The Dense Bean Salad Is a TikTok Trend Worth Trying—Here's How to Make It

If you're constantly saving the delicious recipes flooding your TikTok For You Page, you're not alone. The newest dish taking over our screens and kitchens? Dense bean salad.

The high-protein, high-fiber, and veggie-packed salad is dominating feeds thanks to TikTok creator Violet Witchel, who goes by the username @violet.cooks, or more recently, "Dense Bean Salad Girl." She has been making these healthy meal-prep salads for months and sharing each week's recipe with her over 2.5 million followers, and she's said it has drastically improved her physical and mental health.

Her videos show close-up shots of her ingredient prep, from chopping veggies and herbs to whisking up a dressing, and, most importantly, opening up a few cans of beans. She then voices over the recipe instructions so followers can make a similar salad if they so choose.

While Violet has made many dense bean salads, or DBS, some of the most popular include a sun-dried tomato version that features bell peppers, shallot, cherry tomatoes, pepperoni, deli chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, artichokes, chickpeas, and cannellini beans, and a buffalo chicken version, featuring chicken, corn, bell pepper, white beans, and, of course, buffalo sauce. The DBS possibilities are truly endless and inspire creativity in the kitchen.

Another perk of bean salads as described by Witchel is how easy they are to prep ahead of time and, unlike some leftovers, actually gets better with time as the flavors meld together throughout the week. Take a page from Witchel's book and whip up a big dense bean salad on Sunday and divide it into containers to eat throughout the week. Enjoy it on its own, in a wrap, or even as a dip with chips.

The viral dense bean salad trend proves there are so many delicious ways to enjoy them—and we have plenty of inspiration of our own. Some of our favorite bean salad recipes include this refreshing Black Bean, Cucumber, and Feta Salad, a classic Seven Bean Salad, summery White Bean-and-Tomato Salad, and protein-packed White Bean and Tuna Salad.