Amazing vegan spinach salad recipe

By: Vegan Agility Team Last updated: December 5, 2020

This fantastic vegan spinach salad with white beans is easy to make and packed with a comprehensive range of minerals and vitamins to help boost your essential nutrient intake while on a vegan diet. Some of the key nutrients needed on a plant-based diet are iron, magnesium, and zinc, and this healthy salad recipe has all three thanks to using spinach as the salad base. The addition of the white beans helps to boost your plant-based protein intake while increasing your consumption of healthy fibers, which is great for maintaining a healthy digestive system while also helping you to fight those annoying food cravings.

What makes spinach so great in a vegan salad anyway?

For many individuals who enjoy a regular salad, spinach tends to be the go-to leafy green to use as the base of their spinach salad recipe. This is most likely due to its minimal prep time and a wide range of uses. For me personally, I always have a few bags of spinach on hand for any spinach salad recipes I want to experiment with or for making an energizing green smoothie, but what nutritionally makes spinach so good?

Spinach nutritional properties

Nutrition per every 1 cup serving:

• Macronutrients: Fat 0.1g, Carbohydrates 1.1g, Protein 0.9g
• Vitamins: Vitamin K 144.9 mcg – 121% DV, Vitamin C 8.4mg – 9% DV, Vitamin A 140.7mcg 16% DV
• Minerals: Iron 0.8mg – 5% DV, Magnesium 23.7mg 6% DV, Potassium 167.4mg – 4% DV

Benefits of spinach in salads

• Spinach is a brilliant leafy green for juicing and is loaded with essential minerals needed to bring balance to any diet, particularly calcium, iron, magnesium, and zinc.
• The alkalizing effects of spinach that occur thanks to the nutrient-dense content make it the perfect leafy green to use as a base for a cleansing juice.
• Spinach also is low carb yet high in fiber and antioxidants, making it a brilliant leafy green for digestion as well as weight loss and weight maintenance.

The best plant-based carbohydrate choices to put in a vegan spinach salad

Low carb healthy choices: When focusing on a low carb salad, the key is to up the vegetable content and lower the grains, pasta, and noodles. Great low carb choices to complement a spinach salad are:

High carb healthy choices: Foods with a higher carbohydrate content will be much more filling, leaving you with that “satisfied” feeling. Due to the higher carbohydrate content, they will contain a larger amount of calories. This is excellent for those trying to pack on some mass or for people who expend a lot of energy throughout the day through strenuous exercise or a physically demanding job. Some excellent higher carb foods that can be used when creating your own vegan spinach salad recipes are:

High protein with medium carbohydrate choices: For vegans and vegetarians focused on fitness, health, and optimal muscle recovery, a higher protein moderate carb food choice is best to couple with your spinach salad, allowing you to increase your intake of essential amino acids while keeping carbohydrates fairly moderate.

Our tasty vegan spinach salad recipe steps

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Vegan spinach salad

Amazing vegan spinach and white bean salad

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: lunch, Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: Vegan salad

Keyword: red rice, salad, spinach

Servings: 3

Ingredients

Main salad ingredients

• ▢ 2 cups spinach fresh baby spinach
• ▢ 1 cup red rice can be swapped for couscous to lower the caloric content or can be removed altogether and replaced with broccoli or kale
• ▢ 1/2 cup zuchini (courgettes)
• ▢ 1/2 carrot medium sized
• ▢ 1 cup white beans cannellini or haricot
• ▢ 1/4 cup green beans cooked and chopped
• ▢ 1/2 cup parsley fresh and chopped

Salad dressing ingredients

• ▢ 3 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed (adjust to your liking)
• ▢ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 1/2 tsp sea salt adjust to your liking
• ▢ 1 tsp black pepper adjust to your liking
• ▢ 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar or a vinaigrette of your choosing

Optional ingredients

• ▢ 1 tbsp pecans crushed
• ▢ 2 scallions (spring onions) finely sliced

Equipment

• Large pot
• small pot
• Salad bowl
• Chopping board
• Knives
• Grater
• Colander
• Vegetable steamer

Instructions

• In a pot with a lid bring the red rice to boil. Add double the amount of water to the amount of quinoa. Add some fine sea salt to give the red rice some flavor while boiling. Ensure the pot has a lid on and allow the water to heat up
• Once the water begins to boil, lower the flame to its lowest setting and let the red rice gently simmer for about 10-12 mins depending on the size of your pot. Check the pot every now and again to see whether the water has been completely absorbed.
• In a separate small pot or vegetable steamer gently cook your green beans for around 5-6 mins. Make sure not to overcook preventing the green beans from getting too soft. Try to retain a slight crunch.
• While the red rice is cooking mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and black pepper to form a salad dressing.
• Once the water is fully absorbed switch off the flame and allow the red rice to cool.
• Once the green beans have cooked rinse them with cold water in a colander and allow to cool
• Add the baby spinach leaves into a large salad bowl
• Add the cooled red rice and all other vegetables
• Add the salad dressing and gently mix all ingredients until the dressing has evenly spread throughout the salad
• Serve and enjoy with some vegan hummus or falafel.

Notes

Vegan Agility Tip For faster cooling remove the rice from the hot pot and allow to cool in a ceramic dish.

Key nutrients

Calories: 289kcal | Carbohydrates: 36g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 616mg | Potassium: 651mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 5059IU | Vitamin B6: 1mg | Vitamin C: 28mg | Vitamin E: 2mg | Vitamin K: 289µg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 4mg | Magnesium: 66mg | Zinc: 1mg

The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on your ingredients and tools.

Do you want more deliciously healthy vegan salad recipes?

Why not try out some of our alternative vegan salads that use a blend of different plant-based foods high in essential nutrients to achieve a delicious yet healthy result. These recipes allow you to get a bit creative with your salads while adding extra nutritional benefits that enhance the end result in both nutrients and flavor.

• Super easy vegan pasta salad recipe
• Delicious vegan quinoa salad loaded with protein

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