This Viral Salad "Formula" Is All The Rage On TikTok, And After Speaking With The Creator Behind It, I 10,000% Understand Why

Violet has become so well known for her meal-prep recipes that the internet has dubbed her "dense bean salad girl." She has confidently embraced the identity, making it her TikTok profile bio. 

A young woman with PCOS also thanked Violet Witchel for her DBS recipes, posting a TikTok addressed specifically to her, saying, "As someone with hormonal issues, I need to be eating a salad every day... this is my thank you from me to you; you literally saved my health."

Other FoodTok trends can be impractical and require uncommon ingredients or kitchen gadgets, but bean salads are adaptable and affordable. Violet Witchel has been ahead of this legume trend, sharing her tried-and-true bean salad recipes on TikTok for years, though the trending name "dense bean salad" didn't come until more recently.

Her salads' flavor profiles range from "buffalo chicken" to "marinated feta" and "miso edamame," proving that meal prep doesn't have to be boring to be consistent. The salads require varying amounts of time and effort. Some weeks, Violet marinates chicken overnight and breaks out the grill. Other times, she keeps it simple with a grocery-store rotisserie chicken or omits meat from the salad entirely. The trend is all about flexibility and approachability for meal-preppers.

She mentioned her incredibly relatable struggle to find time to cook during the week, sharing, "By the time I’m hungry, I don’t always want to cook; I just want to order Uber Eats or make boxed mac 'n' cheese."

As a former student-athlete, Violet has prioritized eating well and mindfully since college and, over time, found that "having something easy, healthy, and delicious to grab out of the fridge that [she's] excited to eat makes it easy to prioritize healthy choices as a part of [her] routine."

She also noted that she considers her followers' suggestions and what produce is in season when deciding what exactly to make.

You can find the full recipe for the Buffalo Chicken DBS in Violet's Substack newsletter.

According to her recipe, one serving of this salad packs a whopping 70 grams of protein. To put that into perspective, you'd have to eat eleven eggs to get the same amount of protein as a bowl of this DBS.

I have to say, I was SO STOKED by the results of this versatile DBS recipe inspired by the tastes of fall.

INGREDIENTS:

For the base:

3 cups of cooked, soaked chickpeas (about two cans)**

1/2 a head of green, savoy, or Napa cabbage, thinly sliced 

3 ears of corn (about 1 1/2 cups of corn kernels)

1/2 cup of semi-hard cheese, sliced into thin strips or cubes 

1 whole acorn squash, peeled and cubed (Optional: reserve the seeds to roast for the DBS!)

2 teaspoons of warm spice blend (garam masala, pumpkin spice mix, chai spice mix, e.g.)

2 tablespoons of neutral oil 

2 tablespoons of chopped dill

2 tablespoons of chopped parsley 

2 tablespoons of chopped chives

Salt, as desired

For the apple cider vinaigrette:

1/4 cup of lemon juice (roughly 1 lemon's worth of juice)

1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

1 tablespoon of grated ginger

1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon, of kosher salt

1/2–3/4 cup of neutral oil 

Toppings:

Red sauerkraut

Chopped pear

Canned chickpeas cost an average of $0.25 to $0.375 per 100 grams, while dried chickpeas cost just $0.067 to $0.10 for the same amount.

If you're stressed about the extra time soaking beans requires every time you want to cook with them, soak a big batch all at once, drain, and freeze in portions so they're ready to go for the next time you want to make a bean dish. Canned beans will still work in a pinch, though!

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

2. Place the cubed squash onto a parchment-lined sheet tray with the oil and spice mix, tossing the squash with your fingers to evenly distribute the spices and oil. Add salt as desired. Bake for 30 minutes or until the squash is tender and beginning to brown. Set aside.

Optional: Rinse the squash flesh from the reserved seeds and pat dry with a towel. Toss the seeds with a little oil and some more of your spice mix. Halfway through the squash roasting process, add the seeds to the sheet tray and roast.

3. Place your ears of corn, husk-on, in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow them to cool for about 15 minutes before removing the husks and cutting the kernels from the cob. Set aside.

4. Make the vinaigrette by whisking together grated ginger, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, maple syrup, black pepper, and salt in a bowl with a spout or liquid measuring cup. Slowly stream the oil into the vinegar mixture while whisking constantly. Once you've added 1/2 a cup of oil, taste for acidity. If the dressing is too acidic, add more oil.

5. In a large bowl, combine roasted squash (and optional roasted seeds), chickpeas, corn kernels, sliced cabbage, cheese, and herbs. Dress the salad with 1/4 cup of vinaigrette and taste. Add more vinaigrette as desired.

The salad can be stored in tightly sealed containers for up to five days.

You can follow Violet on Instagram and TikTok for future DBS and meal-prepping content and subscribe to her Substack newsletter here.