This Dense Bean Salad is a high-protein hearty mix of chickpeas, cannellini beans, crisp vegetables, olives, and feta in a tangy oregano-garlic vinaigrette. Perfect for meal prepped lunches and popular at potlucks!
2Persian cucumbers or half a big English cucumbersliced up
½smallred onionheaping half cup chopped
⅓cupfresh parsleyfinely chopped
½cupkalamata olivesor mix them up with pepperoncini for a zing
½cupfeta cheesecrumbled good and chunky
¼cupred wine vinegarto drizzle over all that goodness
1 ½tsphoney or pure maple syrupto sweeten just a little
1 ½tspdried oreganofor that Mediterranean vibe
3clovesgarlicminced fine so it spreads everywhere
¾tspfine salthelps pull all the flavors out
¼tspfreshly ground black pepperfor some bite
¼cupextra virgin olive oilto tie everything together
Instructions
Instructions
First, open up your pressure cooker and get ready to prep the beans if you wanna soften them a bit more than canned. You can pressure cook rinsed beans for about 5 minutes with a quick release if you like extra softness.
Next, drain and rinse those canned chickpeas and cannellini beans real good. This helps lose the canned taste, ya know?
Get your bell peppers diced nice and small so they're easy to munch on later. Same goes for cucumbers and red onion. In a big bowl, toss together the chickpeas, cannellini beans, diced peppers, sliced cucumbers, chopped red onion, and parsley.
Add the kalamata olives or that mix with pepperoncini for a slight kick. Then crumble the feta cheese right on top. You gotta get all those flavors mingling early. Drizzle the red wine vinegar over everything and give it a gentle toss so the tang spreads through without mushing anything.
Sprinkle in the dried oregano, minced garlic, salt, and pepper. Finally, pour the olive oil in a slow steady stream while tossing to coat all those ingredients with rich flavor. Let the salad rest for at least 10 minutes so the flavors blend together. If you're impatient like me, you could sneak a taste right away but the wait makes a heck of a difference.
Notes
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.