Add this lentil salad recipe to your lunch rotation ASAP! Packed with fresh veggies, olives, and feta, it's super flavorful and great for meal prep.
This lentil salad recipe is helping me ease into a new lunch routine. After a summer filled with picnic leftovers and impromptu farmers market meals, I’m trying to get back in the rhythm of doing at least a little meal prep at the start of the week. That way, at lunchtime, I’m not totally stumped by what to eat.
Luckily, this lentil salad recipe is simple to make, so it’s a breeze to put together on a Sunday. It also tastes so good that I don’t mind eating it for a few days on repeat. I douse al dente lentils, juicy cherry tomatoes, crisp veggies, briny olives, and feta in a zingy lemon dressing. And, because I believe that fresh herbs make any salad better, I toss in mint and parsley for a cooling, refreshing finishing touch.
If you’re looking for new lunch ideas right now, I can’t recommend this lentil salad highly enough. It’s intensely flavorful and super satisfying. It won’t be leaving my lunchtime rotation anytime soon. I think you’ll love having it in yours too.
Lentil Salad Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this lentil salad recipe:
- Lentils, of course! I like to use French lentils for this salad. They hold their shape nicely when cooked, and they don’t get mushy like brown or red lentils do. Find my guide to cooking the lentils here.
- Grape tomatoes – I love their sweet flavor and juicy texture in this salad. Any type of cherry or grape tomatoes will work here, but I think yellow ones are especially pretty.
- Cucumbers and radishes – For crunch.
- Red onion – For sharp, savory flavor.
- Lacinato kale – I always like to sneak greens into lunch salads when I can. I use kale here because it holds up well under the dressing even when I make this salad in advance.
- Green olives – They add delicious briny flavor. Not a green olive person? Feel free to use kalamata olives instead.
- Feta cheese – For saltiness and tang.
- The dressing – It’s a zingy combo of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic, Dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. To add complexity to the salad, I also mix in ground cumin and either Italian seasoning or za’atar. Use whichever you keep in your pantry.
- And fresh mint and parsley – For cooling, aromatic flavor.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Whisk together the dressing ingredients at the bottom of a large bowl.
Then, add the salad ingredients on top. Toss to coat and season to taste.
That’s it!
Lentil Salad Serving Suggestions
This lentil salad recipe keeps well for up to 4 days in the fridge, so it’s perfect for making ahead for lunches. Enjoy it on its own, or serve it as a side dish with a Caprese sandwich, chickpea salad sandwich, or healthy lunch wrap.
I also love to include this lentil salad on a mezze platter if I’m putting together a light dinner or making lunch for friends. It pairs nicely with tabbouleh or a tomato salad and a few spreads like muhammara, whipped feta, baba ganoush, or hummus. Round out the meal with lots of fresh pita bread!
How do you like to serve this lentil salad? Let me know in the comments!
More Favorite Lunch Salads
If you love this lentil salad recipe, try one of these packable lunch salads next:
- Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
- Black Bean and Corn Salad
- Three Bean Salad
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Orzo Salad
- Kale Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
- Or any of these 41 Healthy Lunch Ideas!
Lentil Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves, grated
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or za'atar
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- Freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad
- 2½ cups cooked French green lentils, from 1 cup uncooked
- 3 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced into half-moons
- ¾ cup yellow grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ cup diced red onion
- 4 lacinato kale leaves, stemmed, leaves torn
- 4 red radishes, thinly sliced
- Heaping ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- Heaping ½ cup green olives, pitted and halved
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, Italian seasoning, salt, cumin, and several grinds of pepper.
- Assemble the salad: Add the lentils, cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, kale, radishes, feta, and olives to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat. Add the parsley and mint and toss again. Season to taste and serve.
A very bright and refreshing salad for spring! Used Kalamata olives and more cucumber since I didn’t have radishes but otherwise kept the recipe the same. Yummy!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Yummy salad!! We didn’t have a red onion but it was still tasty with white onion! Leftovers were great for lunches.
Delicious! Made this for the April Cooking Club and our eclipse party picnic, and was very happy to have some leftovers for our long drive home. Definitely making this again!
Hi Amelia, I’m so glad it was a hit!
This was delicious for a meal prep lunch. Quick and easy to make!
My family and I loved this recipe! The flavors went so well together. So fresh and satisfying! I loved having it in my fridge for a quick meal throughout the week. Definitely a new staple recipe!
Made this recipe today and plan to eat it for lunch the rest of the week! It is bright, healthy, and wonderful.
I love this recipe. It’s one that tastes even better the next day. I used Curly Kale because that’s what I had. Lots of healthy flavors
Loved this fresh and healthy meal prep for dinner! Perfect amount of greens, acid, and salt! Tossed in some roasted chickpeas for more crunch.
I made this recipe for lunch today and it was so fast and so easy. I got the lentils premade in the package from traderjoes and that made it all come together really fast. I can’t wait to have my husband try it. Honestly I have been on a huge love and lemons recipe kick and they never disappoint! Glad I did the April Cooking Club Challenge!
So flavorful! Yum! Nothing boring about this lentil salad! I added some homemade sourdough for a perfect lunch. Can’t wait to eat this again tomorrow, after the flavors have additional time to marry.
This is a recipe I would have typically passed over, but I’m so glad I tried it for the April Cooking Club recipe. It’s going to be perfect during the summer months for a quick lunch.
This recipe screams spring to me! It’s everything i want and need now—healthy and fresh tasting, yet deliciously filling. I also thought it was relatively easy to put together.
I might not have made this if it wasn’t in the April Cooking Challenge, but I’m so glad I did! I loved the mix of flavors and it’s always nice to find a high protein vegetarian meal. I cooked my lentils in chicken broth with a bay leaf. Simple but added another level of flavor. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Great dish for the warmer Spring weather and easy to make!
I didn’t know about French lentils. They are a nice color. I enjoyed making this salad and especially the combination of flavors.
Make it a day ahead – it gets so much better once the flavors have some time to meld. Easy, delicious and healthy!
Great tip, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Made this today – it’s soooooo delicious and hearty. The dressing I will reuse on anything and everything. I didn’t make any tweaks, except I didn’t have yellow cherry tomatoes, just red. Otherwise made exactly as is.
Hi Faith, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This salad is absolutely delicious! I have to admit that I was a little bit skeptical, but I’m trying to eat more beans in my diet. I wasn’t sure how lentils would pair up with these fresh raw vegetables, but it is so darn delicious. I cannot stop eating it. Thank you very much.
Hi Tom, I’m glad you enjoyed this one too!
I really liked this salad. It has a nice mix of flavors, from the salty olives and feta to the juicy tomatoes. I made a batch today and am excited to eat it over the next few days as well. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it!
This is my favorite recipe so far! It’s delicious!
Meal prep for the week and April cooking club challenge done! It looks prettier with the yellow tomatoes but tastes great with the red too
I’m so glad you loved it!