur Wheat
Bulgur is parboiled, dried, and cracked wheat, a quick-cooking staple throughout Levantine, Turkish, and Mediterranean kitchens. This page covers choosing the right grind, storing it, and how it's traditionally used.
How to buy
Bulgur comes in fine, medium, and coarse grinds -- fine is used for tabbouleh and kibbeh, medium and coarse for pilafs. Look for uniform, dry grains with no musty smell, and check the grind size against what your recipe calls for since they aren't interchangeable.
How to store
Store in an airtight container in the pantry for up to a year. Cooked bulgur keeps in the fridge for about 5 days and freezes well.
Culinary profile
- Flavor
- Nutty and mildly earthy with a faint wheaty sweetness, carrying a subtle toasted undertone left over from the parboiling process used to make it.
- Texture
- Chewy and pleasantly firm, with grains that stay distinct rather than clumping, giving it a lighter feel than rice in salads and pilafs.
- Aroma
- A toasty, grain-forward aroma that's more pronounced than raw wheat, a result of the parboiling step.
How to prepare
- Fine-ground (soaked) — Soaked in water or lemon juice rather than cooked, the classic method for tabbouleh and kibbeh.
- Coarse-ground pilaf — Toasted briefly in butter or oil, then simmered in broth like rice.
- No-cook salad prep — Soaked until tender and tossed cold with vegetables, herbs, and dressing.
- Simmered porridge — Cooked longer with extra liquid into a soft, breakfast-style porridge.
Classic dishes
Mediterranean
- Bulgur-stuffed tomatoes — Hollowed tomatoes filled with a bulgur, herb, and olive oil mixture and baked until tender.
- Stuffed grape leaves with bulgur — Grape leaves rolled around a bulgur-based filling instead of the usual rice filling.
- Bulgur salad with pomegranate — Cooked bulgur tossed with pomegranate seeds, herbs, and a tart dressing for a bright, textured salad.
- Cabbage rolls with bulgur filling — Cabbage leaves wrapped around a bulgur and herb filling, simmered in tomato sauce.
Greek
- Pligouri pilaf — A Greek bulgur pilaf, often cooked with tomato and served alongside grilled meats or legumes.
Middle Eastern
- Tabbouleh — A parsley-heavy salad with just a small amount of fine bulgur, tossed with tomato, lemon, and olive oil.
- Kibbeh — A mixture of fine bulgur and minced meat, shaped and either baked, fried, or eaten raw.
- Bulgur pilaf — Coarse bulgur toasted and simmered in broth, often with tomato and onion, served as a side in place of rice.
- Kısır — A Turkish fine bulgur salad mixed with tomato paste, herbs, and lemon, similar in spirit to tabbouleh.
- Ezogelin soup — A Turkish red lentil soup thickened with bulgur and seasoned with mint and red pepper.
- Mujaddara with bulgur — A variation on the classic lentil dish using bulgur in place of rice, topped with caramelized onions.
- İçli köfte — Torpedo-shaped bulgur shells stuffed with spiced meat filling, boiled or fried.
- Bulgur breakfast porridge — Bulgur simmered soft with milk or water and served warm, a simple traditional breakfast.
- Lentil and bulgur stew — A thick, comforting stew combining lentils and bulgur, often finished with cumin and fried onions.
- Bulgur-stuffed bell peppers — Peppers filled with a seasoned bulgur mixture and baked until soft, a common weeknight version of stuffed vegetables.