Turkish Lentil Salad (7 min, Vegan)
- Updated on Jan 21, 2015
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Max (a good friend of Hauke) did it again! After recommending the Chickpea Spinach Salad, he can do no wrong in our eyes. This guy just knows what tastes good.
This time it’s the Turkish Lentil Salad. You might think “meh, lentils, bell pepper, onion. Boring.”
But it’s always the same with veggie salad recipes – the dressing is key. And this salad has a Honey Mustard Dressing so good you’d probably enjoy it on cardboard* (same goes for any of these mouthwatering light salad dressings!).
At the moment this one of my go-to lunch recipes.
Healthy, tasty, very quick to put together and high in protein. Excellent because I’m back in the gym, winning 2015. Honest!
I recommend having the salad with a small portion of rice or a slice of bread.
You may have read that some veggie sources like lentils lack one or more amino acids to build complete proteins (1).
So that’s why it makes sense to mix the salad with another source that contains the amino acids lacking in the lentils.
Bread or rice would fix this up (2).
* We’re not suggesting you actually try it on cardboard. Though we wouldn’t stop you either.
Health Benefits – Turkish Lentil Salad
We won’t bang on about how awesome fiber and proteins are this time. You know all that already.
Instead, let’s give parsley a bit of the spotlight:
Among other stuff like making your dish more beautiful (and helping to prevent diabetes to boot!) parsley helps to keep your bones strong (3).
Responsibility for its bone building abilities falls to the vitamin K that you’ll find more than enough of in it.
Just 10 sprigs of parsley contain more than 205% of your vitamin K needs for the day (4). Impressive stuff.
A study showed that women who take at least 110 micrograms of vitamin K a day are 30 percent less likely to break a hip than women who don’t (5).
Now that stat makes calcium look like the silly little brother 🙂
So this Lentil Salad is mine – but what’s your go-to lunch recipe at the moment?
Ingredients
- 1.5 cup brown lentils, cooked (1.5 cups = 1 can 15oz/400g)
- 1 red onion
- 1 handful parsley, fresh (dried will work in a push)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1.5 tbsp vinegar (choose your favourite, all go well!)
- 1.5 tbsp mustard
- 1 tsp maple syrup (or honey for non-vegans)
- 2 bell pepper, red (green and red)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
- 2 slice wholegrain bread
Instructions
- Dice up the onion and cut the bell pepper into small pieces. Add both to a salad bowl.
- Mix in the lentils (previously drained and rinsed; if you use dry lentils, cook according to package instructions first).
- Rip up the parsley and add it to the bowl as well
- Now in with the vinegar, olive oil, mustard, maple syrup, salt and pepper and stir it all nicely.
- Have the salad with a slice of (whole grain) bread. Enjoy!
NOTES
Nutrition
Comments
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22 comments
This is a salad after my own heart 😉 Pinning for later.
Thanks!! 😀
Nice to see you fixed honey as an ingredient. Otherwise, looks great! 🙂
Ah, did you give Dave the heads up? Thanks a lot! Yep, we fixed it right away 🙂
Turkey is one of my favorite countries in this entire world and I am sad to admit that when I was there, I was NOT a very adventurous eater – AT ALL! However, I did take FULL advantage of all the fish!
I didn’t know there were fish kebabs! 😛
Love anything with mustard, especially honey mustard…although I realize honey is not vegan (?)..I would be using fresh lentils so the challenge will be getting them cooked just enough without turning them mushy..
This is a must try!
Yep, you’re right, honey is not vegan. We fixed that, thanks 🙂
True lentil cooking can be a little tricky at times. At the moment I just by cooked lentils in jars. They are so cheap here in Spain, I’m a fan.
I am loving the sound of this salad – that vinegar, agave and mustard combo sounds like the perfect way to highlight these lentils! I have only ever had lentils in a curry or roasted – this is so unique!
Glad we could inspire you a little 🙂
This looks so good. Quick and easy and adaptable to the seasons if I change the capsicums for something else 😉 perfect for a quick healthy lunch, need more ideas so I don’t end up eating peanut butter sandwiches every day!! Haha
Hi Tash,
niceee!! It’s really great to hear you liked the recipe!! We shall help you finding more awesome lunch recipes 😀
On that note: I can always recommend this Chickpea Spinach Salad (if you’re not vegan): https://hurrythefoodup.com/chickpea-spinach-salad/
Have a good one!
Howie
I think that would work as well!
Thanks so much, that looks amazing. I don’t eat cheese but make almond feta which would be perfect in that recipe! Awesome. Going to share this on FB today!!
Woaah, cool! Thanks Tash 🙂
tasty dish
Looks great! What kind of vinegar?
Hi Christina! You can use any type of vinegar really (I’ll update in the recipe now, thanks). I personally love malt vinegar, with white wine vinegar being my second favourite 🙂
I’m always looking for new salads for my family to try and this was a hit! The second time I made this, I used agave instead of maple syrup, and since I was out of bell peppers and Parsley, I used cilantro and cucumber. I also added a serrano pepper for some kick! Needless to say it was delicious!
Brilliant to hear, Raquel!! This is deffo one of my faves as well 😀
I loved this salad. I am making it again today. The only thing I am going to change is the mustard. I am not a fan of regular mustard, so this time around I will use Dijon, which I do love.
So good to hear, Nancie!! This is deffo a favorite around here as well 🙂