Black Lentil Salad – Instant Pot Easy on a Summer Night

When you want something tasty, healthy, and filling on a hot summer night, this might be just the one for you. Black lentils are unique because they do not lose their shape or flavor as easily as red and green lentils do. They have a nutty flavor that we love.

This recipe gets even easier when you use an Instant Pot or other pressure cookers to cook the lentils.  They do not require soaking, are ready to chill in about 8 minutes, just enough time to prep your other vegetables.  While the salad is chilling in the refrigerator, you can relax after a long day, or get something done without having to worry about the stove.

It’s a great salad for the summer because you can put other fresh vegetables in it you might have on hand.  Lightly steamed broccoli, pea pods, chopped kale, or endame would be very good choices.  If you want to add protein, chopped ham would be a great addition.  Do you have some leftover rotisserie chicken?  Put it in there! Lucky enough to have leftover steak?  What a great addition that would make.  As you can see, this is a versatile salad you can make the way you want it.

Our favorite dressing for this salad and many others is Girard’s Champagne Dressing, and for good reason. It is a light dressing made with champagne and white wine vinegar. It complements the food and doesn’t overpower the flavor.

Let’s Make Black Lentil Salad

Black Lentil Salad

This light black lentil whole meal salad is perfect for a hot summer day.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share

Prep Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 8 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 38 minutes minutes

Servings (slide to adjust): 4 servings

Chef Adrienne Boswell

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Newsletter: 2023-06-30

Calories per serving: 313kcal

Click here to add your own private notes.

Equipment

Instant Pot Duo Evo

If you purchase any of the products through these affiliate links, I get a few pennies that help keep The Good Plate open. I use these products myself and want you to be able to easily find them.

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients

1x2x3x

For the Lentils

• 1 cup black lentils
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon vegetable base
• 2 garlic cloves, broken
• 2 quarts water

For the Salad

• ½ red onion, chopped
• ¼ cup pimentos, diced
• 1 can corn
• 1 small can sliced black olives
• 2 tablespoons Girard's Champagne dressing

Ingredients necessary for the recipe step are in italic.

Instructions

Pictures OnPictures Off

• Mise en place
  
• 1 cup black lentils, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon vegetable base, 2 garlic cloves, 2 quarts water
  Put the lentils, vegetable base, bay leaf and broken up pieces of garlic in the pressure cooker. Cook on high for 8 minutes and use the quick release. Drain the lentils and put them in the refrigerator.
• 1/2 red onion
  Chop the onion and put it and the rest of the ingredients in the refrigerator with the lentils.to cool, about an hour and a half or so.
• 1/4 cup pimentos, 1 can corn, 1 small can sliced black olives, 2 tablespoons Girard's Champagne dressing
  Combine the lentils, pimentos, corn, olives, red onion and toss with the salad dressing. Taste it and adjust the seasonings to what you like.
  

Notes

This is a perfect salad to add other leftover vegetables or other small vegetables.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 313kcalCarbohydrates: 48gProtein: 17gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 735mgFiber: 19gSugar: 8g

Got Questions? Let me know!Mention @arbpen or tag #arbpen!