This Lentils and Quinoa Salad is a 5-minute healthy lunch made with many different vegetables and with almost 20 grams of natural protein per serving.
When I start my meal prep for the week (this week it’s high protein meal plan #2), one of the big issue is always to get enough protein in my lunch without making it a complicated and long recipe. Salads, like my Quinoa Spinach Salad, Healthy Carrot Raisin Salad, or Vegan Broccoli Salad are the best way of making quick lunches, but they often lack protein.
However, by using plenty of quinoa and lentils, I’ve managed to make a healthy recipe that can be made in large batches and stored in cute jars so I can have my daily lunch ready every day of the week, and it takes me less than 10 minutes to prepare the whole lot!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Brown Lentils – Brown lentils are rich in protein and easy to cook.
- Bell Pepper – I like a combination of colors in my salad to make them pop, but you can use any color you like, red, green, yellow, or orange.
- Cucumber – I like to use English cucumber, but you can also use Lebanese cucumber if you prefer.
- Cherry Tomatoes – When I have cherry tomatoes from my garden, I use them, otherwise, any kind of small tomatoes work.
- Quinoa – Quinoa is super-rich in protein and has an excellent nutritional profile. I have tip for cooking it and avoiding the sometimes bitter taste in my quinoa cooking guide.
- Kalamata Olives – Any olive work, but I like the taste and sweetness of kalamata olives.
- Vegan Feta – Vegan feta works great with olives to give the salad a Mediterranean taste. You can skip it if you don’t have any or use other vegan cheese.
Dressing
- Tahini – Tahini is a sesame paste, it brings a lot of nutrients. You can also use hemp butter.
- Lemon Juice – You can either use fresh lemon juice or bottled juice from the shop.
- Garlic-Infused Olive Oil – To add more flavor, you can use garlic-infused olive oil. Alternatively, regular olive oil works as well.
- Garlic Powder – For more taste.
- Oregano – Dried oregano, or an Italian herb mix, give the salad a fresh and summery taste.
- Maple Syrup – For sweetness. You can replace it with any other unrefined sweetener, like coconut nectar or agave syrup.
How to Make Lentils and Quinoa Salad
Since it’s a salad, it’s super easy to make, but let me show you the key steps in pictures. The recipe is available in full below.
Combine the dressing ingredients in a large bowl.
Place the dressing at the bottom of the jar and top them with cooked lentils.
Add all the vegetables on top of the lentils in any order. I like to place them in layer for colors.
Top the veggies with cooked quinoa, and then add slices of feta. You can top everything with olives.
Meal Prep Tips
This salad is perfect for meal prep because it keeps really well. You have two options for your meal prep:
- One large container: prepare all the ingredients in a large container and store the dressing in another container. When serving it, add a portion to a place and drizzle your dressing on top.
- Small jars: my favorite option is to prepare them, as I showed above, by using small jars with the dressing at the bottom. When serving, give it a good stir.
More Plant-Based Salad Recipes
Did You Like This Recipe?
Leave a comment below or head to our Facebook page for tips, our Instagram page for inspiration, our Pinterest for saving recipes, and Flipboard to get all the new ones!
Lentils and Quinoa Salad
Ingredients
- 1 can Brown Lentils - canned, rinsed, drained
- 1 cup Bell Pepper - cored, finely diced I used yellow and red
- 1 ½ cup Cucumber - peeled, diced
- 12-15 Cherry Tomatoes
- 9 ounces Quinoa - cooked (note 1)
- 18 Kalamata Olives
- ⅓ cup Vegan Feta - optional
Dressing
- 4 tablespoons Tahini
- 3 tablespoons Water
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons Garlic-Infused Olive Oil
- ⅓ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ⅓ teaspoon Oregano
- 2-4 teaspoons Maple Syrup - to adjust the sweetness
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, prepare the salad dressing. Simply add all the ingredients and whisk to combine. Adjust the salt, pepper, maple syrup to taste.
- Add all the salad ingredients to a salad bowl, add the dressing, and toss to combine.
- If you meal-prep, line up 3 glass mason jars and divide the dough evenly at the bottom of each jar.
- Fill up each jar with cooked lentils, bell pepper, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, cooked quinoa, olives, and vegan feta.
- Close jar and store in the fridge up to 4 days
Easy, delicious. I didn’t have feta so I put instead crumbled tofu, very tasty
Good substutution, thanks for the review!