Vegan dense bean salad with tofu feta
20 min · 22 g protein · 373 cals / serving
The meal-prep salad that went viral in 2025, made fully plant-based: chickpeas, white beans and edamame with crisp cucumber, red pepper, tomatoes and tangy pepperoncini, all tossed in a sharp oregano vinaigrette. Crumbled tofu marinated in lemon, oregano and salt stands in for the feta, salty and tangy in every forkful.
Ingredients
Vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Tofu feta
- 7 oz prepared extra firm tofu, patted dry
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cups edamame, shelled, thawed if frozen
- 1 cucumber, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 small red onion, finely sliced
- 1/3 cup banana peppers, pepperoncini, sliced
- 8 black olives, kalamata, halved
- a large handful fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Whisk the vinaigrette in the bottom of a large bowl (or the container you will store it in): olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper.
- Make the tofu feta: crumble the tofu into a small bowl in feta-sized pieces, add the lemon juice, nutritional yeast, oregano and salt and toss gently. Let it sit while you chop everything else.
- Add the chickpeas, white beans, edamame, cucumber, red pepper, tomatoes, red onion, pepperoncini, olives and parsley to the vinaigrette and toss until every bean is coated.
- Scatter the tofu feta over the top and fold it in gently. Eat straight away, or refrigerate: it keeps 4 days and the flavor improves as it marinates. Stir before serving.
Good to know
Why 'dense'?
It is the creator's word for a salad with no filler lettuce: everything in the bowl is beans, vegetables and protein, which is why one bowl is a full meal and why it travels so well in a lunch box.
Does the tofu really taste like feta?
Not exactly, but marinated in lemon, salt and oregano it picks up the same salty, tangy role in the salad. Let it sit at least 10 minutes, or overnight for the strongest flavor.
Can I swap the beans?
Any firm beans work: butter beans, black beans or lentils. Keep the edamame, which brings the most protein of the three.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 89
- Protein
- (24%)
- 5 g
- Fat
- (39%)
- 4 g
- Carbohydrates
- (37%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 3 g
- Sodium
- 190 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How
As written, 1491 kcal goes into the pot and 1687 g of ingredients comes out as about 1680 g of food: 89 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.