Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad

Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad is a healthy, refreshing salad inspired by the flavours of Southeast Asia. With crunchy veg, greens, protein-rich sprouted pulses, and a tangy, savoury dressing, you can enjoy it as a light lunch, dinner, or a side dish. For a more substantial meal, add extra protein such as boiled egg, roasted peanuts, smoked salmon, or a wholegrain like brown rice.

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This quick and easy, healthy, light and refreshing bowl is inspired by those of Southeast Asia. So, if you love the fresh dishes from countries such as Thailand and Vietnam with bold seasonings including soy sauce, garlic and ginger, with their wonderful balance of hot, sweet, sour, salty and umami, I think you’ll want to make Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad.

VEGETABLE AND BEAN SPROUT SALAD

Although I’ve made many Southeast Asian-influenced salads over the years, I came up with Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad following the Easter holidays. Feeling a little jaded after a bit of a chocolate and carb fest, I fancied a lunch that would rebalance me. Something fresh, healthy, and nutritious. But me being me, it also had to be really tasty.

With crunchy veg, greens, protein-rich sprouted beans and lentils, plus a tangy, savoury dressing, the resulting bowlful fitted the bill perfectly.

WHAT ARE SPROUTED BEANS?

Sprouted beans (as well as pulses and seeds) are simply beans that have been germinated. This means they put out shoots, i.e. they ‘sprout’. The resulting sprouts can then be eaten raw and/or cooked. As well as being wonderfully fresh and crunchy, it’s thought that the sprouted beans have greater nutritional value. That’s because sprouting makes their protein more available and more easily digested.

It isn’t difficult to sprout your own beans, and a few years ago I  published a guide to Sprouting at Home. But these days packs of sprouted beans are widely available to buy including in supermarkets.

For my Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad to serve 2 people, I used around half a pack of sprouted mung beans and lentils. But you can use almost any, bought or home sprouted. Note that for this salad, shorter, crunchier sprouts are better than the long mung beans often used for stir-frying.

HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLE AND BEAN SPROUT SALAD

This salad is so quick, easy and adaptable that you barely need a recipe at all. There are no cooked elements, so it’s just a case of mixing up the dressing then tossing with the vegetables and bean sprouts.

Nevertheless, you’ll find a recipe card at the end with suggested ingredient amounts. But I recommend you use it just as inspiration and a jumping off point for your own creations.

VEGETABLES

One of the great things about Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad is that it’s infinitely adaptable to whatever fresh vegetables and sprouted beans you happen to have. To keep it simple, I complement the sprouts with just a few different vegetables.

• GREENS. Almost any greens can form the base of the salad. Kale, chard, spinach, watercress, or rocket to name just a few. For the salad in this post I used little gem lettuce and sprouting broccoli leaves.
• CUCUMBER. Wonderfully refreshing, I always have lots of cucumbers in the fridge (my dog loves them too!). I use my julienne peeler to make long strands. But you could use a spiralizer for wider noodles. If you have neither, simply chop into matchsticks or cubes with a knife. I prefer to remove the seeds (my dog eats them) as they can make salads too wet.
• RADISHES. Thin slices add peppery crunch plus a contrasting burst of red colour.
• SPRING ONIONS. For mild onion flavour.
• MINT. One of my favourite herbs, I love fresh mint in salads.

Feel free to swap in or add other veg and/or herbs. Julienned, chopped or shredded carrot, multicoloured peppers, red onion, red cabbage, or lightly cooked and cooled green beans would all be good. If you don’t have or don’t like mint, then consider coriander or chives instead.

DRESSING

Bringing Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad together is a dressing I could eat by the spoonful. Tangy, savoury, sweet, and a little salty too, this element of the salad can also be varied to your taste.

Simply shake the ingredients in a jar or whisk in a bowl, taste, then add a little more of this or that until it’s absolutely perfect for you.

• SOY SAUCE. I keep bottles of both light and dark soy sauces rather than one generic soy. This allows more flexibility when flavouring dishes. But if regular soy is all you have, that’s fine too.
• SESAME OIL. I wouldn’t be without this nutty oil as it adds so much flavour to dressings and sauces.
• RICE VINEGAR. Light but brings necessary acidity. Other mild vinegars can be used.
• SWEETENER. Important in balancing the savoury, tangy, and salty elements. I use honey, but any sweetener is fine.
• GARLIC. Finely chopped or grated.
• GINGER ROOT. Finely chopped or grated.
• TOASTED SESAME SEEDS. I think a mixture of black and white look nicer, but just white is fine if that’s what you have. So much more flavourful when toasted, I keep a jar in the cupboard ready to sprinkle over all sorts of dishes.
• CHILLI FLAKES. Entirely optional. I like mild Korean gochugaru, but use a hot one if preferred.

