Goodbye Cucumbers, It's All About The Dense Bean Salad Now

Spicy, juicy grilled chicken is combined with butter and garbanzo beans, corn, peppers and a chipotle lime dressing, lending a southwestern feel. The beans soak up the dressing all week long, getting more delicious each day.

Chimichurri sauce is such a fresh counterbalance to flank steak. White beans and garbanzo beans are the “b” in this DBS and little mozzarella balls are a salty surprise.

Food52 decided to try one of Violet’s recipes, so here is their version of her Honey Mustard Chicken Dense Bean Salad. To streamline, Food52 made a double batch of the marinade and used half for the dressing. They also grilled the corn, made the chicken on a grill pan and omitted black pepper, but this peach, feta, kale, white and garbanzo bean mixture still looks amazing.

A whole, chopped rotisserie chicken is the backbone of this salad, which also has — you guessed it — white and garbanzo beans, plus a marinated feta cheese and olive salad. Scooping this salad up with fresh pita bread would be smashing.

Come for the marinated steak, stay for the warm pita pocket with creamy labneh. White beans and garbanzo beans are in there, per usual, along with feta, cucumber and a yogurt dressing.

A little change-up with this recipe — use edamame instead of chickpeas, along with the white beans, because this salad has an Asian theme. Omit the jalapeño if that level of spice scares you.

Marinate chicken in buffalo sauce, grill and mix with crunchy veggies and beans. Here, Violet makes a creamy buffalo sauce dressing, but a classic blue cheese would be cool, (and cooling) too.

Violet stores her salads in deli containers (save your takeout containers), portioned to grab and go. How she eats it is a little surprising — she makes an awkward little pocket with gluten-free tortillas. There’s probably a prettier way to eat your DBS, but whatever gets it from bowl to belly works, I guess.

Take a trip to Tuscany with this DBS. It has tomatoes two ways — sundried and fresh, marinated artichokes, mozzarella balls, basil, beans and deli meat. Save the sundried tomato oil for the dressing.

Kale Junkie joined Violet for a beany version of her viral La Scala Chopped Italian Salad dupe. Kale and beans marry together with veggies, salami, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and a dressing Violet describes as “drinkable.”

For a cool, creamy and crunchy salad, chop up loads of radishes and Persian cucumbers along with rotisserie chicken and beans. Top with a lemony dill yogurt dressing.

Tired of the same old turkey sandwich for lunch? Add pizzazz with dense beans, tomatoes, mozzarella balls and a tangy vinaigrette.

Sub in a tub lovers — add more fiber and protein with this chopped sub DBS. Deli meat, roasted peppers, pepperoncinis and garbanzo and white beans all go in the bowl. This would be great in a roll or on its own if you’re trying to cut carbs.