The DBS (or Dense Bean Salad recipe) has taken TikTok by storm in the last few months and having tried it ourselves, we can see why! So after months of eating this meal every week, we had to share the fibre-rich recipe that will help you reach all your health and fitness goals.
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The Dense Bean Salad Pioneer
Sure, bean salads aren’t anything new and South Africans will remember the food tables of any social event having at least one (shoutout to the classic three bean salad). But this is not your grandma’s bean salad! They’ve gotten a makeover.
Violet Witchel who goes by violet.cooks on TikTok and @violetwitchel on Instagram is continuously going viral for her dense bean salad recipes. She even has “🫘 Dense Bean Salad girl” in her Instagram bio. And people can’t get enough of these recipes. In fact, her DBS recipes alone have almost 60 million views on TikTok.
Check Out Violet Cook’s 3 Most Popular Dense Bean Salad Recipes
Spicy Chipotle Chicken DBS
@violet.cooks This week’s is gluten-free, dairy-free, and my personal favorite #densebeansalad #mealprep #dbs #glutenfree #dairyfree ♬ Wes Anderson-esque Cute Acoustic – Kenji Ueda
Sun-dried Tomato DBS
@violet.cooks Sundried tomato DBS! #dbs #beans #densebeansalad #mealprep ♬ Wes Anderson-esque Cute Acoustic – Kenji Ueda
Balsamic Mediterranean DBS
@violet.cooks Balsamic Mediterranean salad recipe Ingredients – 1 bag of Persian cucumbers – 1 red onion – 3 multicolor bell peppers – 1 head of parsley – 2 avocado – 2 cans of rinsed and drained chickpeas – 1/2 a cup olive oil – Juice of two lemons – 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar – 1 tbs oregano – Big pinch of red pepper flakes – 1 tbs cumin – 1 tbs sea salt Instructions 1. Dice your cucumbers and add them to a big salad bowl. 2. Mince your red onion and add it to the bowl. 3. Cut the ends off, core, and chop your bell peppers, add them. 4. Finely mince your parsley and add it. 5. Cube your avocado and add them (optional) 6. Add your chickpeas, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, red pepper flakes, cumin, and salt. 7. Toss everything together and enjoy! #healthy #glutenfree #dairyfree #mediteranneanfood ♬ Wes Anderson-esque Cute Acoustic – Kenji Ueda
READ MORE: Samp & Beans (Umngqusho), Exactly How Your Gran Made It
Why We Love Dense Bean Salads
They’re Easy To Meal Prep
Cooking every single day is hard. And cooking a healthy meal every day is even harder. Dense Bean Salads are great because you can spend some time chopping and get multiple meals for the next couple days. There’s also minimal cooking involved, it’s mainly chopping.
They Don’t Get Soggy
Ever made a salad, turned your back and by the time you’ve turned back it’s a soggy mess? Yeah, us too. The great thing about these dense bean salads is that they don’t have leaves and they’re packed with ingredients that are actually suitable for meal prep. The longer they sit and soak in the dressing, the tastier they get without becoming soft or soggy. Consider it marinating!
They’re Fibre-Rich And Veggie-Packed
Another trendy topic at the moment? Fibre! Everyone’s talking about it, no one’s getting enough of it (the RDA for women is 25g BTW!). Meal prepping a veggie-packed, fibre-rich recipe like this one makes it so much easier to make sure you’re getting those all-important nutrients.
They’re Protein-Packed
Our Dense Bean Salad Recipe below ensures you get a 112g serving of chicken and packs 32g of protein without skimping on the veggies, fibre and carbs you want in order to have a delicious, satiating meal.
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Low-Calorie, High-Protein Chipotle Chicken Dense Bean Salad Recipe
This low-calorie, fibre-rich and protein-packed recipe is our take on Violet’s viral Spicy Chipotle Chicken DBS (check it out and follow her here).
Viral Dense Bean Salad Recipe: Low-Calorie & High Protein
Ingredients
For The Chicken
- 900 grams chicken breast, cut into strips Cut the breasts into strips to increase the surface area for your marinade
- 200 grams Woolworths Chipotle Basting Sauce
- 60 ml lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- Salt and pepper Add any other spices you like and regularly use in cooking
For The Dressing
- ¼ cup avocado oil You can add another ¼ cup if you want. This adds 62 cals per serving
- 30 ml lemon juice
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tsp chipotle powder or cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1 Tbsp Woolworths Reduced Oil Tangy Mayonnaise
For The Salad
- 400 grams frozen corn, cooked per package instructions and cooled
- 1 red pepper, chopped finely
- 1 small red onion, chopped finely
- 1x400g can butter beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry If you want more beans, add another can. This adds 22 calories per serving.
- 1x400g can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry If you want more chickpeas, add another can. This adds 34 calories per serving
- 3 slicing tomatoes, insides scooped out and chopped finely Scoop out the insides so there is less liquid and your salad doesn't go soggy
- 1 cucumber, seeds scooped out and chopped finely Scoop out the insides so there is less liquid and your salad doesn't go soggy
- Salt, pepper and any other spices you like to use
For Serving
- 2 avocados (use ¼ per serving and only dice when you're ready to eat)
Instructions
- Cut and marinade chicken and set aside.
- Make the dressing and set aside.
- Chop all your ingredients finely. Try to remove as much liquid from ingredients as possible by patting with a paper towel.
- Cook your chicken in an airfryer or pan. Once cooked, let cool down completely before chopping up.
- Make sure all your ingredients are cool before combining salad, chicken and dressing.
- Divide into 8 servings. We like to eat ours with a Woolworths Whole Wheat Pita (half a pita is 108 calories, a full pita is 216 calories)
READ MORE: You Can Make A Healthy, Protein-Packed Lunch In 5 Minutes
Shop The Recipe
