Dense White Bean Salad (Inspired by Violet Witchel)

This thick white bean salad it’s packed with cannellini beans and chickpeas, roasted chicken, fresh herbs and classic Moroccan flavors. Inspired by Violet Witchel TikTok series, this recipe is a great meal prep option, with leftovers keeping great in the refrigerator for days.

If you’re like me, your social media feed is full of food.

Whether it’s trendy food hacks or classic recipes, I’m always overwhelmed by the number of talented creators there are out there. And when I found it Violet Witchel TikTokI was totally hooked.

He recently began sharing a series called “Dense Bean Salads” or “DBS,” a concept that combines canned beans with lots of fresh herbs and some form of meat. The result is the heartiest, most satisfying salad I think I’ve ever eaten.

While the recipe that inspired mine was built around the flavors of chimmichurri steak, I decided to lean into my love of Moroccan cuisine to take on the DBS trend.

This thick white bean salad combines my ras el hanout chicken thighs with canned cannellini beans, chickpeas, roasted red peppers, fresh herbs, and feta cheese. All this is mixed together and covered with a lemon harissa sauce.

It’s so good and so filling that it almost seems wrong to call it a salad.

What you will need

For the salad:

• ras el hanout roasted chicken legs (can also be replaced with rotisserie chicken), cut into cubes
• shallot, diced
• coriander, chopped
• parsley, chopped
• roasted red peppers, drained and diced
• chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• drained and rinsed cannellini beans
• Optional: feta cheese, crumbled

For the seasoning:

• harissa
• clove of garlic, grated
• lemon juice
• olive oil

Find the full ingredient list with exact quantities in the recipe card below.

How to prepare this white bean salad

Tip: Be sure to use a sharp knife when preparing the salad because there is a lot of chopping and chopping involved!

A great meal prep recipe

One of my favorite ways to use this salad, per Violet’s directions, is as meal prep! Due to the thick nature of the recipe, it keeps exceptionally well when refrigerated for several days.

If you’re a fan of meal prep or are looking to get back on the meal prep train (hi, that’s me!), her recipes are a great place for inspiration.

They take a lot of the guesswork out of weeknight meals, whether you use them for lunches, dinners, or even just a quick, super filling snack. They are some of the best leftovers I’ve ever had.

Mix your DBS

The beauty of Violet’s thick bean salad concept is its versatility. You can take the base of canned beans, some other form of protein, and fresh herbs and go in any flavor direction you want.

Here are some ideas:

• Make it vegetarian/vegan: Feel free to skip the chicken and feta altogether to make this salad vegan/vegetarian.
• Change meat/beans: If you don’t like chickpeas or prefer the excellent northern beans to cannellini, feel free to change them. You can also use steak or rotisserie chicken instead of the chicken ras el hanout I called for in this recipe.
• Play with spices: I’m leaning heavily on my favorite Moroccan flavors here, but you can easily take the ingredients here in another direction. Try using a different spice blend on the chicken and use your favorite fresh herbs!

Quick replacements

I also want to note that some of the Moroccan ingredients listed (harissa seasoning, ras el hanout) in my recipe may not be accessible to you, so feel free to substitute them as needed!

Here are my favorite substitutes for these basic ingredients:

Other generous salads

Thanks for being here,

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