Add this lentil salad recipe to your lunch rotation ASAP! Full of 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 full of picnic leftovers and impromptu farmers market meals, I’m attempting to get again within the rhythm of doing at the very least a bit of meal prep firstly of the week. That method, at lunchtime, I’m not completely stumped by what to eat.
Fortunately, this lentil salad recipe is easy 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 consider that recent herbs make any salad higher, I toss in mint and parsley for a cooling, refreshing final touch.
For those who’re in search of new lunch concepts proper now, I can’t advocate this lentil salad extremely sufficient. It’s intensely flavorful and tremendous satisfying. It gained’t be leaving my lunchtime rotation anytime quickly. I believe you’ll love having it in yours too.
Lentil Salad Recipe Elements
Right here’s what you’ll have to make this lentil salad recipe:
- Lentils, in fact! 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 sort of cherry or grape tomatoes will work right here, however I believe yellow ones are particularly fairly.
- Cucumbers and radishes – For crunch.
- Crimson onion – For sharp, savory taste.
- Lacinato kale – I at all times wish to sneak greens into lunch salads after I can. I take advantage of kale right here as a result of it holds up properly underneath the dressing even after I make this salad prematurely.
- Inexperienced olives – They add scrumptious briny taste. Not a inexperienced olive individual? Be happy to make use of kalamata olives as an alternative.
- 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 beneath.
Whisk collectively the dressing components on the backside of a giant bowl.
Then, add the salad components on high. Toss to coat and season to style.
That’s it!
Lentil Salad Serving Options
This lentil salad recipe retains properly for as much as 4 days within the fridge, so it’s excellent for making forward for lunches. Take pleasure in it by itself, or serve it as a facet 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 light-weight 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 lot of recent pita bread!
How do you wish to serve this lentil salad? Let me know within the feedback!
Extra Favourite Lunch Salads
For those who love this lentil salad recipe, strive one in all these packable lunch salads subsequent:
Lentil Salad
Serves 4 to six
This lentil salad recipe is an ideal make-ahead lunch or wholesome facet dish! It is full of recent veggies, feta, olives, and a zingy lemon dressing. It retains properly 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 several 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.