If you want to make in advance, the dressing will be fine in the fridge for 24 hours.  But do bring it back to room temperature to serve. To keep the vegetables fresh and crunchy, don’t add the dressing until you’re ready to eat.

SERVING VEGETABLE AND BEAN SPROUT SALAD

To dress and serve the salad, put the sprouted beans and prepared vegetables in a roomy bowl and toss together well. I find it easiest to just go in with my hands to make sure everything’s nicely combined.

Give the dressing another shake or whisk then pour most of it over the salad. Get your salad tongs or a couple of spoons and toss again so everything has a lip-smacking coating. I like to keep back a little dressing so that when I’ve divided the salad among the bowls or plates I can drizzle over a tempting bit more.

All that’s left to do then is garnish with more mint and toasted sesame seeds.

ADAPTABLE, HEALTHY, FRESH & DELICIOUS

With greens and fresh vegetables that can be freely adapted to what’s in your fridge, plus nutritious sprouted beans, I think Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad makes a great healthy lunch, light dinner or even a side dish. And if you’re organised, I reckon you could make it in under 15 minutes.

If you want to make a more substantial meal, here’s a few suggestions for tweaking.

• Increase the amount of sprouted beans.
• Include some cooked whole grains  e.g. brown rice.
• Top with extra protein e.g. chopped roasted peanuts, boiled egg, smoked salmon.

If you’ve made this recipe, I’d love to know what you thought. Please leave a comment and rating.

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Vegetable and Bean Sprout Salad

Healthy and refreshing salad inspired by the flavours of Southeast Asia.

Enjoy as a light lunch, dinner, or a side dish. For a more substantial meal, add extra protein such as boiled egg, roasted peanuts, smoked salmon, or a wholegrain like brown rice.

Course Side Dish, Salad, Lunch, Light Meal, dinner

Cuisine Vegetarian, Asian, plant-based, Southeast Asian, Southeast Asian inspired

Keyword quick, healthy

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 0 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Servings 2

Author Moorlands Eater

Ingredients

• 80 g bean sprouts (see Recipe Notes)

For the dressing

• 15 ml (1 tbsp) light soy sauce (can be replaced with regular soy sauce)
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) sesame oil
• 10 ml (2 tsp) rice vinegar
• 10 ml (2 tsp) honey/other sweetener
• 5 ml (1 tsp) dark soy sauce (can be replaced with light or regular soy sauce)
• 2 small cloves garlic (finely chopped or grated)
• 2 cm ginger root (finely chopped or grated)
• 2 tsp toasted black and white sesame seeds
• mild/hot chilli flakes (optional)

For the salad (see Recipe Notes for more alternatives)

• ⅓ - ½ whole cucumber seeds left in or discarded)
• 2 large handfuls (approx. 100 g total) greens, shredded or chopped (e.g. lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, sprouting broccoli leaves, cabbage, rocket, watercress)
• 6 - 8 radish, thinly sliced (approx. 75 g)
• 3 small spring onions (chopped)
• 1 small handful mint leaves (shredded or finely chopped)

Garnish

• mint leaves (shredded, chopped or left whole)
• toasted black and white sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Make the dressing by combining all the ingredients: shake in screw-topped jar or whisk in a small bowl.

   Taste and add more of any ingredient until it's to your personal liking: it should be savoury, tangy and sweet.

2. Prepare the cucumber by either using a julienne peeler to cut into long thin strips or a knife to cut into matchsticks or dice.

   Put into bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients and toss together: you may find it easiest to do this with your hands.

3. When ready to serve, shake or whisk the dressing again then pour most of it over the salad.

   Use tongs or spoons to toss well then serve with the remaining dressing poured over plus a sprinkle of mint leaves and sesame seeds.

4. Dressing can be made up to 24 hours in advance and kept covered in the fridge.

   Undressed salad can be made 1 hour in advance and kept covered in the fridge.

   Do not dress the salad until just before serving.

Recipe Notes

Bean Sprouts. Any type of sprouted bean can be used, bought or home sprouted. Shorter, crunchier sprouts work better in this salad than the longer ones often used for stir-frying. In the blog post you'll see a mix of sprouted mung beans and lentils. If you want to try making your own see my guide to Sprouting at Home.

Vegetables and Herbs. Use this recipe as your starting point and swap in whichever you have or prefer e.g. carrot, multicoloured peppers, red onion, red cabbage, cooked and cooled green beans, coriander, chives.

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