Easy Green Salad Recipe

The Perfect High Protein Quick and Healthy Vegan Lunch Idea

Prep time 20 minutes | Total Time 20 minutes

I am on a mission to convince you that you don’t have to sacrifice your health just because of your busy lifestyle. I eat this vegan green salad every day for lunch, and it only takes me about 20 minutes to prepare enough for an entire week! If you are looking to dig into easy vegan meal prep options for your plant-based lunches, this recipe is for you.

This green salad has a base of romaine lettuce, spinach, and purple cabbage. Packed with a variety of other veggies it is great for gut health, and I will teach you how to make it into a high-protein plant-based lunch meal in no time at all.

As a bonus I will teach you how to make a quick and easy homemade vegan salad dressing that is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are important for brain health and can be hard to get in a vegan diet, but this vegan dressing makes getting your omega-3s a breeze.

Ingredients for the Salad

• 1 head romaine, green leaf or red leaf lettuce

• 1 bunch spinach

• 1/4 head red or green cabbage

• 2 to 3 grated carrots

• 1/4 head cauliflower or broccoli

• 1 cucumber, sliced

• 10 to 15 grape tomatoes cut in half

• 1/2 to 1 whole orange or red bell pepper

• 1 package edamame, cooked

• 1 package pre-seasoned tofu (or make your own- check out my Asian-inspired tofu recipe)

• 1 can rinsed garbanzo beans

• pumpkin seeds for topping (optional)

  Ingredients & Instructions for the Dressing

• 1/2 cup flax oil (rich in omega-3 fatty acids)

• 1/4 cup balsamic or red wine vinegar

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

  Mix the above ingredients together well in a bowl, store in a jar or old salad dressing container.

Instructions for the Salad

I learned the secret that makes this recipe such an easy vegan meal prep for the week when I was working in restaurants! If you know how, you can make a salad that lasts an entire week!

1. Cook your package of edamame according to package instructions, then strain and set aside.

2. Chop your romaine lettuce and rinse it very well in a salad spinner. Once it is rinsed be sure to spin it and get it as dry as you can in the spinner. Transfer your lettuce to a ceramic or pyrex bowl that has a lid - this part is important! You can also use a large plastic container with a lid.

3. Rinse your spinach very, very well- spinach can tend to be gritty! Then spin and dry it in your salad spinner.

4. Rip the spinach leaves with your hands into smaller pieces and add to the same container as the lettuce.

5. Chop up your cabbage into thin strips and add to your green salad (lettuce and spinach) mixture.

6. Shred your carrots and add to your green salad mixture.

7. Cut your cauliflower into small pieces and add to your green salad mixture.

   NOTE- I refer to this mixture as my “hard ingredients”. If you place a paper towel on top of this lettuce, cabbage, spinach, carrot, cauliflower mixture and store in an airtight container it will last a week without going bad. This will be the base of our weekly salad. We are going to add more ingredients (see below) but we will store those separately.

8. Cut up your cucumber, tomatoes, and bell pepper. You want to store these in a multi-compartment, air-tight container OR in separate containers. Don’t worry, you don’t have to own/buy a zillion containers! Old takeout containers are great for this purpose, or you can also just use a bowl and cover it with cling wrap! I call these my “soft” ingredients because they tend to go bad more quickly, meaning you have to store them separately from your lettuce mixture which will last an entire week. You also may have to chop more soft ingredients as the week goes on - I tend to chop enough to last me 3 days.

9. Rinse your can of chickpeas.

10. Cut your block of tofu into 1 inch pieces

    Putting it all together!

NOTE: I store the “hard” ingredients in an airtight container and the “soft” ingredients in separate air-tight containers as mentioned above. I also store my protein sources (tofu, edamame, and garbanzo beans) in their own containers. Each day I make a high-protein salad by doing the following:

1. Grab a large handful of the lettuce/spinach “hard ingredients” mixture and put it in a container/bowl.

2. Add some of each of the “soft” ingredients (peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes)

3. Add in any two of the three protein sources, or if you want add in all three. I try to get about 20-25 grams of protein in each of my salads. Some examples of how to do that are: 1 cup edamame (18 grams) and 3 ounces firm tofu (6 grams) or 1/2 package Trader Joe’s Teriyaki Tofu (18 grams) and 1/2 cup garbanzo beans (5 grams)

4. Optional: Add pumpkin seeds to your salad (about a tablespoon) - these add magnesium, zinc, and extra protein.

5. Cover your salad, and pop in your lunch bag for the next day. Follow these steps each day you want a delicious salad.

6. Don’t forget to bring a side of omega-3 rich dressing to top your salad.

Notes and Adjustments!

I recommend you watch my short cooking tutorial on YouTube for this recipe as it will make the directions more clear. I also like to eat this salad as the base under a good veggie burger or as a side (often without the added protein) for my dinner. Enjoy! If you notice the green salad getting wilty over the week in the storage container, make the paper towel a bit damp, that will keep the lettuce and other hard ingredients hydrated.