French Lentil Salad

One of my favorite and go to salads as a side dish or put on spinach for a lighter salad meal. It is wonderful any time of the year, but tastes best in summer when the veggies and herbs are in season. This salad is especially nice with fresh corn off the cob, but tastes great still with thawed frozen corn.

French (also called Puy) lentils are one of my favorite types of lentils, they have a wonderful texture, cook pretty quickly, and hold up beautifully in both soups and salads. This recipe can also work well with brown lentils, but they will take longer to cook. Red and green split lentils work best for soups however and will be too soft to hold up in this salad so I don’t recommend them for this dish.

I hope you’re able to give it a try soon and hope you enjoy!

French Lentil Salad

Author: Natalie Smith

This bright and light lentil salad pairs wonderfully with grilled chicken or fish and is a great side for any summer get together.

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Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Resting Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Calories 275

Ingredients

  

Lentils

• 1 Cup Dry French/Puy lentils
• 4 Cups Chicken (or chicken style for vegetarian option) stock

Salad

• 1 Cup Corn (cooked fresh from the cop or thawed frozen corn)
• ½ Cup Sundried tomatoes chopped (about the same size as the corn) * Jarred in oil
• ½ Cup Spanish olives chopped (about the same size as the corn)
• ½ Cup Green bell pepper chopped (about the same size as the corn)
• ½ Cup Red bell pepper chopped (about the same size as the corn)
• ¼ Packed Cup Flat leave parsley minced * Packed in measuring cup before chopping
• ¼ Packed Cup Fresh basil roughly chopped to avoid bruising * Packed in measuring cup before chopping

Dressing

• ¼ Cup Oil from the sundried tomatoes jar
• 2 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Clove Garlic minced
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

 

Lentils

• Bring the lentils in the stock to a boil.
• Cover and reduce the heat to low, cooking for 15 minutes or until lentils are tender, but not mushy.
• Drain the excess liquid and place in a boil, ready for the salad ingredients

Dressing

• Mix the dressing ingredients together in a small jar, cover with a lid and shaking hard until combined.
• Set aside until rest of the salad is ready.

Salad

• Chop sundried tomatoes, olives, and bell peppers.
• Add to the bowl of the lentils and stir to combine.
• Add the dressing.
• Add the parsley and basil, stirring to combine. Doing this last will help reduce bruising of the basil.
• The salad can be enjoyed right away, but I recommend letting it rest for at least 30 minutes for flavors to come together together.
• Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!