Calories and protein in a bowl of tabbouleh, with and without olive oil
Also called tabouli, parsley and bulgur salad.
The short answer
1 bowl, about 200 g, normal olive oil
230 kcal
5 g protein
Fat 14 g · carbs 24 g · fibre 5.5 g · Vegan
Portion: a side salad bowl. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central
Proper tabbouleh is mostly parsley, so the dressing is the main source of energy.
With and without olive oil
The same 1 bowl, changing only the dressing. Normal is about 13 g in this portion. A little halves the recipe’s fat and a lot doubles it, so in a portion of the same weight a lot comes out a little under double. These are the four levels the app asks about, with the same numbers.
| Olive oil | Added | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | 0 g | 120 kcal | 5 g |
| A little | 7 g | 170 kcal | 5 g |
| Normal | 13 g | 230 kcal | 5 g |
| A lot | 25 g | 320 kcal | 4.5 g |
What moves the number
- Olive oil (the dressing)about 120 kcal
- Bulgurabout 70 kcal
- Parsleyabout 20 kcal
The recipe behind these numbers
Raw ingredient weights in one 1 bowl, scaled from the batch recipe in the Homekcal app’s dish table, with normal olive oil. Water, salt and spices add almost no energy but are listed so the recipe is complete. If your version has more of something, the numbers move with it.
| Ingredient | Weight | Calories | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|
| BulgurUSDA: Bulgur, dry | 20 g | 70 | 2.5 g |
| WaterUSDA: Beverages, water, tap, drinking | 20 g | 0 | 0 g |
| ParsleyUSDA: Parsley, fresh | 50 g | 20 | 1.5 g |
| TomatoUSDA: Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw, year round average | 67 g | 10 | 0.5 g |
| OnionUSDA: Onions, raw | 13 g | 5 | 0 g |
| MintUSDA: Spearmint, fresh | 6.5 g | 5 | 0 g |
| Lemon juiceUSDA: Lemon juice, raw | 13 g | 5 | 0 g |
| SaltUSDA: Salt, table | 1 g | 0 | 0 g |
| Olive oilUSDA: Oil, olive, salad or cookingThe dressing | 13 g | 120 | 0 g |
How this was worked out
This is the same dish the Homekcal app logs, from the same table. Each raw ingredient’s weight is multiplied by its per-100 g values in USDA FoodData Central, the batch is added up and divided by the cooked weight it makes. Calories are rounded to the nearest 10 and grams to the nearest gram, because a standard recipe is not your recipe. These are calculated values, not weighed or lab tested meals, and home versions vary a lot.
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2026. fdc.nal.usda.gov. Public domain (CC0).
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