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Epicurious

The Crunchiest Vegetable Salad

4.1

(19)

Photo of the crunchiest vegetable salad with cucumbers green beans and radishes on a silver platter.
Photo by Alex Lau

The key to this showstopping salad is water. Seriously. Soaking cucumber, radishes, and scallions in ice water helps them deliver incredible crunch and highlights their natural flavors. Blanching green beans (or wax or Romano beans) and sugar snap peas for a bare minute before cold-shocking them revitalizes their color and yields a subtle, tender-crisp bite. Tossed in a toasty, tangy dressing, these vegetables bring texture and flavor to any meal.

Not only is this truly the crunchiest veggie salad, but it also happens to be ideal for anyone who has been advised by their doctor to follow a low-potassium diet because of hyperkalemia. Cucumbers, radishes, and green beans are all low in potassium. “They also contain vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals which can help lower blood pressure, reduce risk of heart disease, and manage kidney disease,” says registered dietitian and renal (kidney) specialist Edith Yang, RD, CSR, CLT. Adding salt to the blanching and chilling water both seasons the vegetables and chills them even further. But if you’ve been advised to watch sodium levels due to heart health, you can swap the soy sauce for a lower sodium version and limit the salt in the blanching water. “You’ll still get tons of flavor from the dressing without that extra salt,” Yang promises.

No matter what, get ready for next-level crunch and vibrant spring flavor.

Editor’s note:

This recipe was originally published in the August 2016 issue of ‘Bon Appétit’ and first appeared on Epicurious in August 2016.

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