Vegan Dense Bean Salad Meal Prep with Chickpeas, White Beans, Edamame and Herbed Tofu Feta
A vegan dense bean salad for meal prep: chickpeas, white beans and edamame with crunchy vegetables, sherry-Dijon vinaigrette and a quick herbed tofu feta.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Rest
- 15 min
- Serves
- 5
Vegan Dense Bean Salad Meal Prep with Chickpeas, White Beans, Edamame and Herbed Tofu Feta is a vegan lunch recipe made with firm or extra-firm tofu (1 block), lemon juice, sherry vinegar. It takes 25 minutes of hands-on time, plus 15 minutes resting, serves 5, and each serving has 482 calories, 31 g of protein and 13 g of fiber.
This salad is built to sit in the fridge: there are no leafy greens to wilt, the cucumber is seeded so it doesn't water down the dressing, and the beans soak up the sherry-Dijon vinaigrette as the days go on. The tofu feta is a shortcut version, with crumbled firm tofu tossed in miso, lemon and oregano, which seasons while you chop and keeps getting brinier in the container. Canned beans and frozen edamame keep the whole thing to about half an hour, with only a 3-minute boil for the edamame.
Ingredients
Herbed Tofu Feta
- 14 oz397 gfirm or extra-firm tofu (1 block), drained and patted very dry
- 2 tbsp31 glemon juice
- 1 tbsp15 gsherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp17 gwhite or yellow miso
- 1 tbsp14 gextra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp5 gnutritional yeast
- 1 tsp1 gdried oregano
- ¼ tsp0.8 ggarlic powder
- ½ tsp3 gfine salt
Sherry-Dijon Dressing
- ¼ cup54 gextra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp45 gsherry vinegar
- 1 tbsp15 gDijon mustard
- 1 tsp6.7 gmaple syrup
- 1 clove3 ggarlic, finely grated
- 1 tsp1 gdried oregano
- ½ tsp3 gfine salt, plus more to taste
- ¼ tsp0.6 gfreshly ground black pepper
Salad
- ½ medium55 gred onion, finely diced
- 1½ cups233 gfrozen shelled edamame
- 1 can240 gchickpeas (15 oz can), drained and rinsed
- 1 can240 gcannellini beans (15 oz can), drained and rinsed
- 1 large391 gEnglish cucumber, halved lengthwise, seeded and diced
- 3 medium120 gcelery stalks, thinly sliced
- 1 cup60 gflat-leaf parsley, leaves and tender stems, chopped
- 2 tbsp18 gcapers, drained and roughly chopped
- 1 pinch0.2 gred pepper flakes, for serving (optional)
Kit: small saucepan, large mixing bowl, medium bowl, whisk, colander, 5 airtight meal prep containers
Tips
- Seed the cucumber by running a teaspoon down the center of each half. The watery core is what dilutes the dressing by day three.
- Rinse and dry the canned beans well; leftover canning liquid makes the salad cloudy and slick.
- The salad tastes best after a few hours in the fridge, once the beans have absorbed the vinaigrette. If it tastes flat straight from the cold, a small splash of vinegar and a pinch of salt bring it back.
- Have more time? Make the tofu feta the night before. An overnight soak gives it a noticeably brinier flavor.
Swap ideas
- Red wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar
- Slightly sharper and less nutty; use the same amount.
- Butter beans or great northern beans instead of cannellini
- Butter beans are bigger and creamier; great northern are a little firmer and hold their shape well.
- Dill or mint in place of half the parsley
- Gives a fresher, more Greek-salad flavor.
- Chopped Kalamata olives instead of capers
- Milder, fruitier brine; use about 1/4 cup.
The numbers
Nutrition per serving
482kcal per serving
Everything else · 5 servings per recipe
- Saturated fat
- 3.4 g 17%
- Sugars
- 6.9 g
- Sodium
- 762 mg 33%
- Potassium
- 1119 mg 24%
- Calcium
- 696 mg 54%
- Iron
- 8 mg 44%
- Vitamin C
- 26 mg 29%
- Vitamin B12
- 3.76 µg 157%
% Daily Value on a 2,000 calorie diet. Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient; optional ingredients are excluded. Estimates vary with brands and portions.
