A diet low in sodium is recommended for people living with kidney disease. This low sodium Greek salad makes for a great lunch or dinner for people with CKD.
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Low Sodium Greek Salad Ingredients notes:
- Israeli Coucous – this looks like a grain, but it is actually a pasta! These are tiny little round balls of pasta that resemble pearls, which is why it is sometimes referred to as Pearl Couscous. Adding some couscous to the salad helps beef up the carbohydrate content to make this otherwise low-carb salad more filling and satisfying. Note that Israeli couscous is not considered a whole grain, so be sure to get some whole grains in with your other meals. I recommend cooking this ahead of time and chilling in the fridge. This will save you time when preparing the salad later (and I think cold pasta tastes better in a salad). I usually add a little bit of olive oil to the cooked pasta and stirring it around to prevent the pasta from sticking together after cooling.
- Feta Cheese – we just use regular ole feta cheese in this recipe., so don’t worry if the feta cheese you buy seems high in sodium. We will balance it out with our low sodium dressing and the unsalted couscous.
- Greek Salad Dressing – we used our own low sodium Greek Salad Dressing recipe. Salad dressings are VERY easy to make, so don’t be afraid to make one from scratch.
- Pine Nuts – Slightly crunchy and slightly chewy, pine nuts are a lower protein nut that add some nice texture to the salad.
- Fresh Mint – our leafy green in this salad is actually an herb! We use fresh mint, which is delightfully aromatic and add a nice mild flavor that complements the rest of the salad.
- Red Onions – we use red onions for the flavor and the color that it adds to the salad. If raw red onions are a bit too strong for you, soak the sliced onions in water overnight. This pulls out some of the strong flavor and leave milder tasting onions.
- Cherry tomatoes – the tomatoes add a bright pop of color and also valuable vitamins and antioxidants. If you think tomatoes are too high in potassium, I encourage you to take our course to learn more about when to limit your potassium intake and what really causes high potassium levels (hint: it’s not a few cherry tomatoes!)
- Cucumber – we use about half of a cucumber in this recipe. Don’t shave the skin off, because there are valuable nutrients in the skin!
- Bell pepper – you can use any color bell pepper in this recipe. I used red for personal preference, but yellow and green would work too!
For all of my vegetables, I cut them into relatively small pieces. I love chopped salads where I can get a little bit of everything into one bite!
Israeli Couscous Low Sodium Greek Salad
Nutrition:
Calories:
547
Protein:
13g
Carbohydrates:
48g
Fiber:
8g
Sugar:
8g
Fat:
36g
Sodium:
234mg
Potassium:
800mg
Phos:
180mg
Bioavailable Phos:
82mg
Calcium:
161mg
Course: MainDifficulty: Easy
Nutrition:
Calories:
547
Protein:
13g
Carbohydrates:
48g
Fiber:
8g
Sugar:
8g
Fat:
36g
Sodium:
234mg
Potassium:
800mg
Phos:
180mg
Bioavailable Phos:
82mg
Calcium:
161mg
Servings
1
servingsPrep time
10
minutesCooking time
0
minutesIngredients
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
6 each cherry tomatoes
21 g feta cheese, crumbled
1 oz pine nuts
3/4 cup Israeli couscous, cooked
2 T Greek Dressing
Directions
- Add all ingredients to a bowl.
- Toss gently to evenly distribute ingredients. Enjoy!
Notes
- This is a VERY low sodium greek salad, so if you want to add some higher sodium ingredients like kalamata olives, roasted red peppers, or pepperoncini, you can! Just be sure to add the extra sodium in to the recipe.
- This is a higher potassium dish.
