tangy lentil salad

This lentil salad recipe features bold dill, tahini and pepperoncini pepper flavors! It's tangy, crisp-tender, and delicious. Recipe yields about 6 to 8 side servings and keeps well for up to 4 days.

Tangy Lentil Salad with Dill &amp; Pepperoncini

black beluga lentils

bay leaf

fine sea salt

grated carrots (about ¾ pound

parsley

(1/3 ounce) fresh dill leaves, tough stems removed, torn into small pieces

celery (about 2 ribs)

green onion

pickled pepperoncini pepper

olive oil

lemon juice

(1/3 ounce) fresh dill leaves, tough stems removed

tahini

garlic, roughly chopped

fine sea salt,

red pepper flakes (scale back

black pepper,

To cook the lentils: Fill a medium-to-large saucepan with water, leaving several inches of room at the top. Bring it to a boil over high heat.

Meanwhile, sort through your lentils for debris, then rinse your lentils in a fine-mesh sieve under running water until the water runs clear. Set aside.

Once the water is boiling, add the rinsed lentils. Add the bay leaf and salt. Set the timer for 16 minutes. Reduce the heat as necessary to prevent overflow and to maintain a lively simmer.

Meanwhile, make the dressing in a food processor: Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, dill, tahini, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes and several twists of black pepper. Blend until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl as necessary. Set aside.

Once your timer has gone off, use a fork to scoop out a few lentils and test for doneness (careful, they’re hot). Your lentils are done when they are pleasantly tender throughout (not mushy or falling apart) and taste nicely earthy (undercooked lentils tend to taste somewhat metallic). If your lentils aren’t fully cooked yet, retest every 1 to 2 minutes until they are. Once cooked, strain off all the excess water.

Pour the lentils into a medium serving bowl, and discard the bay leaf. Pour in all of the dressing, and stir to combine. Add the grated carrots, parsley, the remaining dill, celery, green onion, and pepperoncini peppers. Wait to add the optional cheese until the lentils are just warm (not hot enough to melt the cheese).

Stir to combine. Season to taste with additional salt (for overall flavor), red pepper flakes (for heat) and/or black pepper. If the salad isn&#8217;t tangy enough for your liking, you could add a tablespoon more lemon juice or chopped pepperoncinis.

This salad is ready to serve, though it tastes even better after a 20-minute rest. It keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for about 4 days.

I happened to have all the ingredients on hand tonight (except dill - I'm not a fan, so I used a little of the pepperoncini juice instead) and I had some cooked lentils to use up, so I gave it a try. YUM! What an unusual, surprising mix of flavors! The only part I'm not crazy about are the shredded carrots, and it's a texture thing, not flavor. Maybe next time I will dice them instead. But I am thoroughly enjoying it tonight for dinner, so thank you for such a creative and delightful dish!

Just finished making and eating my first bowl of this salad - yum! I love dill. I did sub out the pepperoncini for some roasted red pepper, since I’m not a fan of pepperoncinis. Added some cubes of dill havarti also. Ready for some delicious lunches at work this week!

The dressing is so good it made me want to cry.

This salad is amazing, I did not have black lentils and it worked fine with green but I watched the cooking time closely as I did not want them to get mushy. The peperoncini Adds great flavor! Definitely a keeper!

I love lentils done in many ways!
Especially indian Dahl...but they most times they effect me with wind. Does anyone know a simple preparation method  to prevent them causing flatulence and irritation?

Oh my goodness this is so good!  It's something different and tangy!  The only change I made was cutting down on the dill because I am not a huge fan.  The dressing -- it's a good thing I didn't eat the entire dressing before the lentils were ready!  It is just fab.  Thank you!!!!

loved this one. I used lots of pepperoncinis and flakes. Thank you !

I just had to try this combination of flavors and am so pleased with the result. Using what I had on hand - mung beans, no French or black lentils; shredded red cabbage, no carrots (who has no carrots on hand?!?); minus parsley. Even with my adjustments it is so delicious. Thank you for the recipe!

I made the salad today - it is really tasty!
It will become a recurrent recipe, for sure.
Thank you!

I was looking for a new way to use lentils and made this for dinner tonight; it was delicious! I added diced summer squash and zucchini, so good.

This salad was a big hit with my family!  I almost didn’t make it because the combination of ingredients sounded odd.  But it called for all the things I needed to use up in my fridge, so I went for it.   Really delicious.  I made it exactly as per the recipe (including the egg), except no peppers, which I didn’t have.   The dressing is great and could be used for many other salads.

YUM! This a very tasty salad and easy to do. It's light and filling at the same time. I used my instant pot for the lentils, and just used a whisk for the dressing. I will be making this salad again (and again and again!) Five stars!

This is a fantastic salad. It's a keeper. However, I put the pepperoncini in the blender with the dressing, and OMG way too hot. I'm wondering if this salad is freezable? Or if I make it again without the pepperoncini if that will take it down a notch? But even though my kids can't eat it, and I can barely stand the heat, the flavour is fantastic. Truly, a genius salad. Thank you so much for creating it for us! :0)

What leftovers? By day two it had toned down. I made it again and did not blend and it was normal hot, and fine! But still no leftovers past the second day. This salad is insane good. Oh...I think the pepperoncini in oil are the best; in vinegar the flavour diminishes too quickly. Thanks again!

This is a delicious and hearty salad. We absolutely love it! The addition of red pepper flakes gave it just a hint of heat that made it so tasty. Thank you Kate! This will be a go-to salad for picnics. :)

Outrageous lentil salad recipe!!! The tahini dill dressing is especially delicious and I can already imagine using it for other recipes. Thanks for this one... it’s a keeper!!!

I made this salad last week and loved it!   I used green lentils, will use black lentils when I find them again, which tasted great.  I put a fried egg on top and loved it so much I had it for lunch for three days. Delicious!!!

This is an amazing Kathryne...and it looks sooo yummy &amp; more colorful as well..and i was read a new way uses of lentils....i will trying to make tonight...Thanks for sharing.....! 

This recipe gets a 5 star after a day of sitting in the fridge, and a 3 star if you eat it right away. Right away, I found the salad too sesame-y with the tahini. The following day though- FABULOUS!! The dill and pepperoncini peppers come alive. Difficult to find the black lentils, limited supply at Whole Foods.

I start my weekly menu planning on Cookie and Kate website, I have loved every other recipe I've tried and many have become family favorites.

But this one was along the line of "well, that was a lot of work for not much rave" effort. I could not find black lentils at the grocer, so that may have been the kiss of death from the start. The dill was fragrant and that helped redeem the salad. Maybe my tahini was too bland? At any rate, this was good but not something I will make again.

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