Crispy Lentil, Orange, and Pomegranate Salad

Roasting cooked lentils in the oven, for just a few minutes, makes them crisp, crunchy, and so much more than your average legume. This salad is a textural wonder as any good salad should be.

Even in cold weather, a good winter salad is welcome, and this one makes good use of seasonal ingredients. Pomegranate is almost finished for the season – but not quite – and combined with orange, lamb’s lettuce (my winter darling of lettuce greens), and pickled red onion, you have a very bright salad in both flavour and appearance.

The lentils are cooked with a warming spice mix that plays off the ginger and orange vinaigrette. It all boils down to one thing: this isn’t a boring salad.

Ingredients

• Greens: I use lamb’s lettuce (feldsalat/mâche) all winter as it grows well in cold weather. You could sub other greens, see below.
• Lentils: black beluga, le puy green, or brown mountain lentils. Don’t use red lentils.
• Spices: either use a spice mix like ras el hanout, or mix some of your favourite spices to make your own. I like cumin, cinnamon, and cardamom, with cayenne pepper.
• Seeds: a mix that you like. Pictured are sunflower and sesame.
• Orange: both for the vinaigrette and in the salad.
• Pickled Onions: optional, but the acidity is very good here. You can use raw onion, very thinly sliced, instead.
• Pomegranate: adds a nice pop of sweetness. Sub dried fruit like cranberries if preferred.
• Olive Oil: for the vinaigrette and roasting the lentils.
• Ginger: for the vinaigrette, must be fresh, not dried.

Notes and Substitutions

Use lemon in place of orange for the vinaigrette if necessary. If you need an extra boost of acidity, add a splash of apple cider vinegar.

The lentils can be roasted in advance, but will lose their crunch if mixed with the salad. If you plan to have leftovers, keep the lentils separate and mix immediately before serving. The rest of the salad will keep fairly well in the refrigerator for a day or two, though if you’re making it for lunches it’s best to keep the vinaigrette separate as well.

I recommend a type of salad green that’s a bit sturdier, like lamb’s lettuce. Use something like baby spinach or rucola (arugula) instead if you can’t find it where you live.

More Wintery Salads

Moroccan Roasted Vegetable Salad
Pumpkin Salad
Red Cabbage Orange Salad
Quinoa Carrot Salad

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This post was originally published in January 2018. It has been updated with some slight improvements to the recipe as of February 2022.