This beluga lentil, butter lettuce, and radish salad is light, fresh, creamy, and lemony. It features a homemade, dairy-free, creamy lemon cashew dressing in addition to its wholesome vegan ingredients. Beluga lentils add protein to the recipe.

This fresh, creamy, lemony butter lettuce and radish salad is one of my favorites for springtime.

It’s a simple, no frills salad, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I make so many meal-sized salads that are complex and bursting with different components. Sometimes it’s nice to create a side salad that’s more pared down.

Even so, like most of my salads, this one has plant protein. And that protein is in the form of cooked beluga, or black, lentils, which I love for their firm texture and round, tiny shape.

Let me say more about why I enjoy these little legumes so much, and why this salad is one of my favorite ways to serve them!

All about beluga lentils

Black belgua lentils, which can be sold either as “black lentils” or “beluga lentils,” are named after beluga caviar.

It’s not hard to see why. These lentils are tiny, round, firm, and shiny, much like the caviar of the same name.

I cook a lot of recipes with brown and green lentils. Both are inexpensive and very easy to locate in stores. They have a flat, round shape and become quite tender when cooked.

Personally, though, I have a soft spot for lentils, like beluga lentils, that are a little more firm and round.

Beluga lentils vs French lentils

In terms of shape, beluga lentils are similar to French lentils.

French lentils, technically called Le Puy green lentils, are also round and are smaller than regular green lentils.

Beluga lentils are even smaller than French lentils, however, and I think that they hold their shape the most easily of any lentil variety.

In addition to this lentil, butter lettuce, and radish salad, I like to use black lentils in one of my favorite holiday stuffed squash recipes and my beloved braised lentils on toast.

Butter lettuce love

The green component of the radish salad is large, tender butter lettuce leaves.

Butter lettuce is sometimes called “butterhead” lettuce, too. It’s a category of lettuce that includes Boston lettuce, bibb lettuce, and and buttercrunch lettuce.

Butter lettuce is known for its mild flavor and tender leaves. It happens to be one of my favorite lettuces for green salads.

For this salad in particular, the big, round butter lettuce leaves serve as nice big pillows for the lentils that go on top of the salad.

If you don’t have butter lettuce, that’s OK. Here are some good substitute salad greens:

• Romaine
• Little gem
• Baby spinach
• Red leaf lettuce
• Tropicana lettuce

A creamy, lemony vegan dressing

As with most of my salad recipes, what makes this salad special has nothing to do with the greens or the vegetables. It’s all about the dressing.

Imagine a dressing that’s creamy, but not overly heavy, as so many cream or mayonnaise-based dressings can be.

That’s what the creamy lemon cashew dressing for this salad is! Use of cashews is to thank for that simultaneously rich and light consistency.

In general, cashews are to thank for sauces and vegan “cream” that is remarkably authentic. I’ve used them in many a vegan dressing, but this lemony version is one of my favorites.

To turn cashews into dressing, you’ll need to soak them in water for a couple hours, then drain them. Be sure to use raw, or unroasted and unsalted, cashews for this job.

Then, use a powerful blender or a food processor to blend them into creamy perfection.

Cashews are perfect salad dressing base. They blend up easily and create creamy texture without any need for added fats or emulsifiers.

They’re also mild in flavor, which makes them a good alternative to nut butter or tahini dressings.

I’m guilty of relying on tahini a little too much when it comes to my dressings. When I use cashews, I’m reminded that it’s nice to have a neutral-tasting base ingredient.

From there, you can allow herbs, spices, or other seasonings to shine.

In the case of this particular dressing, what shines through is bright notes of lemon, a touch of sweetness, and shallots.

I love shallots in dressings. They taste so much more mild and neutral than garlic, yet they imparts a savory quality that’s unmistakable.

How to make beluga lentil, butter lettuce, and radish salad

To prepare this salad, I toss the greens and radishes in the dressing first, spoon cooked lentils on top, and then drizzle additional dressing over them. You could dress it all together, if you like.

Here’s the recipe.

I hope you’ll try this simple, springtime dish soon.

xo