High protein chopped salad
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
The salad
- 480 g chickpeas, two tins, drained, rinsed and patted dry rounded
- 4 eggs, 8 minutes from boiling, then cooled and diced rounded
- 150 g feta, cubed small, and most is made with animal rennet rounded
- 300 g cucumber, seeds scooped out, then diced, or the bowl goes watery rounded
- 250 g cherry tomatoes, quartered and drained briefly in a sieve rounded
- 200 g romaine lettuce, shredded across the leaf, not torn rounded
- 80 g red onion, diced and rinsed under cold water to take the bite off rounded
- 20 g flat parsley rounded
To dress
- 150 ml yogurt dressing, the caesar or the house dressing; see the notes rounded
Method
Method
- Boil the eggs 8 minutes, then straight into cold water. Peel and dice once properly cold.
- Cut everything to roughly chickpea size. This takes ten minutes and is the entire recipe.
- Deseed the cucumber and drain the tomatoes. Both are mostly water and both will thin the dressing into a puddle otherwise.
- Dress just before eating and toss thoroughly from the bottom.
Where the protein comes from
| Ingredient | Protein per serving |
|---|---|
| Chickpeas, 120 g | about 9 g |
| Egg, one | about 6 g |
| Feta, 38 g | about 5 g |
| Yogurt dressing | about 6 g |
| Vegetables and leaves | about 3 g |
| Total | roughly 30 g |
No meat anywhere in that list, which is the point. Adding a chicken breast takes it past 55 g if you want it.
Notes
- Chop, do not tear. A chopped salad is a different food from a leaf salad. Every forkful carries protein, fat, acid and crunch together, and that is why it satisfies where a leaf salad does not.
- Rinsing the red onion takes about a minute and removes the harsh sulphurous edge that otherwise dominates the bowl for days.
- For meal prep, keep the dressing separate and add the lettuce on the day. Everything else holds three days dressed-free.
- Most feta uses animal rennet, which is why this is a vegetarian option rather than vegetarian.
Ingredient substitutions
- White beans or lentils in place of chickpeas work identically. Cooked green lentils hold their shape best.
- Cottage cheese instead of feta pushes the protein higher again and makes it milder; add extra salt and lemon.