Vegan Greens and Beans Salad

This healthy vegan green salad is packed with tasty vegetables and beans, and will help you to get more than just '5-a-day'!

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Vegan Greens and Beans Salad

This vegan green salad is packed with beans and veggies for a healthy lunchtime feast.

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This healthy vegan salad is packed with tasty vegetables, and will help you to get more than just ‘5-a-day’!

With tasty green veg like broccoli, asparagus, and spinach along with a protein hit from the beans, this salad is sure to energise and nourish you.

It’s great served in smaller portions as a side dish, or enjoy a big bowl as a high-volume light lunch. Add a healthy carbohydrate like wholegrain bread or rice to make an even more filling meal.

Is pesto vegan?

Most kinds of pesto are made with parmesan cheese, so regular store-bought pesto is very unlikely to be vegan. It may not even be vegetarian!

Thankfully, vegan pesto is becoming more popular, and dairy free varieties made with ingredients like tofu, nutritional yeast, and vegan cheese alternatives are becoming more widely available, and should be on the shelves in your local supermarket.

If you can’t find a vegan pesto, or if you fancy a challenge, you can try making your own vegan pesto.

Do we really need 5 fruits and vegetables a day? 

The ‘5-a-day’ campaign was launched in 2003, following World Health Organisation’s recommendation to consume at least 400g of fruits and vegetables each day to reduce the risk of health conditions such as heart disease and cancer. So, in short, yes! Eating at least five different portions of fruit and veg is very important for your health.

However, more recent research has shown that five portions may not be enough.

In 2017, research by Imperial College London concluded that everyone eating ten portions, or 800g, of fruit and veg daily could save up to 7.8 million premature deaths globally, but even aiming for seven portions rather than five can provide additional benefits to your health.

With only 27% of adults actually reaching five portions of fruit and veg in a day this may seem like a difficult task, but this vegan green salad will certainly help you on your way!

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4

Total Time: 40 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients

Method

Ingredients

(Servings: 4)

  • 50 50 g sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  • a drizzle of olive oil
  • 0.25 0.25 pinch coarse sea salt
  • 0.25 0.25 pinch paprika
  • 62.5 62.5 g asparagus
  • 50 50 g tenderstem broccoli
  • 25 25 g spinach
  • 0.25 0.25 large, ripe avocado
  • 25 25 g sugar snap peas
  • 100 100 g chickpeas, drained
  • 100 100 g kidney beans, drained
  • 47.5 47.5 g dairy-free basil pesto

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas 6.
  2. Spread the sweet potato cubes over a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and paprika. Roast in the oven for around 20 minutes, until cooked through.
  3. In the meantime, remove the woody ends from the asparagus and cut the stems into thirds.
  4. Cut the broccoli in half. Steam or boil the broccoli for 5 minutes and the asparagus for 3-4 minutes, until slightly soft but still with some bite.
  5. Slice large spinach leaves and cut the avocado into cubes.
  6. Put everything into a bowl: cooked sweet potato, cooked greens, raw sugar snap peas, spinach, avocado, chickpeas and beans. Add the pesto and toss to coat.

Pack even more veggies into your day with this tasty vegetable cobbler!

Written by

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