Salads can be a great unique dish, healthy and very satiating, if vegetable proteins are added. These salad recipes are an example and they are delicious!
Salads are the quintessential healthy dishes and an effective way to include more vegetables in our daily diet. If we also add protein to make protein salads, we turn them into a unique and nutritious dish.
HOW TO ADD PROTEIN TO SALAD
In these salad recipes we have followed some basic rules when making a complete, healthy and nutritious single dish:
- Vegetables and more vegetables, raw or cooked: The basis of any salad, even a protein salad, is vegetables. You can include green leafy vegetables (the darker, richer in protein they are) and complement them with raw vegetables (cabbage, carrot, beets, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower …). They can also be steamed, sautéed or directly include baked vegetables.
- Legumes, without fail: We want our protein salad to be healthy as well, so we will basically resort to vegetable proteins. Legumes, being a source of protein, are an essential ingredient. The options are many: soy (tofu or tempeh), chickpeas, lentils, white beans, pints, red… And you can add cooked, sautéed with spices or baked, which will leave them crispy. With legumes (or nuts) you can also prepare a delicious vegan tuna that will enrich your salads with its proteins.
- Experiment with nuts: Nuts are rich in protein and provide a crunchy touch. For this, it is advisable to incorporate them just before serving. Another option is to add them crushed, or experiment with vinaigrettes and sauces based on nut creams, or with vegan cheeses.
- Whole grains? Yes! Whole grains also contain protein and the richest in this nutrient are: buckwheat, kamut, quinoa, spelt grains, wild rice, wholemeal pasta, teff or amaranth.
- A complete salad: To get a vegetable salad rich in protein without complicating yourself by counting the proteins in grams, one way to make sure is to add two protein ingredients to the vegetable. For example: sautéed tofu and tahini vinaigrette, quinoa with nuts… The ration is half a cup of legumes and 100 grams of this other protein-rich food per person.
5 COMPLETE, BALANCED AND VEGETARIAN SALADS
BAKED VEGETABLE SALAD WITH LENTILS AND ALMOND FETA
Preparation: 30 minutes – Soaking: 8 hours – Cooking: 35 minutes
Ingredients (4 people):
- 1/2 pumpkin
- 400 g cooked lentil
- 300 g spinach
- 4 carrots
- 2 beets
- 2 red onions
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- salt
Almond feta:
- 225 g almonds
- 6 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon miso
Preparation:
- For almond cheese, let the almonds soak for eight hours at room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Peel onions, carrots and beets, and cut them into pieces. Place the vegetable on a baking sheet, season with salt and spices, drizzle with oil, mix well and bake 35 minutes, until the vegetable is cooked and begins to brown.
- Prepare the feta almond cheese. Discard the soaking water and peel the almonds. Put them with four tablespoons of water and the rest of the ingredients in a glass mixer or a food processor and crush until you get a homogeneous dough. If necessary, add two tablespoons of water. Try the taste. With wet hands he forms four flattened cylinders about two centimeters high.
- Spread a baking sheet with a little oil, place the cheese and bake together with the vegetable for 20 minutes until it begins to brown.
- To serve, divide the previously washed spinach into four plates, put the baked vegetables, lentils and one of the cheese cylinders on top.
QUINOA THAI SALAD WITH EDAMAME AND PEANUTS
Preparation: 20 minutes – Cooking: 15 minutes
Ingredients (4 people):
- 90 g quinoa
- 300 g frozen peeled edamame
- 1 tablespoon sesame or olive oil
- 2 carrots
- 1/4 red cabbage
- 1/4 cabbage
- 1 small spring onion
- 2 handfuls cilantro
- 4 tablespoons roasted peanuts
- 1 clove garlic and salt
For the vinaigrette:
- 4 tablespoons peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cm ginger
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup or a pinch of stevia
- 6-8 tablespoons of water (depending on need)
Preparation:
- Place the quinoa in a strainer, rinse it well and drain it. Put it in a pot along with a cup of water and a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook until the water evaporates, about 15 minutes. Let it cool.
- Sauté the garlic in a pan for about 10 seconds and add the frozen edamame and a pinch of salt. Let it cook for about 3-4 minutes, until tender but still green.
- For the vinaigrette, place all the ingredients in a glass mixer and crush them until you get a liquid sauce. If necessary, add more water.
- Peel the carrots and julienne them, as well as red cabbage and collard greens. Peel the spring onion and dice it. Wash the cilantro and remove the leaves.
- Mix the quinoa in a bowl with the edamame and vegetables. Divide into four plates, sprinkle with toasted peanuts and serve with the sauce.
Trick. Cook the edamame in water for three minutes. If you can’t find it, try peas.
