Lima Bean and Kale Salad with Feta and Lemon

Most iodine-rich eating leans on fish, dairy or seaweed, which leaves vegetarians with a short list. Lima beans — sold as butter beans in some stores — are one of the few legumes that contribute meaningfully, and they happen to be the best-textured bean in the can.

Massaging the kale is not a fussy step. Two minutes of scrunching turns it from tough to tender.

Why this one is iodine-rich

Lima beans and feta do the work here, with dairy carrying most of it. It is a reminder that a plate does not need seafood to count — and if you want to push it further, a pinch of dulse in the dressing takes it up considerably without changing the flavor much.

Ingredients

Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side.

• 1 can (15 oz) lima or butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 5 oz kale, stems stripped, leaves torn small
• 3/4 cup crumbled feta
• Half a cucumber, diced
• Handful of dill and mint, chopped
• 1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

For the dressing:

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 small garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp dulse flakes (optional)
• Salt and plenty of black pepper

Method

1. Put the torn kale in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Scrunch it firmly with both hands for 2 minutes. It will darken, soften and roughly halve in volume.
2. Whisk the remaining dressing ingredients together.
3. Add the beans, cucumber and half the dressing to the kale and toss well. Leave it for 10 minutes — the beans take on the lemon in a way they will not if you serve it immediately.
4. Fold through the herbs, crumble over the feta in large pieces, and scatter with pumpkin seeds.
5. Finish with the rest of the dressing and a lot of black pepper.

Notes and swaps

• Vegan. Swap feta for a firm marinated tofu — but you lose the dairy iodine, so the dulse becomes worth adding rather than optional.
• Make it heartier. Add a jammy egg, or serve on toasted sourdough rubbed with garlic.
• Lunchbox. Holds two days in the fridge. Kale is one of the few leaves that improves overnight in dressing.
• Dried beans. Better texture if you have the time. Soak overnight, simmer with a bay leaf until creamy.

Common questions

Can vegetarians get enough iodine from food?
It is harder, particularly for vegans, because the main everyday sources are dairy, eggs and seafood. Seaweed, iodized salt and fortified products are the usual routes. It is a good question to put to a dietitian rather than settle from a recipe page.

Is iodized salt worth using?
In the United States it remains one of the biggest contributors to population iodine intake. Worth checking whether the salt in your pantry actually is iodized — most sea salt and kosher salt is not.

The food-first habit

A vegetarian option you actually want to eat is what makes a rotation stick. If you have been supplementing with Lugol's Iodine, building two or three meals like this into the week is the practical version of moving from correcting a gap to keeping it closed.

Recipes are published for general interest and are not medical or dietary advice. Iodine requirements vary from person to person, and iodine has an upper limit as well as a recommended intake. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking thyroid medication or managing a thyroid condition, speak to your healthcare provider before making significant changes to your iodine intake. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.