Lentil Salad is a tasty, and nutritious Mediterranean-style salad. Keep it simple, or make it sexy. Either way, you are going to love this vegetarian, gluten-free salad. Be sure to watch the video!
Green Moong Bean is rich in protein, and when combined with vegetables, it makes an excellent meal in a bowl. You can use them to make sprouts at home.
This gluten-free salad is an amazing, refreshing, lentil tabouleh packed with finely chopped colourful vegetables tossed in a flavoursome vinaigrette-style dressing.
The possibilities, however, don’t end here. There is an endless combination of vegetables and dressings (pick from my favourite 6 salad dressing recipes) that work for this lentil salad.
You can easily carry this lentil salad to work in a jar.
More Reasons To LOVE Lentil Salad
- perfect side dish for grilled or BBQ meats
- possible vegan recipe (skip the cheese)
- perfect meal-prep friendly salad
- easy to make, no-fuss recipe
- wholesome and nourishing
Ingredients Required
Lentil: Use dried green mung bean for making the salad. They are easy to cook, inexpensive, readily available, and taste excellent in the salad. Here are my favorite 21 ways to eat lentils.
You can use black beluga lentils, brown lentils, chickpeas, red kidney beans, or any other local variety of lentils/legumes also for this salad recipe.
Vegetables: Apart from the salad usuals – onion, tomato, cucumber, feel free to add olives, sun-dried tomato, kale, baby spinach, roasted bell peppers, or any other vegetable of your choice.
Herbs: Fresh parsley, Italian basil, cilantro, mint, or chives are an excellent choices for flavouring the salad.
Cheese Choice: From feta, brie, and ricotta, to goat cheese, any variety of soft cheese is ideal for making this salad more delicious.
Salad Dressing: A classic vinaigrette of olive oil, citrus, garlic, and mustard is the best choice for this hearty lentil salad.
Meal Prep For Lentil Salad
Boil Lentils: Wash, and soak lentils in water for 30 minutes. Next, boil water with salt and bay leaf in a saucepan. Add soaked mung beans. Cook them till al dente and not mushy or overcooked.
Transfer boiled lentils to a sieve or metal colander. Allow to cool down completely before making the salad. You can store cooked mung beans for 2 – 3 days in the fridge.
Prepare Dressing: Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar. Close the lid of the jar. Shake well to combine the ingredients. Keep the salad dressing in the fridge until ready to use. Shake once again before adding to the salad.
Watch Lentil Salad Video
Serving Suggestion
You can serve lentil salad with a variety of side dishes such as:
Roasted Herb Potatoes – oven-roasted garlic and herb potatoes.
Creamy Mushroom Soup – a light and hearty warm mushroom soup.
Grilled Chicken/Seafood of your choice.
Garlic bread, focaccia, sourdough bread, or toasted artisanal bread slices.
FAQ Related To Lentil Salad
Mung Beans are high in plant-based protein, rich in fibre, and low in fat. They’re also packed with folate, iron, phosphorus, and potassium. These are the essential nutrients one needs daily. A cup of lentil salad during lunch or dinner will help you manage your daily nutrient intake.
Yes absolutely! Using canned lentils will cut the prep time. But the only thing you have to deal with is the extra salt in the can. Thoroughly wash the canned lentils to remove all the excess salt. Do not add the liquid in the can to the salad along with lentils.
You can cook lentils without soaking them as well. But soaking them reduces the cooking time to almost half.
Dry lentils will take about 15 minutes to cook in an Instant Pot, whereas the pre-soaked lentils for the salad will need 5 – 6 minutes. First, wash the dry lentils thoroughly to remove dirt or stones. Once done, add them into the inner pot with enough water to submerge the lentils and salt to taste. Set the IP to pressure cook mode for 5 minutes. Once done, release the pressure manually, and check lentils for doneness.
Store cooked lentils in an airtight container for 2 – 3 days in the fridge.
More Salad Recipes
- Avocado Salad
- Fattoush Salad
- Summer Fruit Salad
- Shrimp Mango Salad
- Classic Macaroni Salad
- Mung Bean Sprout Salad
- Healthy Brown Chickpea Salad
- Creamy Pasta Salad With Pineapple
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Mediterranean Lentil Salad Recipe
- Saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 Cup green lentil (mung bean)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 teaspoon salt
- ½ Cup finely chopped red onion
- ½ Cup finely chopped tomato (deseeded)
- ½ Cup finely diced cucumber
- ¼ Cup sliced olives
- ¼ Cup pomegranate
- ¼ Cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ Cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- ¼ Cup crumbled feta cheese
Salad dressing
- ¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 tablespoon crushed or minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon oregano
Instructions
Boil Lentils:
- Wash and soak the green moong lentils in enough water for 5 hours.
- In a saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to boil. Season with salt and bay leaf. Add soaked lentils, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until al dente, about 15 minutes. Lentil should not over cook or turn mushy.
- Drain boiled lentils in a metal colander and allow them to cool completely
Prepare Salad Dressing:
- To prepare the salad dressing, whisk all the ingredients of dressing in a bowl or a jar with a lid until well combined. Taste and adjust the seasoning accordingly.
Prepare Salad:
- Combine chopped vegetables in a bowl. Add boiled lentil, chopped parsley, and walnuts.
- Pour dressing over the salad. Toss the salad gently in the dressing. Sprinkle feta cheese before serving.
- Serve lentil salad with toasted bread slice.
Pankti Mehta says
This looks wonderful….definitely will try 🙂
Nupur UK-Rasoi says
Adding PAneer to anything slightly Non-Indian is my fav. You could just do so much with Paneer, its intimidating 🙂
Nice clicks btw 🙂
Rajani says
The pictures do full justice to the lovely colours of the salad. And herbed paneer is a very good idea!
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Tahera says
The dressing calls for 1 Tablespoon garlic.
Is it 1 tbsp or 1 tsp?
Just wanted to make sure as l thought tbsp would be too much .
Thankyou
Hina Gujral says
It’s 1 tablespoon. But if you don’t like garlicky flavor, go for 1 teaspoon. For me there is nothing like too much garlic.