This curry dense bean salad is an incredibly delicious multi-bean salad packed with vegetables and loaded with flavor for the ultimate meal prep option!
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When your vegan, creating salads is usually a given. However, we have worked hard to break the stigma that vegans ONLY eat salads. Yet, sometimes, a recipe like this curry dense bean salad is just a must.
If you’re like us, you’re looking for a recipe that is easy to make, meal prep friendly, loaded with flavor, but also great nutrients, and just overall amazing.
Well, you’re going to get all those things solved with this one recipe.
What is Dense Bean Salad?
Dense bean salad is simply a multi-bean salad that is loaded with veggies, herbs, and a dressing. Most also contain meat, but this one does not. The result is high protein and fiber-rich salads that are nutritionally and flavorfully well rounded. The term was created by Tiktoker Violet Witchel from our research.
Jump to:
- What is Dense Bean Salad?
- Why You’ll Love This Dense Bean Salad Recipe
- Vegan Dense Bean Salad Recipe Ingredients
- How to Make Vegan Dense Bean Salad
- Easy Dense Bean Salad Recipe Variations
- What to Serve With Vegan Dense Bean Salad
- How to Store Dense Bean Salad
- Other must try vegan salad dishes:
- 🥳 Get the Full Recipe
- Frequently Asked Questions:
- 💬 See What People Are Saying
Why You’ll Love This Dense Bean Salad Recipe
- Pantry Friendly – This recipe is mostly ingredients that people keep on hand all the time or can be swapped for what you do have making it amazing to make all the time
- Meal Prep Friendly – this recipe only gets better as it sits and allows the flavors to merry together and lasts for up to 7 days in the fridge which makes it a great option to eat all week long
- Flavorful – You won’t believe how much flavor you get out of these simple ingredients and when all combined are something incredible
Vegan Dense Bean Salad Recipe Ingredients
Gather your ingredients! See my recipe card below for a complete list of the ingredients with measurements.
- Avocado
- Baby cucumbers
- Baby potatoes
- Bell peppers
- Cannellini beans
- Cherry tomatoes
- Chickpeas
- Cilantro
- Garlic
- Ginger
- Lemon
- Onion
- Seasoning
How to Make Vegan Dense Bean Salad
Step 1: Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Place parchment paper on a baking tray and add the cut baby potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat. In a small bowl combine, garam masala, thyme, cinnamon, salt, and cloves and black pepper.
Sprinkle half this spice mixture on the potatoes and toss together to ensure even coating. Set the remaining spice mixture to the side.
Step 2: Bake for 20 minutes or until a fork pierces through easily.
Step 3: In a skillet, add oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in your chickpeas. Let cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often until they start to crisp up. Add the remaining spice mixture from Step 1 and stir together. Let cook for another 2 minutes. Place inside a large bowl that you will use to assemble your salad.
Step 4: In the same skillet, over medium heat, add the minced garlic and grated ginger. Stir to combine and cook for 30 seconds, careful not to burn. Add in curry powder, salt, allspice, red chili flakes, nutmeg. Stir together and let cook for 30 seconds.
Add in your sliced bell peppers and stir together. Let cook for 4-5 minutes or until it has softened, adding up to a tablespoon of water if needed to not stick. Remove from heat and add red wine vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan to release the flavors.
Step 5: In the bowl with your chickpeas, add the finished peppers and potatoes. Add in cannellini beans, halved tomatoes, sliced baby cucumbers, diced red onion, and chopped cilantro. Drizzle the lemon juice across. Toss to combine well.
Easy Dense Bean Salad Recipe Variations
This salad has a curry inspiration, but feel free to switch up the seasoning blend! Some fun ones could be:
- taco seasoning
- bbq seasoning
- cajun blend
- Italian herb blend
You can also switch up the vegetables! Try swapping baby potatoes for cubed sweet potatoes. Or swapping the white beans for red, pinto, or black beans.
Other additions could be:
- cauliflower
- broccoli
- carrots
- corn
- celery
- brussels sprouts
- mushrooms
- squash
- asparagus
- green beans
- edamame
You will want to keep in mind things like squash or asparagus will need to be cooked first.
What to Serve With Vegan Dense Bean Salad
Truly, you don’t need to have anything with this salad. It’s pack with so many wonderful ingredients that it’s a full meal all on it’s own.
That being said, it would be great with some garlic bread or chopped leafy green on the side.