POTATO SALAD, BEANS, GREEN BEANS AND VEGAN TUNA
Preparation: 25 minutes – Cooking: 25 minutes
Ingredients (4 people):
- 4 small potatoes
- 200 g round green beans
- 200 g cherry tomatoes
- 400 g cooked white beans
- 180 ml vinaigrette
- 4 tablespoons black olives
- 1 avocado
- 1/2 spring onion
For vegetable tuna:
- 150 g sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 spring onion
- 1/2 tablespoon flakes or wakame
- 1/4 celery stick
- 1 tablespoon parsley
Preparation:
- For the vegetable “tuna”, let the sunflower seeds soak for eight hours. Pour them into a bowl, cover with water and leave at room temperature. After the time, discard the water and drain them.
- For the salad, first cook the potatoes without removing the skin. Bring to a boil for 20-25 minutes, until tender. Then, drain them and let them cool.
- Pour the beans into a pot of boiling water and wait 3-4 minutes, until they are still crispy. Pass them through cold water to cut the boil.
- Prepare the fake tuna by placing all the ingredients in a food processor and pressing about 10-15 times to obtain a textured paste. Try the taste.
- Cut the potatoes into slices, the tomatoes in half, the onion into julienne and the avocado into cubes. Place it in a bowl along with the beans, beans and olives. Pour the vinaigrette and mix it well.
- When serving, divide it into individual plates and place a little vegetable “tuna” on each one.
TACO BOWL WITH CRISPY TOFU AND CREAMY AVOCADO SAUCE
Preparation: 30 minutes – Cooking: 35 minutes
Ingredients (4 people):
- 800 g cooked beans
- 200 g canned sweet corn
- 4 lettuce buds
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 spring onion
- 1 lemon
- fresh cilantro
- olive oil
- salt
For crispy tofu:
- 500 g firm tofu
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- a pinch of cayenne
For the sauce:
- 2 small avocados
- juice of half a lemon
- salt
Preparation:
- For crispy tofu, preheat oven to 200°C. Then, dry the tofu well and cut the block into quarters and then into 2-3 mm slices. Next, mix the soy sauce, olive oil, peeled and chopped garlic and the rest of the spices in a bowl and introduce the pieces of tofu. Bathe them thoroughly.
- Put them on a baking sheet, paint with the rest of the macerate and bake 25 minutes (turn them over in half the time). Turn it off, turn them over again and leave them for 5-10 more minutes.
- Peel the spring onion and cut it. The buds too, in strips, and the tomatoes and pepper in cubes. Then, wash the cilantro and remove all the leaves.
- To prepare the avocado sauce, crush the pulp in a bowl with salt and a little lemon juice.
- Assemble the salad by distributing the vegetables, beans, tofu and sauce into four bowls. Do not mix the ingredients. Season with salt, lemon juice and olive oil, and sprinkle cayenne, if you like spicy.
CAESAR KALE AND TEMPEH SALAD WITH SWEET POTATO AND HEMP MAYONNAISE
Preparation: 20 minutes – Cooking: 35 minutes
Ingredients (4 people):
- 1 large sweet potato
- 400 g tempeh
- 400 g chickpeas
- 1 romaine lettuce
- 4 kale leaves
- 100 ml olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 4 tablespoons tamari
- 2 tablespoons yeast
- olive oil
- salt
For hemp sauce:
- 80 g peeled hemp seeds
- 100 ml water
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- salt
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 200 °C. Wash the sweet potato well, cut it into slices and each of them in half. Then, place them on a baking sheet, season with salt and olive oil and let them bake for 10 minutes.
- Mix olive oil, peeled and chopped garlic, paprika, cumin, tamari and nutritional yeast in a large bowl.
- Add the diced tempeh and the drained chickpeas in the previous mixture. Then, place them on the tray along with the sweet potato and bake it for another 25 minutes.
- For the vinaigrette, place all the ingredients in a glass mixer and blend until you get a smooth sauce. You can also use a hand mixer. If you need it, you have the option to add a little more water. Try the taste.
- Wash the vegetables well to prepare the salad. Remove the stem of the kale and the white part of the lettuce, and cut the leaves.
- To serve the salad, divide the leaves into four plates and serve with the sweet potatoes, chickpeas, tempeh and sauce.
4 TRICKS TO MAKE SALADS RICHER IN PROTEIN
These little tricks will help you increase the protein intake in your salad recipes and thus make them more balanced:
- In pasta salads, use dried pasta from legumes. If you make pasta salad, choose legumes pasta (there is lentil paste, chickpea paste …). This way you will eat twice the amount of protein.
- Put hemp seeds on it. Crush two tablespoons of hemp seeds with a tablespoon of nutritional yeast and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle on your salad and gain 13g of protein.
- Enriches dressings with proteins. Try making vinaigrettes using nut or seed creams (peanut, almond, tahini …) or seasoned with tofu mayonnaise.
- Legumes as a complement. Change the typical corn of salads for cooked chickpeas or edamame.
