You’ve probably seen Jennifer Aniston’s famous salad all over the internet; except… this isn’t actually the one she ate! But there’s a reason this version went viral. It’s fresh, herby, packed with texture, and seriously addictive. Perfect for lunch, meal prep, or a light dinner that leaves you feeling full but fresh.
✨ What’s Inside:
Freekeh (or any grain you love), chickpeas, crunchy cucumber, cranberries, herbs, almonds, and a creamy tahini-lemon dressing that brings it all together.
💡 Why you’ll love it:
✔️ Hearty, balanced, and meal-prep friendly
✔️ Packed with plant-based protein
✔️ Customisable – swap the grains, nuts, or dressing to suit your taste
FULL RECIPE:
Jennifer Aniston Salad
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 30–35 mins
Ingredients
Salad Base:
1.5 cups freekeh, cooked according to packet instructions (or any grain of choice)
400g canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 Lebanese cucumbers, finely chopped
½ cup dried cranberries (or any dried fruit you like)
½ red onion, finely diced (adjust to taste)
¾ cup parsley, roughly chopped
½ mint leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
½ cup roughly chopped almonds (or any nuts/seeds of choice)
Sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
Dressing:
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
Juice of ½ lemon
Sea salt and pepper, to taste
To Serve:
120g (approx) feta cheese (optional)
Method
1. In a large bowl, combine cooked freekeh, chickpeas, cucumber, dried cranberries, red onion, herbs, and half the almonds. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a small jar, add olive oil, tahini, maple syrup, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. Shake well until smooth and creamy, making sure the tahini is completely mixed through. Adjust the sweetness, acidity, or seasoning to taste.
4. Drizzle over about half of the dressing to start, then toss everything gently to coat. You can always add more dressing gradually until the salad looks glossy and well coated.
5. Top with crumbled feta and extra almonds if you like. Serve immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Tips & Swaps
Make it nut-free:
If you have a nut allergy or prefer to keep the salad school-safe, swap the almonds for roasted pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. They add the same satisfying crunch and a subtle nuttiness without the allergens. Toast them lightly in a dry pan for extra flavour before adding to the salad.
Change the grain:
Freekeh gives the salad a lovely smoky flavour and chewy texture, but you can easily switch it up based on what you have on hand. Quinoa keeps it gluten-free and protein-rich, risoni (orzo) gives it a pasta salad twist, and couscous or brown rice are great if you want something heartier. Just make sure to cool the grains completely before mixing with the other ingredients.
For meal prep:
This salad holds up beautifully for a few days, making it perfect for lunches or quick dinners. To keep everything fresh, store the dressing separately and add it just before serving. If you’re packing it for work, portion the salad into containers and keep a small jar of dressing on the side. Add the feta and nuts (or seeds) right before eating to maintain the best texture and crunch.
Extra flavour boosters:
For more depth, you can add a pinch of ground cumin or sumac to the dressing. A handful of baby spinach or rocket also works beautifully to bulk up the greens. If you prefer it dairy-free, simply omit the feta or use a plant-based alternative.
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#JenniferAnistonSalad #ViralSalad #WholesomeBySarah #HealthySalad #EasySaladRecipe #MealPrepIdea #FreshAndWholesome #TahiniDressing #ChickpeaSalad #GrainSalad #SimpleAndGood #WholesomeAtHome
the Jennifer Aniston salad. It went viral. It was trending for a long, long time and we’re going to make it today. It is so good. It’s a handful of ingredients and nothing unusual, nothing tricky, a really simple dressing as well. We can bring it together rather quickly and it is just a delicious, yummy salad. So, I’ve got a nice big or medium to large salad bowl here and we’re basically going to add our bits. We’re using some frea, which is just a type of wheat. So, it’s an old ancient grain that does take a while to cook. That’s probably your one thing in this recipe that does take that little bit of time, 30 to 35 minutes. You can use any grain you like. If you want to swap it out for quinoa, rozone, pearl, barbari, lentils, whatever, your choice, but I love using that. So, we’re going to add that first. I’m going to throw that in. It’s really nutty. It provides a really great texture to a salad. It’s chewy. It’s nutty. It’s rich. I’ve got some canned chickpeas. So, super simple. drained out of a can and rinsed. We’re going to throw those in. I always like to leave a little bit in the bowl cuz we’ll just see how much it makes. We can always add more if we like. Then the good old cucumber, which we know I am obsessed with. I do love my cucumber. Throw that in. Again, that’s looking like enough, but I might just finish that off. That’s not too bad. Then we’ve got some dried cranberries. So, something chewy, something sweet. You can slot in any dried fruit for this one. So if you like dried apricots, if you like currants, if you like sultanas, any of those work really well in this salad, too. Then we’ve got some very finely diced red onion or Spanish onion. And I love onion, so I put quite a bit. People are funny and thinking about onion. If it upsets your tummy, if you find it too much in the mouth, then you can use less or soak it