This Salad Is Going Viral on Social Media—Here’s How to Make It

Another day, another For You Page find. My TikTok has recently been infiltrated with drool-worthy dense bean salads—DBSs, if you will. The creator behind these recipes is Violet Witchel (@violet.cooks) who coined the term and regularly meal preps a DBS. In total, her DBS playlist on TikTok has amassed a staggering 55 million views and counting.

“Every week, I meal prep a dense bean salad, which is a veggie-packed, protein-heavy, dense salad that just marinates in the fridge and gets better throughout the week,” Witchel shared in one video.

@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

Witchel has 12 TikToks showing snippets of her Sunday meal prep routine, and her DBS recipes date back to December 2023, when she posted about a Balsamic Mediterranean Salad. Other viral videos have spotlighted her gluten- and dairy-free Spicy Chipotle Chicken Salad and Sundried Tomato Salad, which gets extra flavor thanks to pizza seasoning. You can find the full recipes for all of these when you subscribe to Witchel’s Substack.

While meal prepping, Witchel also shares pro tips she’s learned along the way. For instance, Persian cucumbers keep their crunch even after days in the fridge, make sure to rinse your beans well so they don’t get too soggy, and don’t mix avocado into your salad during prep (instead, add it in when you serve it). She also has a hack to get a creamy dressing: Fire up your milk frother!

Annabelle Breakey

Here at Sunset, you can find plenty of dense bean salad recipes, too. A few of our favorites include the New Three-Bean Salad with chickpeas, green beans, and edamame; a colorful Black Bean, Rice, and Veggie Salad; oil-free Marinated Garbanzo Salad, a hearty White Bean Salad, Grilled Calamari Steaks with Olive and Bean Salad; and a pasta salad-with-a-twist: Southwest Orzo and Bean Salad.