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Overhead view of a bowl of lentil salad.
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4.67 from 103 votes

Marinated Lentil Salad

This easy Lentil Salad is bright, flavorful, and infused with bold flavors like garlic and lemon. Eat it as a side dish, meal prep it, or make it a meal!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time30 minutes
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Total Cost: $7.29 recipe / $1.22 serving
Servings: 6 servings (1 cup each)
Calories: 234kcal
Author: Beth Moncel

Equipment

  • Medium Pot
  • Zester
  • Mixing Bowls

Ingredients

LEMON GARLIC DRESSING

  • 1 lemon juice and zest, $0.64
  • ¼ cup olive oil 2oz., $0.70
  • 2 garlic cloves minced, (1 Tbsp) $0.12*
  • ½ Tbsp dried oregano $0.11
  • ½ tsp salt $0.02
  • ¼ tsp black pepper freshly cracked, $0.04

SALAD

  • 1 cup dry brown lentils uncooked, (200g) $0.85**
  • ½ bunch fresh parsley chopped, (50g, ½ cup) $0.49
  • 10 oz. grape tomatoes halved, $2.78
  • ¼ small red onion small dice, (80g, about ¼ cup) $0.23***
  • 2 oz. feta crumbled, $1.31

Instructions

  • Gather and prepare all ingredients.
  • Cook the lentils according to the package directions. For most brown lentils, bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a pot, add the lentils, and continue boiling for 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender. Drain the lentils in a colander and rinse briefly with cool water until they are cooled.
  • While the lentils are cooking, prepare the lemon garlic dressing. Use a microplane, zester, or small-holed cheese grater to remove about 1 Tbsp of the lemon’s zest (the thin, yellow, outer layer of the peel). Set the zest aside. Juice the lemon and measure ¼ cup of the juice to use for the dressing.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper. Set the dressing aside.
  • Rinse the parsley well, shake off as much water as possible, then pull the leaves from the stems. Roughly chop the parsley leaves. Cut the grape tomatoes in half. Finely dice the red onion.
  • When the lentils are cooked, cooled, and well drained, transfer them to a large bowl. Add the chopped parsley, tomatoes, red onion, crumbled feta, lemon zest, and the prepared dressing. Stir to combine the ingredients and coat everything in dressing.
  • Serve immediately, or refrigerate until ready to eat. Always stir the salad just before serving to redistribute the dressing and flavors.

See how we calculate recipe costs here.

Notes

*Garlic cloves can vary quite a bit in size. Two medium cloves should yield about 1 tablespoon minced. Use one clove instead for a milder garlic flavor.
**This recipe works best with lentils that hold their shape after cooking, such as brown, green, or even black lentils. Rinse and sort the dried lentils before cooking to remove any debris. There's no need to soak the dried lentils first. If using canned lentils, rinse and drain them well before adding them to the salad. They're a convenient shortcut, but the texture will be much softer than using freshly cooked lentils. Avoid red, yellow, and orange lentils, as they become too soft for this salad. 
***If you prefer a milder onion flavor, stir the finely diced red onion into the dressing and let it sit for about 10 minutes before assembling the salad. You can also briefly rinse and drain the diced onion under cold water to soften its sharp bite.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving (1 cup) | Calories: 234kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 12g | Sodium: 309mg | Fiber: 11g