5 Ingredient Caprese Lentil Salad

This caprese lentil salad captures all the flavors of traditional caprese salad, but bulks it up with lentils so that it’s filling enough for lunch or a light dinner.

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If you’re a long-time reader of my blog, you probably know that I love beans. They’re cheap, filling, and the perfect protein-packed substitute to make so many meat dishes vegetarian. And honestly I think they’re just really tasty. And lentils are one of my favorite beans to use, because they’re quick to cook and absorb just about any flavor you pair them with. I’ve made these lentils in parmesan brodo, and also this lemony artichoke lentil salad, which is actually very similar to this dish. But since all the fresh produce of summer has been calling my name, I decided to put a spin on that lentil salad by pairing lentils with traditional mozzarella, tomatoes and basil to make this caprese lentil salad.

This caprese lentil salad is one of those quick weeknight meals that I love to make. You only need a handful of ingredients (see below), and if you’re using pre-cooked lentils you don’t even have to do any cooking. Trader Joe’s has a great little pack of pre-cooked lentil that I love to use for dishes like this, but you could also cook up your lentils before making this dish, and then let them cool. You could even make a big batch of cooked lentils for the week. They’re great for salads like this or to mix into just about any dish for an extra boost of protein.

A FIVE INGREDIENT DISH

The magical part of this caprese lentil salad is that you only need to use five simple ingredients to make a super flavor-packed dish. I’m not counting olive oil, salt and pepper in those five ingredients, because they’re pantry staples. But the way I achieved the low ingredient count in this dish is by letting some of those ingredients work double duty. Instead of opting for classic mozzarella cheese, I chose to use the little mozzarella balls that come marinated in olive oil, herbs and spices. You still only need that one ingredient, but it packs a whole array of flavors, instead of just mozzarella.

And no caprese salad is complete without basil, so instead of just shredding the basil and mixing it into the salad (which is essential to making this feel like a true caprese), I also finely chopped the basil and incorporated it into the dressing for a pesto-like sauce. That way, not only do you get the flavor of little bites of basil as you eat the salad, but that basil flavor is infused throughout the whole dish. The lentils even start to absorb some of that dressing as the salad sits, making each and every bite of this dish as flavor-packed as possible.

And while balsamic vinegar is a more traditional caprese salad topping, I decided to use lemon in my dressing instead because it can also do double-duty. I used lemon juice in the dressing, and then zested the lemon and mixed it straight into the salad as well. All this makes for a salad that seems simple, but is actually incredibly delicious and flavor-packed.