in water, which I always say, or use spring onion, which is like a lighter, sweeter onion that are really good for salads, too. We’ve got some herbs. So, I’m going with mint and parsley today. Again, herbs are kind of interchangeable in this salad. You could throw in coriander. You could throw in basil. You could throw in dill. They all work really well. I’m going to throw in some mint. Beautiful mint. I just love mint in most salads, actually. I think it just provides such a beautiful freshness. And parsley. So, throw in some parsley, too. And because we don’t have a leafy component to this salad, so there’s no spinach or rocket or a dickia or anything like that. So I like to throw in a lot of herbs because not only do they provide beautiful color and beautiful freshness and flavor, but they also give that greenery and that prettiness throughout the salad that we often get from our salad leaves. Then we’ve got some almonds. So these are just whole roasted almonds that I’ve roughly chopped. I’ve got quite a few here, so I don’t think we’re going to need them all. I’m just going to add about third to half of this. And obviously, um, nuts provide that crunch, but they also provide they they sort of help you feel full. Your blood sugar levels will slowly release over the time after you eat the salad, which is really wonderful, and they keep you fuller for longer. In saying that, you can use any nuts you like in this salad. That’s what the great thing is. Cashews, walnuts, peacans, pine nuts, even seeds, you know, papitas, pumpkin seeds, things like that. That’s what I love about this salad. All the com all the components are kind of interchangeable with whatever you’ve got in your house or whatever you like to eat. So keep that in mind. You don’t have to stick to this recipe. And then I’m not going to put the feta over yet cuz I find that when you break feta and then you toss it, it kind of all gets broken down in the salad. So I’m just going to put our feta next to it to add towards the end. Any kind of feta you like. Either a creamy Danish or a traditional more Greek feta is great. I’m going to add a little bit of sea salt to our salad and then a little bit of pepper. And that is basically our salad. Like our main salad ingredient part done. Now I’m going to make up a nice little dressing. It’s that simple. That’s how good. That’s why I love this salad. It’s got all those fresh Oh, sorry. My sink decided to make a noise. Um, he also agrees that the salad is just so yum. Like, you’ve just got to make this salad. Really? Um, what a lame joke. So, it’s a tahini maple salad dressing. And again, I will put proper quantities down below, but I’m just guessing for the time being. About that much extra virgin olive oil. Then some tahini. Now, tahini can be funny. This one looks okay to add. You sort of had that kind of oil at the top that keeps it fresh, obviously, but also can make it quite liquidy. So, you definitely want to try and get the actual tahini paste part of the tahini rather than all the liquid part. And it can be quite tricky to get out. Sometimes they’re really tricky. That sometimes depends on their freshness. So, if they’re really hard and like rocky to pull apart, it it might mean that you need to get a fresh tahini. Sometimes I just put in the microwave. So, lid off if it’s glass and safe in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds and it will just soften it and make it a little bit more easy to kind of scoop out and add. Then, I’m going to add some pure maple syrup. Obviously, this just adds a sweet component. I don’t like my dressings to be too sickly sweet. So, I’m just going to add a little bit and then we’ll taste it. You can always add more as we know it. And then an acidic or acid component to the dressing. I’m going to add lemon. You could also add vinegar. Either one. That sort of that’s probably not enough, but let’s just add that for now. Oh, it’s nice and juicy. Love that. I’m definitely going to need more lemon. Get those pips out before they go in our dressing. And a good squeeze. Love it. Love a good squeeze of lemon onto my filthy apron. That’s what they’re there for. Right now, oh wait, salt and pepper. I’ve spoken to so many people over the years that are like, “Oh, yeah, and salt and pepper again. Do you add the salt and pepper to the dressing as well?” And the answer, unless there’s some kind of part that already has a salty component. So, oop, sorry, just knocked my mic out. We’re back. Readjusted. Can’t remember what I was up to. Oh, salt and pepper. Most of the time, seasoning is always important. It can literally lift whatever you’re cooking or making to the next level of just tastiness. So, don’t forget that. I was just saying though, sometimes things like stock, soy sauce, miso, things that are naturally high in salt or taste like taste quite salty. Obviously, be careful there. If you’re going to add then a whole pinch of salt, you could go overboard and destroy the dish a bit cuz it already had enough of the salty taste in it. So, but generally salad dressing, salads, yes, we season the salad and yes, then we season the the dressing. Look at that. How cool. I love how dressings do this. The three little parts. So, we’ve added our bits. Let’s do a shaker shaker. And sometimes tahini can be like peanut butter or miso in a dressing. It can be take a little bit to break down. So, you just got to get in there and give it a good shake. I think we’re pretty good here. Yep. Oh, no. Wait. See, there’s big globs of my So, what you can do is It’s looking great, though. The color is beautiful. I’m just opening it up and pushing the