Mediterranean French Lentil Salad

This Mediterranean French Lentil Salad is perfect for a meatless lunch, plus it’s full of healthy, delicious ingredients, fiber, and a marvelous array of flavors and textures!

Mediterranean French Lentil Salad

This French Lentil Salad is typical of the healthy lunches I  love to eat.  For a number of years, I cooked along with a group of terrific bloggers using recipes from Dorie Greenspan’s marvelous tome, Around My French Table. Through her cookbook, I discovered the deliciousness of French green lentils or lentils du puy. I fell hard for her Lentil Lemon and Tuna Salad with preserved lemons!

The Benefits of Lentils

From the looks of my blog, you might think I’m stuffing my face with cupcakes, cookies and pie on a daily basis. I admit to having a pretty wicked sweet tooth, but generally I eat healthy, low-carbish type fare, especially for lunch.

Lentils offer numerous health benefits including lowering cholesterol, helping digestion and stabilizing blood sugar because of the high levels of soluble fiber. Lentils are also a good vegetarian source of protein.

With an extremely picky spouse who isn’t willing to try quinoa, lentils, farro, etc., I make big batches of these favorites for myself. These French lentils paired beautifully with diced artichoke hearts, cucumbers, red bell pepper, feta cheese and sliced kalamata olives. Dressed in a simple dressing of lemon juice, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, it was a breeze to toss together. And, lucky for me, I didn’t have to share this lovely Mediterranean French Lentil Salad!

More Lentil Recipes You’ll Love:

• Bacon Lentil Soup Recipe from She Wears Many Hats
• French Lentil Salad from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Healthy Lentil Chili from Bless This Mess
• Vegetable Soup with Lentils and Seasonal Greens from Saving Room for Dessert
• Lentil Veggie Tacos from Peas and Crayons
• Sausage Lentil and Vegetable Chowder from That Skinny Chick Can Bake

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Mediterranean French Lentil Salad

This Mediterranean French Lentil Salad is perfect for a meatless lunch, plus it's full of healthy, delicious ingredients, fiber, and a marvelous array of flavors and textures!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Yield 4

Ingredients

Salad:

• 1 cup green lentils
• 3 cups chicken broth or salted water
• 1/2 red bell pepper, small diced
• 1/2 English cucumber, peeled, small diced
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts, diced
• 1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced
• 1/3 cup feta (packed in water), diced
• 1/4 cup chopped basil, optional

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Rinse lentils and pick out any foreign debris. Add to sauce pan with broth or water. Cook until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain.

Add warm lentils to a mixing bowl.

Make dressing by whisking together lemon juice and balsamic vinegar. Slowly whisk in olive oil and season to taste.

Toss the lentils with the vinaigrette. Let cool to room temperature and add the rest of the ingredients. Toss to combine. Refrigerate if not eating immediately, but bring to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 398 Total Fat: 17g Saturated Fat: 4g Trans Fat: 0g Cholesterol: 17mg Sodium: 788mg Carbohydrates: 45g Fiber: 8g Sugar: 7g Protein: 20g