Add this lentil salad recipe to your lunch rotation ASAP! Filled with recent veggies, olives, and feta, it is tremendous flavorful and nice for meal prep.
This lentil salad recipe helps me ease into a brand new lunch routine. After a summer time stuffed with picnic leftovers and impromptu farmers market meals, I’m attempting to get again within the rhythm of doing at the very least somewhat meal prep at first of the week. That approach, at lunchtime, I’m not completely stumped by what to eat.
Fortunately, this lentil salad recipe is straightforward to make, so it’s a breeze to place collectively on a Sunday. It additionally tastes so good that I don’t thoughts consuming it for a couple of days on repeat. I douse al dente lentils, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp veggies, briny olives, and feta in a zingy lemon dressing. And, as a result of I imagine that recent herbs make any salad higher, I toss in mint and parsley for a cooling, refreshing of completion.
Should you’re in search of new lunch concepts proper now, I can’t suggest this lentil salad extremely sufficient. It’s intensely flavorful and tremendous satisfying. It gained’t be leaving my lunchtime rotation anytime quickly. I feel you’ll love having it in yours too.
Lentil Salad Recipe Components
Right here’s what you’ll have to make this lentil salad recipe:
- Lentils, after all! I like to make use of French lentils for this salad. They maintain their form properly when cooked, they usually don’t get mushy like brown or purple lentils do. Find my guide to cooking the lentils here.
- Grape tomatoes – I really like their candy taste and juicy texture on this salad. Any kind of cherry or grape tomatoes will work right here, however I feel yellow ones are particularly fairly.
- Cucumbers and radishes – For crunch.
- Purple onion – For sharp, savory taste.
- Lacinato kale – I all the time prefer to sneak greens into lunch salads once I can. I take advantage of kale right here as a result of it holds up effectively below the dressing even once I make this salad prematurely.
- Inexperienced olives – They add scrumptious briny taste. Not a inexperienced olive particular person? Be happy to make use of kalamata olives as a substitute.
- Feta cheese – For saltiness and tang.
- The dressing – It’s a zingy combo of olive oil, recent lemon juice, garlic, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. So as to add complexity to the salad, I additionally combine in floor cumin and both Italian seasoning or za’atar. Use whichever you retain in your pantry.
- And recent mint and parsley – For cooling, fragrant taste.
Discover the entire recipe with measurements under.
Whisk collectively the dressing substances on the backside of a big bowl.
Then, add the salad substances on high. Toss to coat and season to style.
That’s it!
Lentil Salad Serving Ideas
This lentil salad recipe retains effectively for as much as 4 days within the fridge, so it’s good for making forward for lunches. Take pleasure in it by itself, or serve it as a aspect dish with a Caprese sandwich, chickpea salad sandwich, or healthy lunch wrap.
I additionally love to incorporate this lentil salad on a mezze platter if I’m placing collectively a lightweight dinner or making lunch for pals. It pairs properly with tabbouleh or a tomato salad and some spreads like muhammara, whipped feta, baba ganoush, or hummus. Spherical out the meal with a number of recent pita bread!
How do you prefer to serve this lentil salad? Let me know within the feedback!
Extra Favourite Lunch Salads
Should you love this lentil salad recipe, strive one in every of these packable lunch salads subsequent:
Lentil Salad
Serves 4 to six
This lentil salad recipe is an ideal make-ahead lunch or wholesome aspect dish! It is stuffed with recent veggies, feta, olives, and a zingy lemon dressing. It retains effectively for as much as 4 days within the fridge.
For the Salad
- 2½ cups cooked French green lentils, from 1 cup raw
- 3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced into half-moons
- ¾ cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup diced purple onion
- 4 lacinato kale leaves, stemmed, leaves torn
- 4 purple radishes, thinly sliced
- Heaping ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- Heaping ½ cup inexperienced olives, pitted and halved
- ¼ cup chopped recent parsley
- ¼ cup recent mint leaves
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Make the dressing: In a big bowl, whisk collectively the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, Italian seasoning, salt, cumin, and a number of other grinds of pepper.
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Assemble the salad: Add the lentils, cucumbers, tomatoes, purple onion, kale, radishes, feta, and olives to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat. Add the parsley and mint and toss once more. Season to style and serve.