Sources: Tofu, raw, firm, prepared with calcium sulfate, Lemon juice, raw, Vinegar, red wine (USDA SR Legacy). Used as a proxy: FDC has no SR Legacy or Foundation entry for sherry vinegar, and the branded sherry vinegar entries have inconsistent, mostly rounded-to-zero label data. Sherry vinegar is also a wine vinegar at about 6-7% acidity., Miso, Oil, olive, salad or cooking, Nutritional Yeast Seasoning by BRAGG (fortified; legacy USDA Branded Foods entry as reproduced by NutritionValue.org), Spices, oregano, dried, Spices, garlic powder (SR Legacy), Salt, table, Mustard, prepared, yellow, Syrups, maple, Garlic, raw, Spices, pepper, black, Onions, raw, Edamame, frozen, prepared, Chickpeas (garbanzo beans, bengal gram), mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt, Beans, white, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt, Cucumber, with peel, raw, Celery, raw, Parsley, fresh, Capers, canned
Method
Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil for the edamame. Meanwhile, wrap the tofu in a clean kitchen towel and press firmly with your hands for about a minute to squeeze out as much water as you can. The drier it is, the more marinade it absorbs.
Make the tofu feta: in a medium bowl, whisk the miso with the lemon juice and 1 tbsp sherry vinegar until smooth, then whisk in 1 tbsp olive oil, the nutritional yeast, 1 tsp oregano, garlic powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Crumble the tofu into the bowl in rough 1/2-inch chunks and fold gently until every piece is coated. Set aside to marinate while you prepare everything else, at least 15 minutes.
Make the dressing in a large mixing bowl: whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 tbsp sherry vinegar, the Dijon, maple syrup, garlic, 1 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp salt and the pepper until thick and emulsified. Stir in the diced red onion and let it sit in the dressing to take the raw edge off.
Boil the edamame until bright green and tender with a little bite, 3 minutes after the water returns to a boil (or follow the package time). Drain, rinse under cold water until completely cool, and shake dry.
While the edamame cooks, spread the rinsed chickpeas and cannellini beans on a towel and pat them dry so the dressing clings instead of sliding off.
Add the chickpeas, cannellini beans, edamame, cucumber, celery, parsley and capers to the bowl with the dressing and onion. Toss thoroughly, scraping up from the bottom, until everything is glossy.
Fold in the tofu feta along with any marinade left in its bowl, stirring gently so the chunks stay intact. Taste and adjust with more salt, pepper or a splash of vinegar. Beans need generous seasoning.
Eat right away, or divide among 5 airtight containers and refrigerate. Stir before serving, and finish with a pinch of red pepper flakes if you like.
Storage: Refrigerate in airtight containers for up to 4 days. Some liquid will collect at the bottom, so stir before eating. Do not freeze; the cucumber, celery and tofu turn watery when thawed.
Questions
- How much protein is in vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta?
- Each of the 5 servings has 31 g of protein, 13 g of fiber and 482 calories, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for every ingredient.
- Is vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta vegan?
- Yes. It contains no dairy, eggs, honey or other animal products.
- How long does vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta take to make?
- 20 minutes of prep and 5 minutes of cooking, so 25 minutes of hands-on time, plus 15 minutes of unattended resting.
- Can you make vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta ahead?
- Refrigerate in airtight containers for up to 4 days. Some liquid will collect at the bottom, so stir before eating. Do not freeze; the cucumber, celery and tofu turn watery when thawed.
- What can I substitute in vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta?
- Red wine vinegar instead of sherry vinegar — slightly sharper and less nutty; use the same amount.. Butter beans or great northern beans instead of cannellini — butter beans are bigger and creamier; great northern are a little firmer and hold their shape well.. Dill or mint in place of half the parsley — gives a fresher, more greek-salad flavor.. Chopped Kalamata olives instead of capers — milder, fruitier brine; use about 1/4 cup..
- Does vegan dense bean salad meal prep with chickpeas, white beans, edamame and herbed tofu feta contain gluten?
- Yes — the ingredient list includes gluten. Check the labels on the products you buy if you're cooking for an allergy.
Nutrition is calculated from USDA data for every ingredient — how we work it out.
Published October 20, 2026 ·Mediterranean