Our Mediterranean Lentil Salad is an easy, quick, and totally refreshing summer salad that you'll want to keep making all season. It comes together in less than 15 minutes! Fresh summer vegetables, green lentils, black olives, and a citrusy olive oil dressing are just the perfect combination for an easy lunch or a light dinner on a hot day.
This Lentil Salad is one of those recipes I've been making on rotation this summer. This summer holiday, we went camping for almost 10 days, and recipes like this one, our Mediterranean Pasta Salad, or this Chickpea Salad, saved the day more than once. Without a proper kitchen, and during a heat wave, all you need are easy but still nutritious recipes that you can prepare in less than 15 minutes and pack them for a day out if you need to.
As much as I love cooking, I think summer is made for other things, such as family quality time, beach days, picnics, dinners by the moonlight, and, for me, camping trips are simply the best! That's when easy and quick meals come in super handy, like this Mediterranean salad loaded with crunchy veggies, lentils, and a lovely dressing.
Also, if you have a summer garden like we do, you'll probably be able to prepare this recipe with your own summer produce, isn't that amazing?
Ingredients
Green lentils. For this recipe, you'll need a jar of cooked lentils, or you can also cook dry lentils. I recommend adding some bay leaves if you have them at home while cooking the lentils, if you're using dry lentils, to add some flavor. If you don't have lentils but have other pulses around, such as beans or chickpeas, you can also use them.
Summer veggies. This lentil salad is made with cucumbers, Rosa tomatoes, and Italian green peppers. All these veggies I grow in my garden, so it makes it very handy when it comes to cooking this meal, as I don't need to get much from the supermarket. If you want to add more veggies, go ahead! Shaved carrots or sliced radish are great additions to this dish. You can also change the type of tomatoes you add, but aim for a juicy and sweet variety to make your salad more enjoyable.
Black olives. I love salty black olives, the Kalamata style. They add such a great flavor to your salads. You can also add green olives or make your own Marinated Olives.
Preserved lemons. Two lemon trees can give you an unlimited supply of lemons all year round if you have the right variety of lemon trees. When we got our house, it was one of the many gems that came with it. We make preserved lemons every year and keep them in our pantry for salads, salad dressings, our vegetable tagine, and pasta recipes.
Salad Dressing. For our salad dressing, we use Zaa'tar, Sumac, extra virgin olive oil and vinegar. A simple but zesty and herby dressing that will add a unique touch to this lentil salad.
Cooking Method
This Lentil Salad cannot get much easier than it actually is. Some chopping and mixing and your meal will be ready to enjoy!
Cut the tomatoes, cucumber and green peppers into small pieces. I like partially peeling the cucumbers, leaving some strips to give my salad more color and texture.
Add the lentils to a colander and rinse until the water comes out clear. Remember, you can cook your own lentils if you have dry lentils at home. Remove the excess water and add them to the rest of the ingredients.
At this point, you can also add the preserved lemons, finely chopped, the zaatar, and sumac.
Add the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.
Combine all the ingredients until everything is incorporated. Add a pinch of salt, and combine one last time.
You can then add some edible flowers to make the perfect presentation by adding vibrant colors. For our Mediterranean Lentil Salad, I used cucumber flowers from my garden.
Mediterranean Lentil Salad
Ingredients
- 21 oz precooked lentils 1 jar
- 1 cucumber
- 2 large tomatoes I use "Rosa" variety
- 2 small green peppers
- A handful black olives
- 2 pieces preserved lemon
- 2 teaspoon Zaatar
- 1 teaspoon Sumac
- 3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- A pinch salt
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes, cucumber and green peppers into small pieces. I like partially peeling the cucumbers, leaving some strips to give my salad more color and texture.
- Add the lentils to a colander and rinse until the water comes out clear. Remember, you can cook your own lentils if you have dry lentils at home. Remove the excess water and add them to the rest of the ingredients.
- At this point, you can also add the preserved lemons, finely chopped, the zaatar, and sumac.
- Add the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar.
- Combine all the ingredients until everything is incorporated. Add a pinch of salt, and combine one last time.
Serving Suggestion
- You can then add some edible flowers to make the perfect presentation by adding vibrant colors. For this recipe, I used cucumber flowers from my garden.
Newsletter
Nutrition
Serving Suggestions
Our Mediterranean Lentil Salad can be served as a main dish or as a side dish. Also, it's the perfect dish to bring to a picnic together with other dishes.
- As a main dish. This salad has enough protein from the lentils to be served as a main dish. You can add extra protein by adding some walnuts, pistachios, or toasted cashews. Also, smoked tofu goes beautifully in this salad, we've done it a couple of times!
- As a side dish. Serve this salad with your mains such as roasted veggies, cabbage steaks, veggie burgers, or other Mediterranean dishes like our Lebanese Maghmour or this roasted eggplant with tahini sauce.
- As a dish to be served with other dishes as part of a picnic. Think of a salad spread for your next picnic. This lentil salad could be served with other salads like a watermelon salad, this grilled zucchini and peach salad, or a cold Soba noodle salad, just to name some.
FAQ
Yes! For this salad, I also love black lentils. You may only find them dry, so you'll need to precook them before adding them to your salad.
You can keep the salad for up to 3 days, stored correctly in the fridge. Use a container with a lid.
You can use dried oregano, dried or fresh basil, or thyme.
You can adapt this lentil salad to make it into a winter version. Add roasted veggies such as butternut squash, cauliflower, and broccoli. You can use the same herbs.
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