Real numbers · sources cited

Calories in tabbouleh: the parsley is free — the dressing is the salad

The clean number first: tabbouleh is USDA FDC 2709131 — 127 kcal per 100 g (1.6 P / 9.7 C / 9.7 F). Now read that macro line out loud: 9.7 g of fat in 100 g of salad. At 9 kcal per gram, that's ≈87 of the 127 — roughly two-thirds of tabbouleh's calories are the olive oil. The parsley, mint and tomato are nearly free, the bulgur is modest, and the dressing is the salad.

The bowl math

The bowl in front of you	Amount	kcal
Mezze side, holding its corner of the table	100 g	≈127
Generous salad-course bowl	250 g	≈320

As mezze company it sits beside hummus and falafel, and the reputation survives the arithmetic: the "healthy corner" of the table really is the healthy corner — even with its oil.

The honest verdict: real herbs by the handful, real fiber, and a LOW estimated glucose band — an estimate from composition, not a measurement: there's little fast carb here, and the modest bulgur arrives wrapped in fat and fiber. Tabbouleh is one of the few dishes where the honest answer is simply: eat it.

The unknown: the oil hand

The one number no database can print is the pour. Home tabbouleh spans roughly 90–160 kcal per 100 g (typical range) depending on how the oil hand behaved — same bowl, nearly double the calories. Deli tubs print exact labels (Proba's barcode scanner reads those offline); for the homemade bowl, the scan estimates your actual serving — editable grams, cited receipt, same answer every time.

Scan your bowl — free, 3 scans/day

Method & limitations: how Proba counts. Cited entries link to FoodData Central; values per 100 g as published.