tahini up against the glass so that it sort of breaks it down a bit manually. And then when we go to shake it again, it should just break down. Yeah, that’s looking a bit better already. It won’t taste yet cuz it’s not fully Oh god. Okay. Shaker, shaker, shaker. All right, I think we’re good. Yep. Great. That feels nice and like thick enough that it’s all nice and broken down. Yum. Oh, see he agrees again. He’s just like, “Yum.” Yeah, that dressing is so good. It is really good, but thing about salmon. I think it needs a bit more acidity. This is another thing about dressings. So, people can sit there and say, “I’m a really good cook and I know how to make dressings.” Everyone can make a good dressing because it is up to your preference. So don’t think, you know, if you made this exactly like I’m making now and you tasted it, it might be too acidic for you. So therefore, do what you want to do with the dressing. If you like having an acidic taste, add some more lemon. If you love having a sweeter dressing, add some more maple syrup. If you like having, you know, if you love tahini, then you might want to add a little bit more of that. It is totally up to you. Don’t feel like you always have to follow the recipe cuz that’s just stressful. And, you know, everyone’s preferences are different. All right, I reckon we’re going to hit the spot now. Oh, that little bit more lemon just gets the back of your throat. Okay. Yum. I’m so excited. We’re going to add our beautiful tahini maple dressing. Look at it. Just looks like art. I almost don’t want to like ruin it and you know. So, as I always say, what do we say, guys? We say, “Oh, there was just a chunk of tahini.” But that’s okay. I’m not going to add it all because the worst thing I think with salads is when you overdress them and they’re soggy and they’re mushy and you’re like, “Oh my god, I’ve ruined everything that I’ve done.” So, I’ve just added about half. I’m going to stop there. And you’ll notice with some salads. So, we’ll toss it through now and see how the dressing holds. Yum. What a salad. I tell you what, make this at your next barbecue. Next time you got people coming over or next time you go to a barbecue and you’ve got to bring like a plate or a salad or something, make this. It’ll be a showstopper. I’m telling you. People be like, “Oh my god, that salad was just amazing.” Oh, but the hilarious story about this salad is Jennifer Aniston never actually ate it. We found out. So, it was kind of hilarious. So, it went round as like this viral trending salad. It was called um the Jennifer Aniston salad. The story was that she ate this for 10 years every day on the set of Friends. Anyway, it went so viral that obviously it got back to her and she heard about it and oh, it’s crazily raining outside. got back to her and she heard about it and she came out and said, “Uh, actually I never ate anything like that. For my daily salad, she ate a daily carb salad, which a traditional Cobb salads like bacon and egg and yeah, all different bits and bobs, chicken and bread.” Anyway, that was what she ate. So, this actually has nothing to do with Jennifer for Aniston, but it went viral. People learned to love it because it is that incredible. And now it’s a famous salad. So, that’s why I still call it the Jennifer Aniston salad. So, there it is. Look at it. It’s just so I reckon at this stage, I don’t know if you could hear that, but there’s crazy weather outside. Like, it has just decided to slam on the wind and slam on the rain. So, we’re just going to keep going. That’s why this is a beautiful salad in winter or when it’s cold or you need it because that nutty frea is so so good. So, let’s have a little try and then we got to crumble our feta still. But, I like to do the feta very last cuz then it just sits on top beautifully. I love this salad. Oh my god. Okay, so almonds. I think we could do a few more. I actually think we could have a little bit more dressing. Not all of it. Just around the side. We don’t want to so up the nuts straight away. Stir, stir, stir or toss, toss, toss. Oh, look at the colors. I just think it’s one of the pretty I mean, lots of salads are pretty. I’m drawn to like the beauty of salads and how they look and obviously how they taste, but this salad, I think, to look at is so inviting and beautiful. So, there’s that. Then we’ve got our feta. Let’s just break that. Any type of feta. Oh, this one feels a bit weird, but we’ll go with it. It’s not as soft as it usually is. I think that’s what I was going to say before before the weather decided to go wild on me. Dressings. When you’re adding dressings, cuz it’s really hard to put a kind of blanket rule on how much dressing to add or because every ingredient and every salad takes up dressings differently. So, some grains will need more dressing because they’re thick and they absorb it well, but then they hold their texture as well. Whereas noodles, it can become quite slippery and wet. So, if you overdo it, you’ve ruined the salad. So, there’s lots of different things. You’ve just got to play around with your different salad making. And experimenting and work out what works. All right, let’s have one more try now that we’re kind of finished. Got to get a bit of feta on there. Get all a bit of the yummy chunky bits. M just yum. But that is just delicious. It’s really beautiful. It’s such a easy, not complicated, nothing too fancy, but it is really a showstopper salad that I think will win a crowd over. So, serve it at your next barbecue, take it to your next thing where you’re asked to bring a plate. I just think it is superb. 10 out of 10.
Dining and Cooking