How to Store Dense Bean Salad
Dense bean salad should be stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator. You should eat the salad within 2-3 days. After that the cucumbers start to break down to much for it to remain at peak deliciousness.
Other must try vegan salad dishes:
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Simple Dense Bean Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb baby potatoes quartered/halved depending on size
- 2 tablespoon olive oil, divided
- 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Potato and Chickpea Spice Blend
- 2 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
For the Peppers + Spice Blend
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ inch ginger root, grated
- 1 tablespoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon chili flakes
- ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 bell peppers any color, thinly sliced (3 if small)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
For the Salad Assembly
- 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 baby cucumbers thinly sliced
- 1 red onion diced
- 1 cup cilantro chopped
- Juice from ½ lemon more or less to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Place parchment paper on a baking tray and add the 1 ½ lb cut baby potatoes. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon olive oil and toss to coat. In a small bowl combine, 2 teaspoon garam masala, 1 teaspoon each thyme, cinnamon, and salt, and ½ teaspoon each cloves and black pepper. Sprinkle half this spice mixture on the potatoes and toss together to ensure even coating. Set the remaining spice mixture to the side. Bake for 20 minutes or until a fork pierces through easily.
- In a skillet, add 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Once hot, add in your chickpeas. Let cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring often until they start to crisp up. Add the remaining spice mixture from Step 1 and stir together. Let cook for another 2 minutes. Place inside a large bowl that you will use to assemble your salad.
- In the same skillet, over medium heat, add the 4 cloves minced garlic and ½ in grated ginger. Stir to combine and cook for 30 seconds, careful not to burn. Add in 1 tablespoon curry powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon each allspice and red chili flakes and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg. Stir together and let cook for 30 seconds. Add in your 2 sliced bell peppers and stir together. Let cook for 4-5 minutes or until it has softened, add up to a tablespoon of water if needed to not stick. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan to release the flavors.
- In the bowl with your chickpeas, add the finished peppers and potatoes. Add in 15oz can cannellini beans, pint halved tomatoes, 4 sliced baby cucumbers, 1 diced red onion, and 1 cup chopped cilantro. Drizzle the juice from ½ a lemon across. Toss to combine well.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Frequently Asked Questions:
This recipe will last up to 7 days in the fridge when made as instructed.
Yes! Great news, this recipe is already written to be Top 9 Allergen friendly.
Of course, recommendations would be another can of beans or chickpeas, cubed tofu, edamame, cooked lentils, grains like quinoa or barley, and/or nuts like cashews or almonds.
This entree was so delicious! The flavors were amazing. We are not vegan, but the next day I added some grilled shrimp to take to work for lunch and it was so good!
Glad you enjoyed the salad!
This is SO delicious! It made enough to fill a 3 quart bowl, and seems quite adaptable. I’ll be using this all summer when it’s too hot to cook much. Thank you for the delicious recipe, and your chill videos 🙂
We are thrilled you enjoyed it! You are so right, it is incredibly adaptable and perfect for those hot days when you just want something fresh and filling. Thanks for watching and for trying our recipe!
So delicious! I went with the Italian blend instead of curry; this recipe is packed with flavour. This will be a staple for on the go lunches and picnics soon enough!
We are absolutely thrilled that you enjoyed the Dense Bean Salad! Swapping the curry for an Italian blend sounds like a delicious twist. We love hearing how you made the recipe your own. It makes us so happy to hear this will be a staple for your on-the-go lunches and picnics; it really is the perfect meal prep dish. Thank you for cooking with us!
this but with oven fryied tofu covered honey maple bbq sauce and sweet tonkatsu sauce fantastic very easy for somone who can barly cook
Thank you so much!
Ok, I have to admit – I did not even get to taste the entire recipe because I ate the potatoes and chickpeas in bowls with nothing else. The flavor of these two items are magnificent. I can only imagine that adding all the other vegetables would be even better but I smelled the potatoes and just knew I would not be able to resist. I was right. I used dried chickpeas and pressure cooked them with the same spices called for in the recipe and they turned out perfect. I will make this again and again (and even try it with all the vegetables)!
This is awesome! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try and sharing your experience with it!
Wow! This is off the chart delicious. I couldn’t stop eating it. I’m not usually a fan of mixing raw and cooked foods but this was perfection. Easy to make and filling.
Totally get that! Glad you tried it and loved it
Absolutely loved this, made it for the first time for dinner tonight.
That’s awesome! Thank you so much for giving the recipe a try!