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This Mediterranean lentil salad marries sautéed tomatoes, fresh basil and feta with steamed lentils for a hearty, flavorful vegetarian meal that takes less than 20 minutes to prepare!
I’m really excited because I’ve found another easy weeknight dinner to add to my arsenal! This lentil salad is quick, delicious and perfect for all seasons because it can be served warm or cold.
You can totally plan ahead and cook your own lentils, but this dish is an absolute breeze to whip up with pre-cooked, steamed lentils. I’ve seen steamed lentils at different grocery stores in the produce section. Stores like Kroger carry the Melissa’s steamed lentils and steamed lentils are one of my favorite items to buy from Trader Joe’s.
Pre-cooked lentils are perfect for tossing together quick protein-packed vegetarian meals. Usually I just serve them as a side or use them as a salad topper, but recently I decided to spruce them up a little. The result is this lentil salad recipe I’m sharing with you today.
You only need a handful of ingredients to make this lentil salad:
This lentil salad is one of the easiest salad recipes I’ve ever shared, especially if you’re using pre-cooked lentils.
That said, if you aren’t using pre-cooked lentils, cook the lentils according to package directions, until the lentils are tender.
Once lentils are ready, sauté your red onion and garlic until fragrant. Add in the tomatoes and salt and cook for 10 minutes, until tomatoes are softened. Add balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan and then add in the cooked lentils. Stir everything to combine and cook for an additional minute or two. Add in the fresh basil, feta cheese and raisins. Remove from the heat and serve over brown rice or baby spinach.
Top with fresh avocado slices and more cheese! Are you an olive fan? Kalamata olives would be delicious with this as well.
This mediterranean lentil salad recipe is versatile and works great for meal prep because it tastes delicious served hot or cold. The first night I plated the warm lentil mixture over a bed of fresh spinach with a few chunks of avocado on top. And the next day I served it up the same way for lunch — only as a cold salad. I liked it both ways!
If you like lentils and Mediterranean flavors, you’re going to L-O-V-E this quick and easy meal. Trust me. 🙂
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Please include the sodium content in the nutrition information. I have high BP and need to keep track of the days sodium.
Hey Carole – Sorry about that, I just updated the nutritional info to include the sodium content.
This was very good! I had to sub fresh cilantro as no basil was available but otherwise kept to recipe. The flavors are very balanced and work well together.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe, Sarah! Thanks for coming back to leave a review. It means the world to me!
This was a quick, easy, and delicious recipe. Instead, of raisins we used green olives. We also mixed rice in dish and added fresh chopped cucumbers. I loved the taste if the balsamic in the dish. Great recipe!
Woo!! So glad you loved this salad. Thanks so much for making it and for coming back to leave a review. I so appreciate it!!
This was simple to make and is really nice served over shredded spinach!
This is delicious, quick and easy to make too!